The Movement Underground

09/28/2023

Lots of new faces here these days. To all of you, thanks for the follow and for allowing me to be a part of your day on some level. Figured this is a good time to bring back a brief introduction to who I am, how I got here, and why I’m so fu***ng passionate about what I do here

I’m Mike Stella. Athletic Trainer. Performance Coach. Educator. Entrepreneur.

I’m proud to be a biz owning AT. I started making content because I knew it was important for my business, but what’s happened since then has changed my life completely. You have all changed my life and I am so grateful you are here.

My journey started like many Athletic Trainers. A former D1 lacrosse player for that fell through the cracks in the healthcare system. One injury seemingly to the next, never able to get my body to rise to the level of what was once promising talent.

So I went on a journey to find answers. In the beginning out of selfish desire to get my body back, but has since fueled a mission to never let any athlete slip through the cracks...not on my watch...not if there was something I could do to prevent it.

I turned that passion into a business after being overworked, underpaid, and taken advantage of so others could profit because “Athletic Trainers can’t own businesses”

“F that. Try to stop me.” I thought...

As I began putting in the work to get it off the ground. I had hit rock bottom professionally, so really I had nothing to lose.

Since then I’ve treated and trained athletes from virtually every major professional sport. I’ve taught countless healthcare providers nationwide varying treatment and training techniques, but most important I forged a new path for Athletic Trainers to stay in the profession they love, while working the schedule and making the money they deserve.

You honor me by being here and reading this. Thank you. With that said I’m here for you. To share what I know. Learn together what I don’t know. I believe we are all and that work ethic and attitude DO MATTER.

Let’s connect. Comment, DM me, email me, text me...whatever. I’d love to hear from you and get better together!

09/09/2023

Show me a quality leader in our industry who names their education after themself…

I’ll wait.

You’ll find only the egomaniacs.

The great ones don’t need to do this because all the collective knowledge shared isn’t radically new or exclusive.

It’s an amalgamation of the work of many people over many decades.

Their isn’t any real quality expert, who thinks their ideas are unique to them.

Real experts understand that their knowledge and expertise is a by product of the work of many people who have come before.

Im all for packaging your own education, in your own style, and trying to add value to the collective. I try to do this with my education content also!

But seriously…drop the egos dudes. You ain’t that special that the technique needs your name. 😉

Random rant over. Thanks for reading! Give me an AMEN if you agree!

09/06/2023

Feels good to be in our new facility! Now offering a pre-sale on performance/fitness training!

11/15/2022

I know it’s not Black Friday yet but all the cool kids are doing their sales so I figured why not!

Now is your chance to save $50 bucks and knock out those pesky CEUS for 2022!

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✅ 6 hours of content! Research Reviews, Video Treatment Tutorials/Lecture/, Downloadable Infographics, and Nutrition guides and More!
✅ Learn how to crush short term recovery and maximize long term outcomes for your athletes and clients!
✅ BOC Approved for 6 Category A CEUs!
✅ Lifetime access including any updates!

USE CODE: BLACKFRIDAY at checkout to save $50 off!

Link in bio!

04/07/2022

❗️Buyer Beware❗️

At face value… seems pretty easy…

Suction cup this…

Scrape that…

Dig in with elbow where it hurts…

Voila! A set of black gloves later and you’re a ! (I started that trend btw…NBD😅)

However, the magic is always in the WHY behind the tool and not in the tool itself.

Can you explain how these therapies affect the body at a tissue level? A neurological level? A psychosocial level? Biochemical?

If the therapist can’t…they are an operator, not an integrator.

Nothing against operators at all! But just because you can flip a light switch, doesn’t mean you can require the house.

Wanna learn how to be more than an operator?? Head to and check out a course today! I’ll see you there 😉

02/22/2022

Repost from
•
This is what contracture looks like. A pretty severe loss of elbow extension for a competitive powerlifter after after a motorcycle accident necessitated surgical repair.

