Good Neighbor Podcast: Colorado Springs
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Colorado Springs. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Tony Hills helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Colorado Springs, Colorado.
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Good Neighbor Podcast: Colorado Springs
EP #96: From Injured Runner to Top PT: Adam Schwerdt's Journey to Help You Go the Distance
What makes Adam Schwerdt with RunMental a good neighbor?
Looking for specialized physical therapy that truly understands the unique demands of endurance sports? Meet Adam Schwerdt, founder of RunMental, who brings both professional expertise and personal experience to helping runners and other endurance athletes perform at their best.
Adam's journey into specialized athletic physical therapy wasn't just a career choice—it was born from necessity. After struggling with recurring injuries throughout his high school and college running career, he became obsessed with understanding the mechanics behind these setbacks. This pursuit eventually led him to physical therapy, but he quickly recognized a fundamental problem with healthcare in America: it's predominantly reactive rather than preventative. This realization inspired him to combine traditional physical therapy with performance coaching, creating RunMental as a comprehensive resource for athletes.
What sets RunMental apart is their laser focus on the specific needs of runners, cyclists, swimmers, and triathletes. During our conversation, Adam challenges conventional wisdom about running mechanics, revealing that while glute strength gets all the attention, research shows the calf muscles actually provide about 50% of a runner's propulsive force in distance events. This kind of specialized knowledge exemplifies why general physical therapy often falls short for serious athletes. As Adam explains, "We might see something outside of that, but it is mostly that runner, cyclist, swimmer, triathlete mix that we're dealing with."
Adam's dedication to helping fellow runners comes from a deeply personal place. Despite facing academic challenges and being told he should consider giving up running to focus on school, he persevered—because he couldn't imagine doing anything else. Today, he confidently states that he and his team are among the best physical therapists and coaches for endurance athletes in Colorado Springs. If you're looking to overcome an injury, improve your performance, or simply connect with professionals who truly understand your sport, check out RunMental's website or Instagram. And as Adam promises: "If we are not the people to help you out, for whatever reason, we'll let you know and we will do our best to get you connected with the right person."
To learn more about RunMental go to:
RunMental
719-270-3155
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Tony Hills.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you a runner or endurance athlete that's looking for physical therapy or performance coaching? Help might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing our good neighbor, adam Schwert, with Run Mental, adam, how's it going?
Speaker 3:It's going pretty good. How are you today?
Speaker 2:I'm awesome. We're excited about your business. Tell us about what it is that you do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, as the name implies, we do physical therapy and performance coaching, really specializing in that endurance athlete and myself in particular, I'm very passionate about runners and that's what I just love to do. I love helping runners. And then the other PT that I have on staff he's got more of a swimming and triathlon background so he helps us broaden that scope just a little bit into the cycle of swimmers and triathletes.
Speaker 2:Okay, awesome. How did you get into this business?
Speaker 3:Largely being on the other side of things. You know, I had in high school and college, had a lot of injuries, had a lot of frustrations, couldn't quite progress the way that I wanted and just kept getting into these hurdles or these setbacks, um. So in a way, I kind of became just obsessed with understanding that and eventually led me down the PT pathway. Um, and unfortunately, pt and healthcare just in our country is very, um, retroactive. So people already have a problem when they're coming to see you for therapy or whatever healthcare professional you're trying to seek out. So that's what kind of pushed me to get more on the front lines with the coaching piece. So I started. I actually started with that initially in terms of my business, and then I worked at a more traditional outpatient clinic out of school, just did the coaching piece on the side, and then in 2021, I made the switch and went all in with Run Mental, opened it up for the rehab as well as the coaching piece and kind of just being a one-stop shop to just be a resource for people.
Speaker 2:Okay, awesome. What are some myths and misconceptions in your industry?
Speaker 3:Well, there's quite a few actually, and you know I presume we'd want to zero in on, like the running piece, not just PT in general, and help narrow it down some, but there's still a lot. We actually have a workshop that we do periodically called Running Myths, truth or Bull shop, that we do periodically called Running Myths, truth or Bull. You can find info on that on in future dates on our website at runmentalcom. But one of the ones that you know I'll go ahead and tackle here is that it's all about the glutes. There's a big, big push in that. That's where all the power comes from, that's where your propulsion comes from, that's where a lot of stability comes from.
