You should probably know that this article is potentially the most painful article I've ever written.
Painful because I'm openly sharing why I chose to walk away from a great profession.
As a matter of fact, this one is going to take some courage to hit the "publish" button.
It's been several years now since I walked away from my role as a clinician.
I was an orthopedic physical therapist (hopefully, a damn good one too).
I still get a lot of questions about why I left the clinic?
Until now, I've never shared the full story, but because I'm asked about this so often, it's time.
(*Special "thank you" to Tami and Luis for your recent questions. It was your questions that formed the basis for this article).
Keep in mind that there are lessons in this article for every reader.
Do I regret leaving PT?
I'll explain soon.
Things happen for a reason and it’s the choices we make that shape our lives.
I was recently talking to a top strength coach.
He was telling me about his experience at a strength seminar where he was doing a presentation for a group of physical therapists.
What he told me was that he was shocked to discover that the group of physical therapist’s had very little knowledge of barbell training - and strength training in general, for that matter.
As a former physical therapist, I was quick to point out that there was indeed an “educational gap” in the training for physical therapists (PT’s) and that I wasn’t surprised at all by his comments.
I do think the tide is changing in today’s world.
For me personally, I was a “lifter” long before I was a PT (I’ll talk more about that in a minute).
The Gap
The more I learn through the years, the more I'm convinced about one thing. To achieve greatness, you have to be willing to stick to the basics. What are the basics? More in a minute about that. This is perhaps one of the most important questions in fitness and...
No doubt, you train hard. Hard training means you need to recover.
The question came up recently in a group discussion - "What do you do on active recovery days?"
It's an interesting question. I felt like I wanted to share it here and expand a little more.
Active recovery days are for recovering, they're not training days. As a highly regarded strength coach stated, "You don't get stronger by lifting weights. You get strong by recovering from lifting weights." The point is that recovery is very important for all of us, my fellow strength enthusiast.
First, we have to define what it is we're talking about.
What exactly are active recovery days anyway?