Obviously this makes things like maximal deadlifts and bench pressing very challenging as the elbow is unable to fully lock into extension.

Doc also said he’d never recover the lost ROM…

😏 CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

Here are the before, during and after shots…

A few things of note here.

Athlete has had a loss of elbow extension since august after a heavy immobilization period after surgery.

I begin with some deep tissue around forearm flexors and pronator, as well as the bicep.

Finished by blades focusing on downregulation. It looks fast from the Timelapse but this was a 30 min session and I was CRAWLING through those areas.

Then we worked on some end range isometric loading/pnf stretching techniques.

This was a lot of progress for one session. I don’t expect him to keep it all after one session, but we did cover home exercises and strategies to help lock in as much change as possible.

The power of and ! When used in conjuction with movement, load, and education…yeah, pretty potent mix.

Suffice it to say, we were both pretty pumped!

Need some soft tissue love? Click the link in our bio and schedule your session with us online!

02/02/2022

The End of the Ice Age with Mike Stella- Episode 328 of the Strength Coach Podcast https://www.strengthcoach.com/public/The-End-of-the-Ice-Age-with-Mike-Stella-Episode-328.cfm

We spoke about:

- Why RICE isn't really the best idea
- The Phases of healing
- Why Inflammation is a good thing
- The importance of Force in the whole healing process
- What we should know about the lymphatic system
- Nutrition for better healing
- Helping clients to speed up the healing process at home

02/01/2022

Had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with on the legendary podcast, Strength Coach Podcast!

Such a great talk about how there are so many opportunities to take advantage of in the healing process and sharing some of the tips, tricks, and hacks I teach in END OF THE ICE AGE! Just search for Strength Coach Podcast everywhere you like to listen!

Repost from
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Don’t downplay the first 5-6 days you after an injury/surgery!
Check out from talking about a modern approach to acute care (this is not just for ATs and PTs!!) on
Episode 328 of the Strength Coach Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music and CONTINUEfit.com (link in bio)

           

01/25/2022

Let’s get CLEAR on this…

While ICE may be a fine pain reducing strategy…

It is a TERRIBLE swelling reduction strategy!

More swelling = More pain

So all that ice for pain reduction, just creates a situation where you’re not ACTUALLY reducing swelling, therefore extending the suffering…

“But Mike, ice/compression reduces swelling!”

Sure, when you compress s**t, it gets smaller…but all you’re doing is reducing extra cellular space.

Sure when you make liquid colder, it gets denser, and doesn’t travel as well, even though it looks smaller.

Here’s the rub. Anecdotally, ice and compression SEEMS like a reasonable good idea.

The reality is that there are BETTER WAYS to reduce swelling AND pain that DON’T SLOW DOWN HEALING!

Don’t you want to know what those better ways are? I outline them@in the FREE PREVIEW of End of the Ice Age. You can check out the preview using the link in my bio.

Work SMARTER! When you really understand healing physiology, you open up more opportunities for better results in less time.

01/17/2022

for some reason has become controversial… but people will find any reason to argue on the internet so there’s that…

Whether you are for or against using manual therapy… the reason I choose this approach with my clients is for the simple fact that it is an excellent vehicle to accelerate patient driven outcome.

✅ BIO - we can enhance healing outcomes by stimulating fibroblastic response, improving tissue glide, and decreasing pain.

✅ Psychologically we can use our manual therapy time to deliver education to an ENGAGED client, after all it’s hard to ignore the guy with his elbow in your quad 😅 as well as deliver a healthy dose of quality PLACEBO! Yeah that’s right, I said it, and it’s NOT a bad thing to get someone to BELIEVE they will get better.

✅ Socially… Touch changes BOTH people. We have evolved over millions of years to be socially driven creatures and touch is an innate, inseparable part of how we, as humans, communicate. There has even been research conducted demonstrating that we can interpret someone’s feelings/state through touch!

At the end of the day, MOVEMENT is probably our best medicine, but sliding in at a close #2 is TOUCH.

