Many former professional athletes put their names and reputations behind a business after their playing days are over.
But friends and former NFL defensive players Jude Adjei-Barimah and Gabe Martin are going further by also lending their expertise to weary workout enthusiasts with their Pro Recovery Zone in Biltmore Fashion Park.
The state-of-the-art and spacious restoration lounge offers the therapy and apparatus that Martin and Adjei-Barimah received at the pro level, with top-notch programs and modalities all-star athletes rely on to get back on the field or court with less recovery time.
They developed a comprehensive program that encompasses the basics, like recording body fat, muscle, water weight, and other data. From there, expect treatments that lengthen the muscles to increase flexibility, flush out lactic acid, improve blood circulation, and attack inflammation and soreness. Time in the cryotherapy chamber channels a chilly -230 F environment to encourage the flow of oxygen-rich blood, while increasing collagen production, to jump-start healing.
“You’re doing the same cryotherapy that LeBron James does on the road after back-to-back games. You’re using the same equipment that’s in the Cardinals facility. You’re doing the same stretches that professional track and field athletes do, and protocols developed by certified athletic trainers,” Adjei-Barimah says.
Martin adds, “We bring that training room-centric environment to the retail space—what we knew to work, to allow weekend warriors to recover like the pros.”
Martin and Adjei-Barimah met as freshmen at the Bowling Green State University Falcons football team. Five years later, they were signed as undrafted free agents by the Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, respectively.
They endured injuries, and kept in touch about what their recovery routines entailed. Friends and family often picked their brains.
“'My hamstring is bothering me. What do I do to get the swelling out of my knee? Ice isn’t working,'” Martin recalls as one conversation. “That’s where we both felt like it was an opportunity.”
They were also aware of the surge in popularity of HIIT and CrossFit workouts.
“People are challenging their bodies more, so there’s more of a need for this kind of recovery in the general public,” Adjei-Barimah says.
Case in point: One client wasn’t able to experience more than 45 minutes of sleep at a time due to severe shoulder pain. After a couple of treatment sessions, he slept like a baby.
“Most people have been moving in pain for so long and finding different ways to deal with it,” Martin says. “They don’t know how good they can feel.”
For more information, visit ProRecoveryZone.com.