Medically reviewed by Misty Seidenburg
The 2024 Summer Olympics are in full swing, and if you’re one of the millions of viewers watching the game, you’ve undoubtedly witnessed the sheer power and prowess of the world’s top athletes. If you want to adopt professional athlete training tips from these elite performers, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve compiled tips and athletic training programs from Olympians past and present to inspire your own fitness journey.
Sure, it may seem obvious that Olympians move a lot. But even elite athletes have days when they’d rather hit the snooze button than go to the gym. For these warriors, putting one foot in front of the other is the key to unlocking their motivation.
South African surfer Sarah Baum says, “We all have those moments for sure, when I’m like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to get out of bed.” But she emphasizes the importance of pushing through, “Definitely exercise. Just getting up and going for a walk, it doesn’t have to be anything crazy. A walk down the road is all you need.”
BMX Freestyler Logan Martin has a unique strategy for getting moving on those days when he’d rather not. “The best advice I could give someone that struggles to work out or go for a walk or anything like that is to dress up like you are going to go to the gym.” He adds, “Put your trainers on, dress up like you are going to the gym, and that almost gives me the motivation to then start working out.”
Athletic training programs that require building muscle alone won’t make you a stand-out athlete and can leave you prone to injuries. When muscles are tight and short, they are at greater risk of muscle damage and joint pain.
A combination of dynamic stretching before activity and static stretching after working out keeps muscles flexible and healthy.
USA figure skater Ilia Malinin told Olympics.com, “The main thing that I do when I wake up in the morning is do a little bit of dynamic stretching… It’s very good to get warmed up before you go into your day because you don’t want to have small, minor injuries that could then affect your sport or your activity.”
Stretching is equally important in USA heptathlete Anna Hall’s Olympic athlete training program. She stretches every night before bed, setting a timer for 10 minutes for core exercises before focusing on sore areas for another 10 minutes.
Physical therapy is another tool widely used by Olympic-caliber athletes. The sports medicine division of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is described as “a world-class leader in leveraging research and technology to preserve athlete health while giving Team USA a competitive edge.” The USOPC sports medicine staff comprises world-renowned doctors, trainers, massage therapists, and physical therapists, all working together to keep USA Olympians healthy.
Physical therapy offers treatments and modalities to help athletes of all ages and abilities feel and function at their best while preventing injuries. From sports-specific exercise and functional training to hands-on manual therapy and pain-relief therapies, physical therapy provides a holistic approach to healthy movement.
In fact, many athletes are bringing their physical therapists to Paris. In 2023, U.S. Men’s gymnast Brody Malone suffered a potentially career-ending knee injury that left his athletic career in limbo. He credits his physical therapist in part for getting him to the 2024 games. “He’s the one who put me back together…I just have so much gratitude for him.”
Physical therapy is also part of Canadian WNBA star Kia Nurse’s journey to the Olympic games. In 2021, Nurse suffered an ACL tear while playing for the Phoenix Mercury. An MRI later showed two small meniscus tears.
Following ACL repair surgery, Nurse began an intensive physical therapy program to rehabilitate from her injury. After 11 months, she was cleared to play and continue her WNBA career and is currently participating in the 2024 games.
For Olympic athletes, taking a day off from training may feel unnatural or even indulgent. Yet Olympic athlete recovery is one of the most critical aspects of their physical activity—if not as important as training.
Satoshi Ochi is the Director of Strength and Conditioning at the U.S. Tennis Association Player Development Training Centers. The training schedule for the athletes he works with “typically ranges from five to six days per week, with one or two days of rest and recovery.”
He explains that once athletes have their competition schedule, one of the first steps is to schedule recovery days into their training program. “Athletes need proper rest to perform their best and avoid excessive fatigue or overtraining.”
Recovery for athletes is essential for a few reasons:
Athletes have a wide variety of recovery methods available to them, with the basics being rest and sleep.
Active recovery is also growing in popularity among high-level athletes. This is when athletes engage in low-intensity exercise like walking, stretching, or yoga, which place minimal stress on the body. Active recovery increases blood circulation to remove waste byproducts of muscle breakdown and repair soft tissues.
Physical therapists also incorporate athlete recovery techniques into sports therapy programs to help athletes rebound from high-intensity workouts and reduce their risk of injury. These treatments include manual therapy, active-release technique (ART), myofascial release, dry needling, and joint manipulation.
Jaime Czarkowski, an artistic swimmer, uses several rehabilitation techniques to optimize her rest days. She says, “ For example, we utilize the sauna and ice bath at our gym, we use Normatec compression boots to reduce lactic acid, we do lots of stretching and use a roller to loosen our muscles each night before sleeping, and also incorporate massages and physical therapy treatment as often as possible.”
You don’t have to compete on the world stage to benefit from sports physical therapy. Whether you are a D1 athlete or want to improve your pickleball game, physical therapy for athletes can help you feel, move, and perform better—and lower the risk of sports injuries. Physical therapy is also invaluable for sports injury recovery and post-surgery rehabilitation.
Learn why the greatest athletes in the world depend on physical therapy for success. Find a clinic near you or request an appointment online today!
