Episode 20 Q&A: Online Coaching, Athlete Health, and the Systems Behind Success
Episode 20 of the Stimulus Matters Podcast takes a reflective dive into the coaching journeys of Kyle Ruth and Ryne Sullivan. In a special Q&A for...
Episode 8 of the Stimulus Matters Podcast features special guest Kyle Habdo, a physical therapist and performance coach who lives in both worlds. This conversation explores what happens when the rehab room and the weight room are no longer separate—and what that means for CrossFit athletes dealing with pain, injury, or chronic movement issues.
If you’re a coach trying to keep your athletes healthy and competitive, or an athlete wondering how to train through nagging pain, this episode offers one of the most practical frameworks to date.
Habdo opens the conversation with a clear stance: manual therapy (dry needling, cupping, bodywork) can provide temporary relief, but rarely leads to lasting change on its own.
Instead, he focuses on building tissue resilience through intentional loading. Whether it’s positional isometrics, targeted eccentrics, or range-specific strengthening, the goal is always to create physiological change—not just short-term relief.
“Stretching and massage are the first things people try—but they rarely work. We need to load the system if we want real change.”
One of the most discussed themes is athlete buy-in. Kyle, Kyle, and Ryne agree: if the athlete doesn’t understand why a drill or exercise matters, they won’t engage with it fully—and it won’t transfer.
That’s why Habdo treats rehab drills the same way he treats sport skills. Every drill is explained in context:
This education-first approach makes rehab an extension of coaching, not a detour from it.
Rather than treating rehab and training as separate modes, Habdo encourages coaches to view them as a spectrum. On one end: isolated positional strength work. On the other: full-speed, full-load performance.
For most CrossFit athletes—especially those returning from injury—training lives somewhere in between. Coaches need to:
The episode also explores how overreaching and stress contribute to chronic tweaks—and why managing training load intelligently is a more effective “prehab” than endless isolation drills.
Kyle and Ryne discuss how pain often emerges when athletes push too hard without recognizing the signs. The solution? Reactive deloads, guided warm-ups, and a system that helps athletes catch breakdowns early.
They also touch on how psychological stress amplifies pain and sensitization, reinforcing the need for honest athlete communication and recovery education.
One of the biggest takeaways from this episode is the reminder that pain-free performance isn’t the same as resilient performance. Just because an athlete isn’t currently in pain doesn’t mean they’ve addressed the root cause of their past injuries.
That’s why Habdo encourages coaches to keep low-level exposures to problematic movement patterns year-round—even when athletes feel great. Light positional holds, tempo eccentrics, or controlled partial ROM work can create the tissue tolerance needed to handle volume spikes later in the season.
The ultimate goal is to help athletes become durable—not just temporarily functional—and to teach them how to monitor and adjust before the next injury forces their hand.
Episode 8 is a must-listen for coaches who want to do more than just keep athletes from getting hurt. It lays out a clear framework for how CrossFit rehab and performance work together—through intentional progressions, educational coaching, and smarter program design.
The takeaway is simple: rehab doesn’t end when pain goes away. True performance comes from understanding movement, respecting the nervous system, and building tissue resilience over time.
Listen to Stimulus Matters Podcast Episode 8 to learn how to coach athletes through pain, setbacks, and comebacks—without losing performance in the process.
