My Education: Pain-Free Performance Specialist Certification

Last weekend I was able to take part in another certification course. As fitness professionals we must maintain our credentials through completing continuing education. The organization that credentials me (National Strength and Conditioning Association) requires educational hours every three years and conferences, seminars, and certifications are my favorite way to fulfill this. They’re my favorite because I get to learn from other and meet with other professionals. The education and networking always leave me motivated to learn more and provide my best service to my clients.
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This time the course was for the Pain-Free Performance Specialist certification. As described by their website, this certification is, “an integrated prevention based system for optimizing performance around the presence of pain and dysfunction.”

This course has been on my radar for a number of years. It was created by Dr. John Russin whose articles I have been reading online since I was in high school/college. In 2018 he and his team launched the course I took last weekend and I have seen ads and references to it regularly since. I remember when I was at The Body Architect, some of my coworkers were pushing hard to get a few of us to attend. (More on The Body Architect later)


At the certification the instructor opened with an icebreaker that frankly every coach has done before.


“Raise your hand if you’re in pain?”


Typically nearly every hand goes up.


The instructor then goes to tell everyone that it’s because of something they aren’t doing or how they promise this education will teach them to resolve the pain.


The PPSC instructor took it another way. He noted that, “if over 90% of us are currently in pain, what do our clients feel like?"


At this moment I smiled and had a feeling this was going to be a worthwhile course.


Obviously, when your go to a PAIN-PERFORMANCE SPECIALIST course you intend to learn how to work with pains. In fact, one can surmise that you will learn how you can help your clients work with their pains. This is clearly in the title, the curriculum, and ethos of the course, but all too often the objective (teach people to work with pains) strictly becomes a selling point for the course/brand/ego.


I’m not entirely sure what it was in this delivery, but way the instructor conveyed this line ensured a genuine feeling of deep charismatic concern for the clients that will ultimately be on the receiving end of our education.


Many coaches get into this career because they like to help people. We sincerely want to help our clients meet their goals, feel better, become more confident, improve performance, etc. . . It’s lovely but I will say, it’s possible in this career to lose track of this. Early mornings and late nights clouded by caffeine and fluorescent lights can make well intended and committed coaches forget that we got into this for the people we can help. Unfortunately, we see this often. I heard a statistic once that the average career of a personal trainer is 18 months. It’s not easy to keep with it long term.


The coaches I know who do make it in the career are those who always keep their clients first. They care deeply about their clients’ goals, stresses, emotions, families- their lives. We take it as our job to do all that we can to help you with your health so you can live your life for yourself and loved ones.


Coaches are trusted with multiple hours a week of our clients’ time. Two, three, four hours a week that you could be spending with your loved ones. Instead you choose to spend it with us and you trust that we will help guide you to better health. This is something I do not take lightly. I spend a tremendous amount of time and money each year to constantly learn and refine for my clients because it is thoroughly what you deserve.


So when I heard that line in this course, I was ready to listen and learn- not for myself, but for you- my clients.


Overall if was a nice course. We learned a good system for helping people work with pain, but we are coaches. We are not physical therapists. A good coach will NOT promise to get you out of pain. A good coach will have a well vetted system of physical therapists, doctors, acupuncturists, dietitians, chiropractors, massage therapists, etc . . . to whom they can happily refer you.


With that being said, a good coach will help you work with pains as they pop up, while you’re being treated by a professional, or at time when you may not be able to see someone else. Again, good coaches know their scope of practice. While we are not meant to treat pain, we absolutely should be aware of common discomforts, how to avoid exacerbating them, how to work around them, and evaluate deficits that could be contributing.


According to the World Health Organization 619 million people reported back pain in 2020. It is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Should these 619 million people never exercise? Absolutely not! Intermittent pains are common for all of us- young/old, active/inactive, rich/poor.


A good coach will help you find exercises that don’t exacerbate the pain. For example, you may have back pain, but exercise on the floor may feel good. For overall health, it’s better that we do activity that we can safely even when in pain. Our job as coaches can be to help you navigate that. Again, we won’t fix your pain, we’ll refer you to the correct professional, but there is likely a lot that can still be done.


Similarly, a well educated coach will be able to screen for a common deficits that may be contributing to pain. For example, for the many people who suffer from back pain, a coach may notice that they’re lacking mobility in their hips which could lead to more stress in the back.


I took a course a few years ago (Sleep and Recovery Coaching) where a point was nailed home- “The coach plays a vital role in one’s healthcare team.”


Your coach sees you multiple times a week, whereas a physician may see their patient once a year. A chiropractor my only see their patient if something goes wrong every 18-months. Maybe massage therapist may see their patient once a month, but a coach has such a unique role in seeing the person in front of them multiple times a week. We might see changes in you that go unnoticed by others.


We know when you’ve had a long weekend.
We see how you struggle if you’re coming down with a seasonal bug before you even know it.
We notice when you lose the weight you’ve been trying to lose for years.
We observe how your mood changes with regular exercise.
We celebrate when that nagging knee pain goes away over time.


While a coach may not have the scope of practice to help you in the way licensed healthcare professionals can, we get a lot of time with you where we can take a holistic approach to help you with your health which includes pain.


The PPSC reinforced this idea. We know our roles. We do what we can along with your providers all in the name of helping you.

The thought process presented was logical, pragmatic, and science based. Overall, highly applicable.


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For the coaches out there:
Is it a good certification to take? Yes!
Is it novel? No.


The more certifications I take, the more I realize a couple of things

1. I’ve gotten a great education over the years.

• At Hope College in my undergraduate degree studies we learned so much physiology and biomechanics that I can’t forget this stuff.
• At The Body Architect where I earned my chops as a young coach, we became professional technicians for helping people individualize workouts around pains.
• Through the various certifications that I have taken- the mechanics are always hammered home.

2. Most Strength and Conditioning certifications aren’t making up new ideas instead they’re just organizing the latest literature and best practices from over the years and putting it into their thought process (this isn’t a bad thing). In fact, I feel like most S&C based certifications are just portions of the NSCA: Essentials of Strength and Conditioning rewritten with 10% novelty added (not a bad thing-it just shows that many of us are already on the right path. Table tests, exercises, mechanics, physiology, etc. .  don’t change, but application and interrelation can).

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This is more that I can talk about in length and if you’re ever interested in sharing thought and ideas I’d love to get your take.


Still take the course though. It was really good. I think you’ll find a ton of value in it if you’re looking for a “home base” or a “set of rules” to base your programming in. New coaches, get your base level certification through the NSCA, NASM, ACSM or whoever, get a few hundred hours of personal training under your belt, form your own ideas, then take this cert!