Return to Performance · New Plymouth
Cleared to load. Not yet match ready.
That gap is where A2Z works. Aaron Zimmerman tests, rebuilds and retests across four phases, alongside your physio and surgeon, and puts the numbers in writing.
16 years
Professional sport in Australia
Wests Tigers NRL
Strength and conditioning, 2015 to 2024
ASCA Level 3
Elite coach accreditation
Two written reports
Baseline and retest, shared with your consent
Start here
Three ways in. Pick yours.
Athlete or parent
I am coming back from injury or surgery
See what gets measured, what it costs and what a straight answer looks like.
Physiotherapist
I have a patient ready for discharge
Send them at discharge, keep the numbers coming back to you, and stay part of the return decision.
Where A2Z sits
A coach alongside the clinicians, not instead of them.
Aaron Zimmerman is a strength and conditioning coach, not a physiotherapist. He does not diagnose or treat. A2Z picks up at discharge, when an athlete is cleared to load but not match ready, and builds the capacity and the evidence for a return decision.
Your physio and surgeon stay in the loop. Their restrictions set the guardrails, the retest gives them numbers against a written baseline, and the return decision stays with the athlete and their clinical team. Aaron's job is to make that decision an informed one.
The protocol
Four phases. Progress on criteria, not the calendar.
Every athlete runs the same four phases, from a written baseline to a retest against it. The weeks below are typical, not fixed. ACL rebuilds run nine to twelve months and have their own page.
Phase 01 · Typically week 1
Assess
Limb symmetry, force production and movement quality under fatigue. Written into a baseline you can hold Aaron to.
Phase 02 · Weeks 2 to 8
Rebuild capacity
Load tolerance and single leg strength, progressed on numbers not dates. Cryo compression hire often runs alongside.
Phase 03 · Weeks 8 to 16
Return to running
Deceleration, cutting, then reacting instead of rehearsing. The floor starts to look like the game.
Phase 04 · Retest
Return to performance
Every marker retested against the phase 01 baseline. A written report and a straight answer.
What gets measured
Limb symmetry under load. Single leg force production. Hop testing across multiple planes. Deceleration control. Movement quality once fatigued. Pass marks are set against the athlete's own week one baseline and the restrictions their clinicians set.
For athletes and parents
Know where you stand before you play.
Discharge is a good day. It is also where many athletes are left to work out the rest alone. A2Z is the rest: a written baseline in week one, a programme that moves when your numbers move, and a plain answer at the end.
You train with Aaron on a private floor, never more than six at a time. Confidence under pressure gets coached alongside strength, because ready is both. Your physio and surgeon can receive the same report you do.
What it costs
Straight pricing, quoted up front.
Step one
Testing session
Price to be set. One session, a written baseline for you and your referrer, and a quoted block for what comes next.
Phases 02 to 04
$92 a session
Quoted as a block after assessment, so you know the total before you start.
On the floor
6
Six is the most Aaron will have on the floor at once. Rehab loading gets watched, not left to a programme sheet.
For physiotherapists
Send them at discharge. Stay in the loop.
When your patient is cleared to load but not match ready, A2Z takes the strength and conditioning while you keep clinical oversight. Send the discharge summary and any restrictions. Aaron builds the block inside them and reports back in writing at baseline and retest, with the patient's consent.
One coach, one number, no front desk. Aaron reads your notes and answers the phone himself. If something stalls or flares, it goes back to you. Want to see the floor before you send anyone? Come out to Smart Road.
How the handover works
What you send and what comes back.
01
You send
Discharge summary, surgical restrictions if any, and what you want to see before return. Email or the form, whichever is faster.
02
Aaron tests
Week one assessment against your criteria and his. The written baseline goes to the athlete, and to you with their consent.
03
You keep clinical oversight
Aaron trains inside your restrictions. Anything that flares goes back to you. Progression is on measured criteria, not the calendar.
04
You receive
A written retest report against the week one baseline, with a plain recommendation. The return decision stays with you and the athlete.
For surgeons and GPs
Criteria, timeline and reporting on one screen.
A2Z takes post operative patients once the treating physio has cleared them to load. Your restrictions are the guardrails. Progression is on measured criteria, not the calendar, and you receive a written baseline and a written retest report with the patient's consent.
Aaron Zimmerman is a strength and conditioning coach, not a clinician: ASCA Level 3, sixteen years in professional sport, Wests Tigers NRL from 2015 to 2024. The return decision stays with the patient and their clinical team.
The two minute read
Entry, progression, timeline, reporting.
Entry
Who A2Z takes
Post operative or post injury athletes discharged from physio and cleared to load, not yet match ready.
Progression
Criteria, not dates
Each phase opens when the athlete meets measured criteria against their own baseline, inside your restrictions. See the protocol above.
Timeline
Sixteen week framework
Assess in week one, rebuild to week eight, run and cut to week sixteen, then retest. ACL runs nine to twelve months.
Reporting
Two written reports
Baseline after week one, retest report at phase 04, both to you with the patient's consent. Nothing verbal you have to chase.
Get the readiness checklist.
The markers Aaron tests before an athlete goes back to sport, on one page. Useful whether you are the athlete, the physio or the surgeon signing off.
Refer or book
One form. Pick who you are.
Choose who you are, tell Aaron what you need, and he replies himself. Discharge summaries and restrictions can follow by email to aaron@a2zstrength.com.
Prefer to talk? Call 020 4198 2225.