Wimbledon, 2009. It took Roger Federer a record seventy-seven games and fifty aces to capture his sixth Wimbledon Lawn Tennis championship and his 15th Grand Slam overall in the epic match against Andy Roddick. The remarkable performances of both athletes are now legendary, sending every player walking back to their home courts with a renewed vengeance for performance and excellence.

While the prowess of Federer and Roddick demonstrated their individual anomalies as athletes, the larger message was a game changer for the performance expectations of players everywhere. Athletes, particularly those with aging bodies, are increasing their expectations claiming zero tolerance for injury and aging. People are expecting to play better, fitter and longer than ever before. The old adage “Act Your Age” has been replaced with tee shirts boasting “Old Guys Rule”. Revolutionary inroads in science, medicine, nutrition, and training have begun to shift the paradigm of health awareness away from a “one size fits all” mentality. More importantly the rising popularity of customized medicine in health care has presented the opportunity to realize focus on the physiological uniqueness of each patient and athlete.

“The whole is more than the sum of its parts” – Aristotle

From the moment in the mid 50’s that biochemist, Roger John Williams, coined the phrase “biochemical individuality”, the notion of customized medicine has begun to shift the awareness of treatment. In recent years the use of evidence based science in concert with technology and biochemical individuality has created vital opportunities in the lives of athletes.

Russ Scala, patient Consultant/Educator/Advocate uses his triple threat of talents to specialize in metabolic testing for performance enhancement. As the founder of The Institute of Nutritional Medicine and Cardiovascular Research he addresses these opportunities on a daily basis. “The body is best examined and treated as an integrated whole, not simply an isolated set of parts”, he says. For over 30 years Scala has been working with research laboratories in customizing programs for professional athletes and clients.

He credits an environment that is high in stress and hormonal disruptors as culprits and believes all disease starts from nutrition and hormonal imbalances. As a former paramedic, SWAT team member and competitive endurance athlete Scala began noticing disturbing patterns of illness among fellow athletes and co-workers.

His concerns grew as he witnessed immune suppression, heart attacks to people in their 30’s, and people battling depression and fatigue. With a sharp mind and dedication to health awareness he began a vigilant study of the body and its metabolism. “Any physical, mental or emotional stress can damage the brain over time. Diet, medication, exercise, and treatment of disease should be custom-designed to meet each athlete’s specific needs. We don’t expect tennis players to use the same racquet, why would their bodies need the same treatment?” he says.

These core discoveries have led him to create a precise individualized therapy program called, E-JUVEN 8 for the Institute of Nutritional Medicine and Cardiovascular Research located in Winter Park, Florida. Together with leading diagnostic laboratories and advanced scanning specialists Scala is guiding patients to individualized care by analyzing subtle distinctions in their molecular biochemistry, hormonal secretion patterns, cellular environment, and immune responses.

Stephanie Nickitas, 32, tennis player, endurance cyclist and head coach for the University of Central Florida tennis team in Orlando, Florida found herself at a crossroads in the fall of 2008. Fatigue, insomnia and weight gain propelled her to reevaluate her body and nutritional path.
“Athletes look to feel and perform their best. For us success equals peak performance. I’d always been a healthy eater and an athlete, but something wasn’t working”, she says.

After meeting Scala they began a dialogue discussing her concerns. “When he explained, it’s not about what you eat but rather what you absorb, something clicked”, she says. “Because the intestinal tract reacts much like the second brain of the body sending signals based on what it receives, if you’re out of balance you are unable to pull nutrients from food, regardless of how well you eat”, explains Scala.

Together, they began the journey to define Nickitas’ metabolic story and how her body was telling that story. Beginning with a customized metabolic test she started to find her way within minutes of reading her comprehensive profile. The results were compelling showing major deficiencies in vitamin C and B12. “My print out showed I needed 4,000% of the RDA (recommended daily allowance) of vitamin C in spite of the pounds of salads I was already eating.

It also showed a fungal yeast overgrowth.” Connecting the dots she learned that such an overgrowth comes with side affects including difficulty absorbing vitamins. It became clear that in spite of admirable nutritional habits her body was not absorbing and applying the benefits her food was providing. She began to address the deficiencies with supplements. The relevance of the E-JUVEN 8 program to her tennis game became clear. “In tennis you train 5 plus hours a day at your peak. During a tournament you will probably play 2 matches a day. In Junior and Collegiate tennis, kids are playing 2-3 matches a day. 2 singles matches and 1 doubles. The intensity level during both matches and practice is at a constant high.”

