"Insiders" academy
Become a Confident, Strength-Based Clinician — Without Guessing or Wasting Time
- Criteria-based return-to-sport decision-making
Strength & conditioning principles for rehab
Confident exercise prescription and programming
Insiders Academy helps rehab professionals confidently train athletic and active patients by mastering return-to-sport decisions, applying real strength & conditioning principles, and writing better rehab and training programs.
This isn’t generic CE...
It’s a guided system for clinicians who want to work with strength-trained and athletic populations — and actually feel confident doing it.
Inside Insiders Academy you’ll learn how to:
- Make clear, criteria-based return-to-sport decisions
- Apply real strength training principles inside rehab
- Write better programs without second-guessing yourself
WHO THIS IS FOR?
Insiders Academy Is Built for Rehab Pros Who Want More Than “Check-the-Box” Continuing Education
If this sounds like you, Insiders was built for you:
- You work with active or athletic patients (or want to)
- You care about strength, training, and long-term outcomes
- You don’t want to rely on rigid protocols or outdated rehab models
- You want CE that actually changes how you practice
This is especially helpful for:
- New grads and early-career PTs
- PTAs and ATCs working with active populations
- Clinicians transitioning toward sports or strength-based rehab
THE CORE PROBLEM
School Taught You Rehab — Not How to Train
Most clinicians struggle because they were never taught how to:
Progress strength beyond “basic exercises”
Decide when it’s safe to introduce running, plyometrics, or sport-specific work
Write programs that adapt to pain, surgery, or real-world constraints
So what happens?
You guess
You play it safe
Or you copy protocols that don’t fit the patient in front of you
Insiders Academy exists to close that gap...
THE 3 PILLARS OF INSIDERS ACADEMY
Pillar 1: Criteria-Based Return to Sport (Lower Extremity)
Stop Guessing When It’s Safe to Progress
Return to sport is one of the most stressful parts of rehab — especially after lower-extremity surgery.
You’ll learn how to:
- Use objective criteria instead of arbitrary timelines
- Progress strength, plyometrics, running, and agility with confidence
- Understand why and when to advance (not just what exercise to use)
You’ll be able to:
- Confidently progress athletes beyond basic rehab
- Defend your decisions to patients, coaches, and surgeons
- Avoid holding people back — or pushing too early
Pillar 2: Strength & Conditioning Principles for Rehab Professionals
Train Patients Like Athletes — Even While They’re Injured
Most rehab education never teaches real strength training.
Insiders Academy shows you how to apply actual strength & conditioning principles inside rehab so your patients don’t just feel better — they get stronger.
You’ll learn how to:
Apply load, volume, intensity, and progression appropriately
Modify strength training for pain, injury, and post-op patients
Bridge the gap between rehab and performance
This is where rehab meets training — the right way.
Pillar 3: Confident Exercise Prescription & Programming
Write Better Programs Without Second-Guessing Yourself
Exercise selection is easy, but programming is the hard part...
Within Insiders Academy, you’ll learn how to:
- Build programs that make sense from session to session
- Progress and regress exercises logically
- Adapt programs based on patient response — not guesswork
You’ll leave with systems you can reuse, not random workouts you forget next week.
WHAT YOU GET INSIDE INSIDERS ACADEMY
A Growing Library of High-Impact Education
Your membership includes access to:
Return-to-sport education for lower-extremity injuries
Strength & conditioning concepts for rehab
Exercise prescription, programming, and periodization
Case studies and real-world clinical examples
Downloadable protocols and resources
New content is added regularly so Insiders grows with you.
"'Insiders' was extremely helpful for me because it taught me all of the things I needed to know, that I didn't learn in physical therapy school to work with people in the fitness world."
Trey Martin - Physical Therapist and Powerlifter
"As a therapist and coach, I felt like I had a great deal of knowledge on both ends of the spectrum but not how to combine the two. Insiders was great to help me learn how to link these worlds."
Lyanne Colon - Physical Therapist and CrossFit Coach
"Dan is consistently my "go-to guy" for info about injuries in the gym. Insiders give me the insight and confidence I need to know I'm best at helping athletes in pain and not doing anything I shouldn't be."
