By: The Active Life Team
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Rob coached CrossFit and owned his own affiliate for about six years before becoming an Active Life client himself — after he collapsed on the floor deadlifting.
- That moment reframed his mission: prevent it for his clients, and know how to help if it ever happens to them.
- He liquidated his gym during COVID, decided he didn’t want to own one again, and found a gym built on Active Life’s principles to coach at.
- AL-P gave him the confidence and clarity to work with the people he’s best for: post-joint-replacement, post-PT, and those for whom surgery isn’t the answer.
- Recognized by another pro, he now does much of his work remotely — which has taken him places he says he only dreamed of six months earlier.
Rob found his calling on the floor of his own gym — the day he collapsed deadlifting.
Rob is an Active Life Professional in Florida. He started as a CrossFit coach in 2011, got his Level 1, did an internship, and eventually bought the gym he worked at, running his own affiliate for about six years. Then his own body changed what he wanted to do.
The collapse that changed what he wanted to do.
Rob had become an Active Life client while working through his own stuff, and then it got personal in the most literal way.
"I essentially collapsed on the floor deadlifting. I was angry, I was frustrated… even simple stuff, like I'm going to run a personal training session and I'm afraid to pick that up off the floor for them."
Two things came to him: how could he keep this from happening to his clients, and if it did, how could he actually help them? That became the work he really cared about.
He didn't want to own a gym. He wanted to coach again.
He liquidated his gym, COVID hit, and he knew he didn't want to be a gym owner anymore — he wanted to coach. He found a gym near him built on Active Life's principles and aggressively pursued a job there. It was great, but something was still missing. He figured he'd need to shadow a physical therapist in a clinic to get it. Then Active Life announced the professional program.
"Something about it told me, like, this is it. This is the thing I've been missing. It was a no-brainer for me at that point."
Confidence and clarity about who he's for.
The biggest thing AL-P gave him was clarity about the people he wants to work with — and permission to say no to the rest.
"There's a million people out there who can do that. But when someone comes to me who's had a joint replacement, who's exited physical therapy, for whom surgery isn't the best option — that's what gets me out of bed every day."
One of his clients is in her 60s, has knee pain that makes a simple lunge or step-up hard, and wants to walk a 500-mile pilgrimage across Spain in two years. Having someone bring him a goal that big, and trust him with it, is the part he calls humbling.
A remote career he only dreamed of.
Another pro recognized Rob's work and brought him on, and today he does a large share of his coaching remotely — which he describes as financially gratifying and a door into a life he couldn't have pictured not long ago.
"It's taken me to places that, honestly, I only dreamed of six months ago."
You don't have to collapse on your own gym floor to find the people who need you most. You need the skills to help them when surgery and PT couldn't.
Start inside the assessment system. The L1 Biomechanics & Assessment Workshop is two days, live online, $19 (it was $1,500 in-person).
GRAB A SPOT — $19FAQ
A: No. Rob stayed in coaching. Active Life gave him the skills to help the people a group class couldn't, and the clarity about who he's best for.
A: No. Rob deliberately didn't want to own one again. He coaches at a gym built on these principles and does much of his work remotely.
A: That's exactly who Rob works with — people who've had a joint replacement or exited PT, and for whom surgery isn't the answer.
A: Yes. Most of Rob's work is remote now, and he calls it financially gratifying.
A: The $19 L1 Assessment Workshop — 4 hours, live online. The lowest-risk way to see if this is the work you want to be doing.
This is Rob's story in his own words — an Active Life Professional in Florida. Video above.
📖 Every coach should read this one.
Live More. Hurt Less. by Dr. Sean Pastuch is the thinking behind the method — how pain actually works, and why the members who've "tried everything" are still stuck. Read it to sharpen how you coach, then put it in your clients' hands.
ORDER the bookActive Life Professional | Turn Pro.