This infinite level of intensity puts tremendous stress on a body. Scala is quick to point out, “Athletes, paramedics, and mothers recovering childbirth, all share something in common, they all place extraordinary amounts of stress on their bodies. The more severe the stress – the quicker the symptoms.” For Scala the danger occurs when a minor imbalance strikes a series of biological triggers creating a domino effect of imbalances in the metabolism. The results are a host of suboptimal health issues including, poor recovery from training, weight gain, insomnia, and depression.

“A Picture’s Worth A Thousand Words”

George A. Stanley, MD, director of University Diagnostic Institute in Winter Park, Florida, uses the brain to address performance enhancement in conjunction with the E-JUVEN 8 programs. “An MRI gives us the straight answers as to what is really going on. The imaging allows us to rule out anything that would need to be treated with surgery (i.e.: brain tumor or torn rotator cuff) and helps us make findings and discoveries from there.”

With an expertise in neuroradiology, musculoskeletal and body imaging, Stanley knows the value of advanced imaging to the complete picture of the athlete. “With scanning we have the ability to see the pituitary, which is ground zero for atrophy in the lobes. The combination of using imaging and dedicated metabolic testing specific to the patient is what makes this program unique,” says Stanley.

Too much of either stress or chemicals such as cortisol causes the brain to atrophy, again triggering a chain reaction that resonates through the body. In the case of an athlete, when the fight or flight response is created, chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol are created. Cortisol is an important hormone in the body and secreted by the adrenal glands but often takes the rap as the “stress hormone”. Higher and more prolonged levels of cortisol in the bloodstream have been shown to have negative effects, such as decreases in bone density and muscle tissue, suppressed thyroid functioning, and blood sugar imbalances to name a few. In a world where millions of people wrestle the chains of chronic stress the future could seem bleak. Yet on the horizon the technology of scanning and imaging can provide insight if used in conjunction with metabolic testing as part of the comprehensive approach to an athlete’s performance profile.

End Game

A year after her initial testing Nickitas returned for follow up testing and re-evaluation. “I was blown away by my results. My systems had cleaned up and some of my other issues were completely eradicated.” After reconstructing her training program with E JUVEN 8 she finds fatigue and disrupted sleep no longer issues. She also credits improved muscle recovery, lower body fat and a leaner physique as further wins for her efforts. The end game for any athlete requires an aggressive approach if one hopes to stay competitive. The ever increasing demands of the sport are hardly going unnoticed. “The intensity of tennis has risen 90% in the last seven years alone”, says Natalie Tirapelli, 26, a sports performance coach who specializes in the game. “There are so many components now that require more than just fitness on the court. With the changes in racquet shape, the ball is now coming faster. Getting to the ball takes more so we are using the body in newer ways.” And if there is such a thing as truth in advertising Madison Avenue is setting the tone. To celebrate their 75th anniversary, tennis apparel giant Lacoste created a “Vision of Tennis” a live action short film intended to portray the changes the sport will experience 75 years from now. The mini film airing on the Lacoste website shows a faceless player shrouded behind sleek body armor while playing an imaginary opponent on a virtual tennis court complete with vaporizing laser lines and an automatic racquet. The player leaps and dives for the ball in a display of superhuman proportions.

His racquet hits balls recorded at speeds of 238 mph. As the player skids to the line on shoes digitally marking speed and agility he saunters towards the camera barely winded. Slowly the words, “Let’s Reinvent the Game”, appear. Whether or not the vision is realized is irrelevant, the message is clear. The expectation to perform at ever- increasing levels continues to rise. Athletes will have to meet that challenge with the bodies they have. Russ Scala, the Institute of Nutritional Medicine and Cardiovascular Research and the E JUVEN 8 program may well be the portal to achieving peak performance through metabolic testing and imaging. As the game moves forward with technology and sophistication, so must the preparation to play it successfully.

THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN IN 2009, BUT THE MESSAGE, REMARKABLY, REMAINS RELEVANT!