Luke Taylor is the founder of Taylored Health, a specialist clinic for human performance and wellbeing based in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Luke has an extensive background in sports science with strength and conditioning being his particular area of expertise. Luke works one-to-one with his clients using the latest technologies and data analysis to design personalized training and recovery plans. He is also an experienced international triathlete and elite Ironman having represented New Zealand in competition. We wanted to find out more about his practice and how he applied technology and his own personal experience to get the best out of his clients.

Q & A

Q. Luke, how do you help pro athletes with their recovery?

A. "At Taylored, recovery is the most important thing because too often, in particular with pro athletes, they are great at going out and doing the training work but they actually need to spend the time to recover. A big part of our work is teaching people how to recover and to recover faster.

We are all about achieving the 1% gains. Accessing untapped performance by looking at the micro changes and how we can really enhance people's potential. So we are looking into areas where other people aren't looking. The recovery routine is a particularly important part to get the most potential out of our clients as possible."

Q. Can you tell us which pro athletes teams have you worked with?

A. "I've worked with a number of professional rugby players from the All Blacks and the Chiefs (Waikato) to the Japanese International team. Also with many endurance, adventure and individual sport athletes in mountain biking through to surfing. A big area that I personally delve into is triathlon."

Q. How has recovery affected you personally in your sports career?

A. "What I specifically love about Ironman is it truly tests your ability to recover because you can’t keep pushing continually. If you keep pushing you are not going to be able to recover and build up strength and Ironman is a game of tolerance. If you can’t build up that tolerance you won't be able to complete as an Ironman in any serious way.

Like many people I see here in Taylored - my body is not physiologically enabled to recover quickly. I really have to focus on reducing muscle inflammation and keeping it at bay. When I was competing, recovery was an important component for me because if I wanted to stay at the top level I had to ensure that recovery was my number one focus and I needed to use every tool at my disposal."

Q. What recovery methods do you use in your clinic?

A. "At Taylored we use a wide number of services to address everything from mindset, lifestyle, nutrition and movement. We have everything from manual therapy through to teaching people how to fix themselves and we really like to focus on being a person's guide. We are not there to tell them what to do, we are there to help them on their journey. It really depends on defining the individual needs and what we can do to support them."

Q. How important is recovery to people of all fitness levels?

A. We specialise in distilling the one percent changes we get with pro athletes and applying that to everyday people. We’ve found that what works for pro athletes actually works for everyone else, you've just got to adjust the approach a little bit. Recovery is just as important to everyone else, whether it's physical stress or mental stress. We all need to be specialists in recovery regardless of performance level, from pro athletes to the average person."

Q. What types of services are offered at Taylored?

A. "Many people come to us because they are burnt out or injured and they are looking for recovery so we have a wide range of tools that we use to help support them. Whether that is a mobility tool to free up range of motion, massage, or sometimes it’s just teaching people how to move again, because often we create bad patterns.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of looking at nutrition or mindset because often there are bad habits that we can’t get ourselves out of so guidance and support is needed."

Q. How do you use Myovolt for yourself?

A. "Like everyone I injure myself and most recently I was out surfing and pulled my lower back. When you twinge your back the worst thing you can do is start mobilising tissue. It’s about what we can do in the meantime to really help speed up that recovery. There's is no better way than strapping on a Myovolt and getting some treatment on the spot. It's going to help get that blood flowing and help speed up recovery.

I also like to use Myovolt to warm up. I put it on before heading to a training session or even prior to a race to loosen up and sort out any stiffness. It’s actually a great tool to warm up without fatiguing my muscles."

Q. Do you use Myovolt with your clients? What do they think of it?

A. "At the clinic we love efficiency, having the ability to be able to use Myovolt in combination with other tools inside the Hub is really efficient for us and means the client is getting more out of their session. They love Myovolt because it is simple and easy to use. They are able to really feel it working on their muscles and joints."

Q. How important do you think technologies like Myovolt are in helping people recover faster?

A. "At Taylored we are looking for the world’s best technologies to integrate into our ecosystems to be able to understand our clients and serve them better and Myovolt is an awesome partner in that. We think a technology like Myovolt is great because not only is it helping people to recover faster it’s helping them move better - and that’s our goal here."

Q. How does Myovolt perform in the muscle recovery space within Taylored Health?

A. "Myovolt is a game changer in muscle recovery. Myovolt technology is unique because there is no other technology like it, you are able to strap it on and go - you don’t need to think about it. That’s what I love the most about it - you’re not locked into one place.

Coming from an academic research background, being a clinically validated technology is extremely important to us because we only want to partner with the best technologies that are proven to work."

Thanks Luke for giving us your insights about the importance of recovery and why it's so critical for all levels of fitness. See you on the Ironman circuit!