Training and recovery meet at the new Jacobs center
Watching Marcell Jacobs train or compete means approaching a vision of performance where harmony, lightness and precision coexist. To Starpool, this encounter established a dialogue with an actual philosophy of training and recovery developed over time and based on conscious choices, method and awareness of body and mind.
Three key principles guiding the relationship between training and recovery underlie Jacobs’ work. The first is continuity, supported by careful prevention: constant monitoring of physical shape, reduction of stress peaks and balanced load management. The second is the combination between performance and recovery, where the latter isn’t an accessory moment but a structural component of the athletic program. The third concerns the quality of the action, intended as technical precision, strength effectiveness and neuromuscular control. In line with this vision, Starpool supports people who train, to ensure the well-being of body and mind and to contribute to performance improvement bearing in mind one’s own self-care and the awareness of one’s sensations. The privilege of supporting one of the main references of Italian athletics in the preparation and creation of places intended to accommodate both training and recovery originates here. And it is also the reason why Marcell Jacobs has chosen, over the last few years, to extend his work beyond personal training.
Using method and experience, this partnership resulted in the designing of spaces where preparation and recovery are not separate phases but parts of the same process. The new Jacobs Center in Desenzano del Garda comes from this idea, and is based in the same building that hosts the Jacobs Sports Academy. To us, supporting this project has been the natural continuation of a relationship that started during the preparation of the Tokyo World Championship of 2025, and that revolves around the approaches that focus on the body as a complex system to train and preserve. In July and August 2025, at the Jacobs Center, Marcell Jacobs integrated Zerobody Cryo and Zerobody Dry Float of the Health Innovation line by Starpool in his preparation. These technologies were included consistently both in recovery protocols and in pre-training activation routines.
After testing them for the preparation to the World Championship, Jacobs chose to include them permanently at the Jacobs Center, to make them daily available to the athletes. Zerobody Cryo was used on high-load training days and after sprint and strength sessions. Gradual exposure to low temperatures helped to manage inflammation and sped up recovery, favouring a fast rebalancing of body temperature. In the intense heat of summer, it was used three to four times a week, especially in the most demanding microcycles, thus contributing to maintaining continuity and quality in the following sessions.
Zerobody Dry Float was used in a complementary way. The Dry Float Therapy takes advantage of dry flotation to reduce the load on the body and create a state of suspension: the body floats on 400 litres of warm water, but without the need to get undressed or wet. The regular use of this device promoted both muscle recovery and mental activation. Tension reduction, decompression and the resetting of the nervous system affected the neuromuscular response on the following days. At the same time, the programs for breathing and focus helped emotional management before technical sessions. Over time, Zerobody Dry Float permanently became part of the pre-training routine, especially on days devoted to speed. Over the two months of daily use, Marcell reported greater continuity in his work, faster recovery between sessions and better technique quality. This approach allowed him to reduce fatigue accumulation and made the entire training day more effective.
The Jacobs Center features several functional areas: the Gym Performance Room, a 25-metre indoor track to focus on sprinting and biomechanics, a Recovery Lab by Starpool, and a Physical Therapy & Treatment Room – an area dedicated to the young athletes of the Jacobs Academy – as well as an area destined to analysis and technical meetings. The Recovery Zone, designed to include the Starpool technologies, is one of the main elements of the entire project: a structured and accessible environment that can bring the standards of high-level athletic preparation into daily practice, supporting the different training phases in a measurable and consistent way.
