💥 5 Truth Bombs Medical Exercise Pros Need to Hear

🔷 What the Industry Gets Wrong—and What You Must Do Instead

This year marks 31 years since we launched the first Medical Exercise Specialist workshop, and in that time, we’ve seen our field grow from an emerging idea into a recognized "Bridge Between Healthcare and Fitness". But with that growth has come confusion—largely fueled by the fitness industry's obsession with certifications over competence. 

Fitness organizations are racing to release the next “medical” or “corrective” exercise certification, and professionals are racing to collect them. But here’s the hard truth: 

👉 1. If you’re not obtaining a diagnosis for the client; 

👉 2. Communicating with the client's medical professionals; 

👉 3. Documenting every MET assessment and session and 

👉 4. Working toward sshort and long-term functional goals...

You’re not practicing Medical Exercise Training. You’re just doing personal training with higher rates and riskier clients w...

10 Essentials to Unlock Reimbursement

In today’s healthcare environment, Medical Exercise Professionals (MedExPROs) are more critical than ever—bridging the gap between rehab discharge and long-term functional recovery. But if you're still operating under a purely cash-based model, you're not just limiting your revenue—you’re also limiting your impact.

Insurance reimbursement is no longer off-limits. It's possible. It’s happening. And it’s one of the most powerful ways to grow your practice, reach more clients, and gain recognition from medical professionals.

But you need a system. And that’s what the Cracking the Code blueprint delivers. Below are the 10 essential steps every MedExPRO must follow to position their services for insurance reimbursement. These steps won’t teach you to file a claim on their own—but they’ll show you exactly where the path begins.

🔑 The 10-Step Reimbursement Blueprint for MedExPROs

1.  🧾 Verify Insurance Eligibility
   Don’t assume anything based on a clie
...

In Tip #40 of the MET 101 series, Dr. Mike dives into one of the most misunderstood and risky areas in medical exercise training: billing through a medical doctor (MD) or physical therapist (RPT) for services performed by a Medical Exercise Professional.

Dr. Mike warns MedExPROs about the "slippery slope" of indirect billing—a practice where a medical professional bills insurance for services that were actually delivered by a Medical Exercise Specialist, but without direct supervision. This isn’t a gray area—it’s insurance fraud, and it can jeopardize everyone involved, including your career. Dr. Mike shares examples such as MES professionals seeing clients at home or in a clinic while the doctor is absent, yet the provider still bills for the session. That’s a clear violation.

Instead, Dr. Mike explains the only legitimate way for a medical provider to bill for your services: you must be an employee, and medical professional must provide direct, on-premises supervision. If those two...

Medical Exercise Training has evolved over the last 31 years. Initially, everything was one-on-one training. Now, a Medical Exercise Professional (MedExPRO) practice should offer a structured and comprehensive Menu of Services focused on improving function, reducing recurrence, and enhancing quality of life for clients with medical conditions after discharge from medical care. This menu should align with the scope of practice for MedExPROs and reflect a continuum of care—bridging the gap between healthcare and fitness.

Here’s a recommended menu of services for a MedExPRO practice:

🔷 1. Post-Rehab Functional Training Programs

For clients recently discharged from PT, OT, or chiropractic care
Goal: Maintain and improve functional outcomes, prevent re-injury
Includes:

• Condition-specific programming (e.g., post-ACL, post-stroke, post-MI)
• Functional movement training
• Balance and proprioception retraining
• Core stabilization

🔷 2. Medical Exercise Assessments

Thorough functional as...

Make Your MET Practice Referral-Ready in 30 Days: A Marketing Roadmap for MedExPROs

After 31 years Medical Exercise Training is here to stay!! But being skilled isn’t enough anymore. As a Medical Exercise Professional (MedExPRO), you need to be seen, understood, and trusted—especially by the physicians, physical therapists, chiropractors, and healthcare providers who can refer clients to you. That means becoming referral-ready—on paper, in your systems, and in your presence.

This 30-day marketing roadmap is your guide to getting there. Designed specifically for MedExPROs, it walks you through four essential stages: clarifying your identity, mastering your documentation, building your referral system, and turning visibility into consistent referrals. Each step is practical, actionable, and geared toward transforming your skills into a sustainable, recognized practice.

