🚨 NEW PODCAST EPISODE ALERT! 🚨
🎧 Medical Fitness Podcast | Powered by the Medical Fitness Association + MRFi

🔥 This one’s a must-listen for anyone serious about bridging the gap between healthcare and fitness.

We sat down with Carly Headd, Director of Programming at Pinnacle Lifestyle Medicine, to unpack what real medical fitness looks like in action—from behavior change coaching and chronic disease programming to building powerful referral pathways from PTs and RDs into long-term fitness care.

🏥 Carly shares:

· How she moved from exercise physiologist to leadership

· Why behavior change is often more important than the exercise prescription itself

· How to build confidence and credibility as an EP in clinical settings

· What she looks for when hiring fitness professionals in a medical model

· How Pinnacle’s Lifestyle 365 program leverages standardized assessments, education, and collaboration with PTs and RDs to drive outcomes

· How they track referral effectiveness by provider, not just clinic

⚠️ Key message: You can design the best program in the world—but if the patient isn’t behaviorally ready, it won’t matter. Carly reminds us that health coaching skills are not optional anymore—they’re essential.

And yes—we talk data too. You’ll hear how Pinnacle tracks referral patterns, uses CGMs in pilot programs, and avoids overwhelming patients with metrics they don’t understand.

💥 Whether you're a clinician, exercise physiologist, or just someone working to build a bridge between medicine and fitness—this episode delivers.

🎙️ LISTEN NOW — Available on all platforms.

📬 Connect with Carly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carly-headd-4a3589a6/

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🎙️ New Episode: Redefining Cardiac Rehab—How One Team Is Disrupting the Status Quo

📍 Season 3, Episode 14 | Guests: Ashan Korala & Alex Cannon
🎧 Listen now on all major podcast platforms

For decades, cardiac rehab has followed the same outdated script: light aerobic work, RPE-based guesswork, minimal resistance training, and low adherence. The result? Underwhelming outcomes and missed opportunities.

In this episode, we spotlight a cardiac rehab model that challenges all of that.

Ashan Korala, Director of Wellness Services at Pinnacle Lifestyle Medicine, and Alex Cannon, Lead Exercise Physiologist at Valley Medical Center, join us to break down how they’ve rebuilt cardiac rehab from the inside out—shifting from subjective, nurse-led monitoring to a progressive, data-driven, exercise science-based program that delivers real outcomes.

🚨 Highlights from the conversation:
✅ Objective Testing Over Guesswork
Patients now undergo baseline submax VO₂ testing and 1RM assessments. VO₂ estimates are used to guide aerobic prescriptions, while strength training is periodized using real metrics, not assumptions.
✅ Resistance Training Is No Longer Optional
Forget light bands and 5-pound dumbbells. Their program integrates structured, progressive resistance training using Technogym’s BioCircuit system—allowing for safe eccentric overload, objective progress tracking, and meaningful improvements in lean mass and strength.
✅ Quantifiable Outcomes
•35.5% increase in VO₂ (vs. national average of ~10%)
•12% increase in grip strength
•27 average visits per patient (vs. 15 national average)
•Seamless transition into a structured, self-pay phase 3 program with high continuity rates
✅ Built-In Safety, Structure, and Oversight
This model isn't just scalable, it's smart. Safety features in the equipment, team-based staffing models, and consistent reassessments allow for aggressive progression when appropriate, and conservative dosing when necessary.
✅ Patient Retention Through Smart Handoffs
The “Vitality Visit” and integrated phase 3 transition model ensure patients don’t fall through the cracks post-rehab. Instead of handing them a generic home exercise program and hoping for the best, they’re walked directly into their next step—with purpose, planning, and accountability.

💬 “This isn’t just cardiac rehab. It’s a clinic-wide systems shift—fusing medical oversight with the best of exercise science. And it’s working.”

Whether you're a clinician referring to rehab, an exercise specialist working in a hospital, or a fitness pro hoping to collaborate across disciplines—this episode is a blueprint for what cardiac rehab should look like.

🧠 Data-driven.
💪 Strength-integrated.
🔁 Patient-centered.
📈 Outcome-focused.

This is how we bridge the gap.

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🏥💪 A Certified First in Medical Fitness: How One YMCA is Reshaping Community Health

🎙️ In the latest episode of the Medical Fitness Podcast, we sat down with Veronica Lopez, RN, Vice President of Health Strategies at the YMCA of Greater Brandywine—the first YMCA in the country to become Medical Fitness Association certified.

Hosted by David Flench, President and CEO of the MFA, this episode is a playbook for any organization looking to elevate their impact, credibility, and partnerships in the health continuum.

What you'll learn:

🔹 How a vision became reality: Veronica explains how her team took a bold idea—positioning the Y as a legitimate healthcare ally—and executed it across nine branches.

🔹 Behind the scenes of MFA certification: From culture shifts and weekly task-force meetings to scoring a 97+ on the audit, this is the blueprint for making medical fitness real in a community setting.

🔹 Why now?: With healthcare access gaps, transportation deserts, and chronic disease on the rise, the Y leaned in—not away—and created solutions like the Fit Truk, a mobile fitness and screening center.

🔹 What’s next? “Prescribe the Y” is launching soon, powered by encrypted EHR and real clinical referrals. Their team of certified professionals (mostly NASM) is trained, connected, and ready.

🔹 Key takeaways for leaders:

Don’t wait for the perfect time—start with your “why.”

Create cross-functional teams and track progress visually (think: red-yellow-green dashboards).

Certification isn’t about checking a box—it’s about credibility, partnerships, and long-term sustainability.

A certified facility gets a real seat at the healthcare table.

Whether you’re in healthcare, fitness, public health, or community leadership, this episode shows what’s possible when standards meet passion—and when strategy meets service.

👇 Tag a clinician, YMCA leader, or fitness professional who needs to hear this.

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