Speaker 3:And that latter piece is somewhat true, but we need to be more specific. You have three glute muscles, or primarily, if we don't include the hip. Rotators and the outermost hip or, like the sides of your hips are what provide that stability. But the other pieces of propulsion and a big contributing factor of our performance and being able to run fast really comes from our calf. The calf is truly king.
Speaker 3:When we look at the activity of the muscles, nothing's working harder than the calf, and this is distance running, in particular, the calf and this is distance running in particular. Things change a little bit when we talk sprinting, where the higher up in the kinetic chain we go or the closer we get to like our thigh and our hips and stuff, those become bigger players. But in distance running it really is the calf working the hardest and it is providing at a about 50% of your propulsive force going forward. So it's a really big player and I don't think it really gets enough credit, especially when we compare it to how much attention the hips and glutes have gotten over the years.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay. Who are your target customers? I know you said endurance athletes and runners. Are there other specific target customers that you target and how do you attract them?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it is. It is pretty much exclusively runners and endurance athletes. Through some word of mouth or just meeting somebody in the community, we might, we might see something outside of that. We might see something outside of that, but it is mostly that runner, cyclist, swimmer, triathlete mix that we're dealing with and we go to a lot of events. We go to races, go to some group runs, we've done some Facebook ads, digital marketing and such. So we've done a number of different things trying to just get the word out there, build the business, build the brand, to let people know that we're here and we just want to be a resource for them and help them out Outside of work what do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:Well, naturally I do a lot of what I help people with. So there's a whole lot of running and hiking and this summer my wife and I are big into backpacking We'll do at least one trip a year. You know, at least a few days, if not four or five.
Speaker 2:We just go up into the mountains pack everything we need in our packs and head out into nothing. Okay, let's switch gears. Can you describe a hardship or life challenge you overcame?
Speaker 3:how it made you stronger and what comes to mind? Yeah, you know, you guys sent me a list of questions and I saw that and I was like man, I feel like I should come up with something really big and really good. I feel like I should come up with something really big and really good and I think it's. I don't know that it's one singular thing, but it's kind of the culmination of everything that brought me to where I sit today on a call with you for this podcast, and that's all the injuries.
Speaker 3:I actually struggled in undergrad and PT school quite a bit and I had, you know, there's a lot of. I got a lot of pushback along the way of. You know, maybe you need to consider not running, which was just a huge part of my life, to focus on school. Maybe I needed to go a different route or, you know, do a different degree or something. And for anybody who really knows me, you know you'd hear that and you'd be like what would you do? Like, cause I, I am the guy like, in my downtime, when I'm not backpacking in the summer and doing something else leisurely, like I will I'm reading research, I am watching YouTube videos from recorded lectures at different conferences and I just love this stuff.
Speaker 3:I have a stack of books all about running, performance, running, rehab, mindset, stuff around that. That, you know, just makes me like what else would I do? I'd probably still be doing this to some extent, you know. So I think it's getting a lot of that pushback and, you know, just not listening to it and just like really following my own heart and desires and sticking it out. And then now here I am, some years later, very confident, saying that you know, myself and Chase are one of the best PTs and coaches in the Springs, that that you could seek help from. And you know, just, let us be in your corner and be a resource and I I really think you'd be, you'd be very happy with with the care you receive.
Speaker 2:Okay, Adam, please tell them, this is one thing they should remember about run mental.
Speaker 3:Run mental, we're here to help you. If you run, you hike, you bike, you swim, you triathlon, whatever it is, we are here for you. And if we are not the people to help you out, for whatever reason, we'll let you know and we will do our best to get you connected with the right person.
Speaker 2:Okay, how can our listeners learn more about Run Mental?
Speaker 3:They can do a couple of things. How can our listeners learn more about Run Mental? They can do a couple things. They can go to our website learn all about us there. They can also follow us on Instagram. That'd be probably the next best place to look and kind of see what we're doing.
Speaker 2:Okay, Okay, well, adam, I really appreciate you being on the show today. We wish you and your business much success moving forward.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Colorado Springscom. That's GNP Colorado Springscom, or call 719-679-4720.