A Marketing Roadmap for MedExPROs

It’s not enough to be skilled.

You need to be seen.

You need to be understood.

Celebrating 31 Years of Medical Exercise Specialist Excellence

As we celebrate MES Week and the 31st anniversary of that pivotal moment, it’s clear that the future of Medical Exercise Training (MET) is brighter than ever. With rising healthcare costs, an aging population, and the shift toward value-based care, MedXPROs are uniquely positioned to lead the next era of function-focused wellness. But success in this evolving landscape requires more than skills—it demands strategic marketing rooted in clarity, communication, and professionalism.

You Are the Bridge—Own It

Your greatest marketing asset is your identity as the bridge between healthcare and fitness. You don’t diagnose or treat—you guide clients with medical conditions through safe, structured exercise programming that supports long-term functional outcomes. You step in where medical care ends, helping clients regain strength, mobility, and independence.

This clearly defined role is the foundation of your credibility—and it’...

As part of our MES Week celebration, we’re proud to feature a powerful and insightful interview with Susie Duttge, a true Medical Exercise Specialist (MES) pioneer with 27 years of success in the field.

After starting her career as a professional photographer, personal trainer, and aerobics instructor, Susie dove into intensive MES training in 1995—a turning point she describes as the "fuel" that launched her journey. Inspired by her instructor and driven by an insatiable desire to learn, Susie opened her first facility, Fit for Life Rehab and Fitness Clinic, just months after completing her training.

In this exclusive interview, Susie shares the core principles that helped her build and sustain a thriving practice. Her approach? Put clients and patients at the top of the pyramid, deliver private, personalized care, and never compromise your commitment to functional outcomes.

She also opens up about how face-to-face marketing, including speaking engagements and one-on-one physician ...

A New Profession Finds Its Name, Its Voice, and Its Place in Healthcare

There was a time—not long ago—when Medical Exercise Training was barely a whisper in the minds of healthcare or fitness professionals. It existed in the gray space between discharge and decline, somewhere after the physical therapist stopped billing and long before the personal trainer truly understood what was going on with the client.

It was an invisible chapter. A missing link. A void filled with uncertainty, guesswork, and often silence.

Clients were released from rehab with conditions still unresolved—balance issues, strength deficits, chronic pain, and fear of movement. And their only option? To walk into a fitness facility, armed with a discharge slip, hoping someone on the other end knew what to do.

Too often, no one did.

But in that void… something began to grow.

The Birth of a New Discipline

Out of that uncertainty, Medical Exercise Training was born. Not as a fluke or fad, but as a response—a dire...

This week, we proudly celebrate 31 years since the very first Medical Exercise Specialist Workshop, held in July 1994—marking the beginning of a global movement that has changed lives, built careers, and bridged the gap between healthcare and fitness like never before.

Medical Exercise Specialist Week is all about YOU—the dedicated MedExPROs around the world who are restoring function, rebuilding confidence, and producing real outcomes for clients every single day.

Throughout the week, we’ll be sharing inspiring MES success stories from across the globe, giving you tools and resources to grow your practice, build lasting referral relationships with medical professionals, and dive deeper into the MES Framework—the foundation for our profession’s standards and growth.

We’ll also reveal the future vision of Medical Exercise Training—a profession with ethics, recognition, and outcomes at its core.

So whether you’ve been with us since 1994 or you’re just joining the movement, this week ...

Celebrating 31 Years of Progress by Launching the Professional Standard for MedExPROs

Happy MES Week! As we commemorate the 31st Anniversary of the first Medical Exercise Specialist (MES) Workshop in 1994, it’s a perfect time to reflect on the cornerstone of our profession: the Medical Exercise Specialist (MES) Framework. This framework is not merely a set of guidelines; it's an indispensable roadmap, essential for every Medical Exercise Professional (MedExPRO) striving to establish professional standards and deliver unparalleled outcomes for our clients.

The need for Medical Exercise Training (MET) has never been greater, driven by an aging population, the prevalence of chronic diseases, and the medical community's growing recognition of exercise as a "magic elixir" for managing these conditions. The MES Framework provides a structured and systematic approach for fitness professionals to effectively work with individuals who have medical conditions, guiding MedExPROs through their r...