After working with multidisciplinary teams at the world’s largest events, I’ve seen the benefits of working with fitness professionals to manage athletes.

Imagine collaborating with a strength and conditioning professional who has specialities that complement your rehab strengths. Think of the outcomes you could create in your community!

If you’re a sports PT and have a CrossFitter who is nearly out of pain but needs support in the gym modifying their full week of workouts, what if you worked with a CrossFit coach who was on the same page as you? 

You could create a daily rehab plan with contraindications and the CrossFit coach could build workouts with progressions that are created from impairments based on a barbell-specific movement analysis.

If you’re working with a Crossfitter who has back pain and doesn’t want to stop training, what if you had a CrossFit coach who understands rehab progressions and will do everything to work with you to keep athletes in the gym without stopping? 

This is the ideal scenario and CrossFit coaches around the country are looking to partner with sports PTs like yourself.

Now, before you collaborate with a CrossFit coach, you need to understand what they want to know about your injured athletes.

Here’s a clue: they don’t want to know the diagnosis or origin and insertion of the injured region. Don’t laugh – this a common approach with PTs. I’ve heard and seen it directly over the last decade working in CrossFit gyms.

Here are the three most common things CrossFit coaches want to know about injured athletes:

1) The projected timeline to full recovery. They want to know how long the injury will last so they can plan and program workout accordingly. 

2) The green, yellow, and red lights in the gym. They want to know what the athlete should or should not perform in workouts. This requires the PT to offer recommendations and have an idea of types of movements will aggravate the irritated tissue.

3) Consistent communication. CrossFit coaches want someone who is going to reach out or offer recommendations consistently. The notes or recommendations do not need to be complicated. They can as simple as sticky notes or a picture of the athlete’s progressions. 

When you combine all three things, you have an incredible relationship with a local gym coach who will WANT to work with you and send you more athletes in the future. They keep the athlete happy in the gym and you get the outcomes the athlete wants. It’s a win-win!

These are the relationships and systems I’ve created in San Diego and I’m excited to share it with fitness and healthcare professionals in-person or virtually at my upcoming “Management of the Barbell Athlete” CEU course. 

In the 2-day course, I’ll review:

• A top-down movement analysis for the squat, clean and jerky, and snatch that fitness and healthcare professionals can align – a central communication framework
• Breakout sessions to determine the main source of the athlete’s pain – ankle vs hip vs shoulder mobility restrictions
• Progressions and modifications for pain management – when to add more load

Overall, I’ll share an easy-to-assess barbell framework, provide modifications for lifts, and program modifications to keep athletes in the gym.

You’ll be able to evaluate and manage a barbell athlete…even if you’ve never touched a barbell!

Whether you’re a seasoned professional or new to working with CrossFitters, powerlifters, or Olympic lifters, you’ll develop the skills and foundation to manage barbell athletes at all levels.

CLICK HERE to learn more.

Below is the podcast I created for sports physical therapists on this topic:

If you have any questions, please email me at drchris@drchrisgarcia.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Chris Garcia, PT, DPT, SCS, CSCS, USAW

P.S. If you’re more of a visual learner, check out my YouTube video on this topic below.