With an educated, caring clinician behind that touch, we can hit the TURBO button on athlete recovery, relief, compliance, and overall satisfaction.

It is for these reasons that will ALWAYS deliver quality education through a manual therapy vehicle.

What do you guys think? For those who choose not to use manual techniques… why not? Is it limited time? Lack of educational resource? (And don’t say it’s not evidence based…because dems fighting words!)

Tag a friend who could use a good sports massage right about now!

01/12/2022

New article up! What’s the Difference Between a Massage and Sports Massage! Stay tuned for a series of blog posts helping answer the most common questions were asked!

https://www.themovementunderground.com/articles/2022/1/12/what-is-the-difference-between-a-massage-and-sports-massage

With so many option at massage and rehab clinics it is hard to know what to choose and why. Expert Bodyworker and Athletic Trainer to pro athletes, Mike Stella, breaks down the industry behind the scenes and shares what to look out for and how to find the best sorts massage and clinician in your ar

01/11/2022

This is something and I talk about all the time as she and I have both worked at outpatient physical therapy practices…

1️⃣ Ice and Stim isn’t covered by insurance…so clinics bill it under “therapeutic activity” or “patient education” which is exactly IS NOT in either case, just to make a buck on a patient for doing nothing.

2️⃣ it’s a time filler so they can double and triple book the appointment slot.

3️⃣ I’ve heard a ton of BS from actual therapists like…
”it reduces inflammation”
“It’s healing your injury faster”
“It’s different from the treatment you can get at home with a tens unit”

ALL FALSE!

Can NMES be helpful? Absolutely when used for the right reasons and situations.

Can ICE be helpful? Sure as a pain reducer, but don’t forget that comes at the cost of incomplete and delayed healing! So I ask…”are you in THAT MUCH PAIN?”

Don’t fall for the “sports PT” bulls**t marketing…

If you’re sitting around, you’re not getting better. Period.

12/30/2021

Real Life Application of END OF THE ICE AGE CONCEPTS on a post op athlete!

Today working with former LB Stephen Boyd, status post a hip resurfacing!

It’s amazing what are able to do these days. Its even more amazing how we can supercharge by starting the process EARLY!

Multiple studies have demonstrated that early intervention is superior to waiting… and the physiology of healing definitely supports this idea.

So right now, we’re focused on mitigation by addressing the elephant in the room… not his quads 😂, the !!!

We started with of the surgical leg, while he used a percussion gun around his left subclavian duct (left pec/sternum area…it’s covered in the course if you’re wondering why!)

After a 20 minute drainage sesh, we got him hooked up to some east to access aimed at improving lymphatic drainage via muscle pumping using NMES active recovery AND amping up his mitochondrial ATP production via featuring

This is one of my favorite BioHacks to optimize swelling and blood flow!

All of the research, science, theory, and applications are covered IN DEPTH in my course which is STILL ON SALE thru 12/31 and BOC APPROVED FOR 6 category A CEUs for all my at crunch time! Link in my bio! Use the code BLACKFRIDAY for 40% off your registration!

This is a modern approach! Drop any questions or comments below!

12/27/2021

There’s still time! BUT NOT much!

Wanna course that helps you get those CEUs done that doesn’t suck and can be done in an afternoon…all by watching some videos and answering short quizzes?

Check out END IF THE ICE AGE: A MODERN APPROACH TO ACUTE INJURU MANAGEMENT.

Mobile friendly, lifetime content access, free recipe guide and infographics to help educate your athletes, and an INSTANT certification to submit for 6 Category A CEUs!

This time… that ZERO HOUR, DEADLINE COURSE PURCHASE MAY BE THE BEST ONE YOU’VE EVER DONE. PROMISE!

Use the code BLACKFRIDAY at checkout for 40% off and if you’re still not sure, you can watch the first 2 chapters for FREE!

Link in bio! Sale ends Friday night at midnight, and so does the clock on your recertification!