Jason Leydon - Head Coach CrossFit Milford
Check Out What's "Inside"
The Coaching Essentials Blueprint
- Why Injuries Really Happen: The Clinician’s Framework for Fixing the Root Causes
- Mastering Exercise Technique: How to Coach Better Movement in Rehab
- How to Build Rehab Programs That Actually Work (and Patients Stick To)
- How to Build Effective Training Programs for Rehab Professionals
- How to Build Mobility Programs That Actually Improve Movement & Performance
Lower Extremity Return to Sport: A Criteria-Based System for Post-Surgical Rehab
- Strength Training Mastery: How to Progress Athletes With Confidence
- The Science of Criteria-Based Progression: A Framework for Safe & Effective Return to Sport
- Effective Return to Sport Strength & Force Plate Testing - Criteria Based Progressions
- The Return-to-Run System: Criteria, Volume Progressions & Common Pitfalls
- Plyometrics 101: How to Introduce & Advance Jump Training Safely
- Agility Return-to-Sport Progressions: When, Why & How to Introduce Complexity
Strength & Conditioning Principles for Rehab Professionals
- Strength Training for Rehab Pros: The Principles PT School Forgot to Teach You
- Periodization & Long-Term Planning in Rehab: How to Structure Training Over Weeks, Months & Seasons
- Programming for Pain Relief: How to Choose the Right Exercises, Dose Them, and Get Results
- Strength, Hypertrophy & Power: The PT’s Complete Guide to Sets, Reps & Frequency
- Advanced Strength Programming for Rehab Pros: Load Management, Tempo, RPE / RIR & Special Set Techniques
Exercise Prescription Mastery: How to Choose, Dose & Progress Rehab Exercises
- Exercise Prescription for Shoulder, Knee, Low Back & Hip Injuries: A Practical Guide for Rehab Professionals
- Coaching the Big Lifts: How to Progress, Regress, and Modify Every Major Movement
50+ Cheat Sheets for Busy Clinicians
- Rotator Cuff Disorder
- Cervical Radiculopathy
- Meniscus Pathology
- ACL, MCL, PCL, LCL Sprains
- SLAP Tears
- Radicular Low Back Pain
- Tennis Elbow
- Strength & Conditioning
- Knee & Shoulder Arthritis
- Femoral Acetabular Impingement
- Achilles Tendinopathy
- Patellofemoral Pain
Having Trouble Staying Up To Date?
- 78% of PTs cite “lack of time” as a top barrier to using evidence in practice (APTA 2022 Workforce Report)
- Only 30–40% of PTs report regular engagement with peer-reviewed research (American Physical Therapy Association surveys)
- Approximately 80.1% of PTs reported difficulty in obtaining full-text papers, hindering evidence-based practice (Brazil J. of PT 2015).
Stay current under 10 minutes with concise cheat sheets:
- Exercise progressions
- Programming concepts
- Clinical decision-making
- Strength & rehab principles
Perfect for:
- Quick refreshers
- Between-patient learning
- Staying sharp without information overload
- Keeping "up to date"
MASTER Courses:
Sometimes you need to take a really deep dive on a subject to learn about it fully. If we want MASTERY, we have to do the extra work of researching a given subject.
That's where we come in again. My job is to stay on top of the evidence and communicate best practices in a simple way. Plus I've got over 20 years of experience working as a coach and clinician. I'll give you the best evidence based treatments and show you exactly how I implement them with my patients every day of the week.
We'll cover everything you need to know, plus you can earn some PT and PTA CEUs for completing them:
- Prevalence & Prognosis
- Relevant Risk Factors
- Diagnosis & Differential Diagnosis
- Exact Rehab Protocol I use with patients
- Patient Education & Exercise Prescription
- Advanced Rehab
- Warm-ups for Pain
- Post-op Rehab
- Modifications for Gym Lifts
- Anatomy, History, Clinical Presentation
- Manual Therapy [Evidence Based]
- Case Studies [Non-op and Post-op]
Case Studies & Protocols:
Understanding the principles of rehabilitation is all well and good but it REALLY helps to see EXACTLY how the rehabilitation is done. We go over ALL of the specifics and even give you a very in depth physical therapy protocol to go along with the disorder:
- Patient History & Background
- Subjective & Objective Examination
- Diagnosis & Plan of Care
- Treatments & Education Day 1
- Manual Therapies & Exercise Treatments
- Exercise Progressions
- Session Length & Frequency
- Discharge
Sneak Peek:
Evidence Based Guide to Cervical Radiculopathy
How Training Volume Influences Risk of Injury
Unlimited CEUs Without Paying for Individual Courses:
Earn unlimited CEUs through deep-dive Master Courses covering popular pathologies — without paying hundreds per course. This means:
No scrambling for CE deadlines
No choosing between “cheap” vs “useful” CE
No extra purchases just to stay compliant
Your growth and your CE requirements are covered in one place.
