SLU AT Student Gets Performance Improvement and Injury Prevention Experience at Nutriformance

SLU AT Clinical Site Spotlight - Nutriformance 
By: Dimitri Kilian (MAT Class of 2019)

I have had the privilege of spending much of this spring semester at Nutriformance, an award-winning fitness center in St. Louis.  Most of my time has been spent at a site associated with Nutriformance called All-Star Performance, a large training facility that specializes in training baseball and softball athletes.  Professionals at this facility not only work on general strength and conditioning for the athletes, but also the improvement of sports specific skills such as hitting and pitching.  The general goal of this site is to improve the performance of its athletes and to keep them healthy in the process (due to the nature of the sport).

My time at Nutriformance has afforded me the opportunity to play a more active role in the realm of sports performance, something that I currently aspire to do sometime in the near future.  I have spent the most significant portion of my time with Eric Finley, MS, RD, LD.  He has taught me many of the important aspects of strength and conditioning, especially within a group setting.  I have played a small role in many of the group workouts at All-Star Performance, lending a guiding hand to any athletes who had questions or required additional assistance.

The professionals at Nutriformance place especial importance on proper movement mechanics in everything that the athletes do.  This not only enhances their performance within their sport, but it also helps to prevent injury.  I was given the opportunity to observe a program at All-Star Performance called Mach 1.  This program focuses on the longevity of young pitchers by adopting this very same principle.  I am grateful to be able to have learned from my experience at Nutriformance and I know that this will serve me well on whatever path I choose.

This is one of a series of posts by the Saint Louis University Athletic Training students featuring their clinical site and their preceptors. The number, quality and diversity of clinical instruction are major assets for the SLU AT Program.