Reach out to [email protected] to see if your state is eligible for PT & PTA CEUs. All U.S. states eligible for ATC CEUs.
Do you like watching my podcast? (The Fitness Pain Free Show). Future episodes will all be made available for PT and PTA CEUs along with an exclusive case study & protocol. You just have to watch the videos and take an exam!
I take the best of my youtube content, organize it, take out all of the ads, include an additional case study & protocol (Insiders exclusive) and a quiz. Pass the quiz and you earn CEUs!
Community + Guidance (You’re Not Doing This Alone)
Insiders Academy includes access to a clinician community where you can:
Ask questions
See how others are applying the concepts
Get guidance and clarification as you learn
This isn’t just content — it’s direction.
About the Course Instructor
Dan is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and board certified orthopedic clinical specialist. He has an enormous passion for fitness, rehabilitation and optimizing human performance. Not only does Dan treat athletes on a regular basis at Champion PT & Performance but he's been coaching and training athletes for the past 20 years as well.
Dan has spoken nationally and internationally on the topics of fitness and rehabilitation. He is also a published author with a #1 amazon best selling book in the weight training category.
Dan is an accomplished athlete having competed as a NCAA Division 1 pole vaulter at Rutgers. He won a national championship in the sport of strongman and competed at the CrossFit regionals twice.
As the founder and CEO of Fitness Pain Free for over 15 years, he has helped to create thousands of incredible coaches and clinicians who love their work through his courses, mentoring and communities.
WHY INSIDERS IS DIFFERENT
This Is Not a Random CE Library
Learning is designed as a process:
- Learn → apply → refine
- Build confidence over time
- Develop a clear clinical identity
Instead of:
- Passive watching
- Forgettable lectures
- One-off courses
You get:
- Practical frameworks
- Repeatable systems
- Skills that compound over your career
PRICING AND TRIAL
Start Insiders Academy for $1
Get full access to Insiders Academy for just $1 and decide if it’s right for you. During your trial, you can:
- Watch full lessons
Download cheat sheets and resources
Explore the community
Access CE content
After your trial:
- $25/month
- Cancel anytime if it’s not a fit
ONE WEEK TRIAL & MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION
$1 trial and then $25 / month subscription
$300
ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION
Save on 2 months with a yearly subscription
Once you sign up you'll be billed until you decide to cancel. You may cancel at any time. This program is a recurring subscription.
If You Want to Feel Confident Working With Active and Athletic Patients — This Is Your Next Step
Insiders Academy was built to help rehab professionals:
Stop guessing
Stop feeling behind
Start practicing with confidence and clarity
If that’s what you want — start your $1 trial today.
At Fitness Pain Free we pride ourselves on making sure our educational courses are the highest possible quality.
If you are not 100% satisfied with your purchase, just send us an email within 7 days of purchase and we will refund your entire order.
FAQs
This course is 100% online through a platform called Kajabi. There is no physical DVD. The course can be accessed via any phone, tablet, or computer.
Yes! Currently PTs and PTAs can earn CEUs through insiders. I'm currently applying for ATC CEU approval and am considering both OT and Chiro CEUs if enough folks want them!
How does lifetime access sound? After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course (pending you are not sharing free access to friends!) for as long as you like - across any and all devices you own.
Definitely not! Dan uses highly scientific information but works hard to explain complex things in a simple language. This is in an effort to help everyone understand, and also to help transfer the ideas to the gym the next day.
Insiders is $1.00 for one week of access and then billed at $25 per month. You can also sign up for $250 for the year.
