The Metabolic Engines That Could

Conditioning & Exercise Metabolism for the Return-to-Sport Athlete

by Mark Murphy, PT, DPT

Upcoming Dates

Newton, MA – January 30-31, 2027
Divergence Physical Therapy & Wellness
REGISTRATION OPEN

We are currently scheduling for 2027. Please contact us if you are interested in hosting The Metabolic Engines That Could at your facility.

Intended Audience:

Physical Therapists, Physical Therapist Assistants, Athletic Trainers, and related professions/students of those fields

Description:

Physical therapists are trained to restore function but the metabolic demands of sport are rarely taught in clinical programs. An ACL athlete cleared at 9–12 months may move well and still carry the cardiovascular capacity of a sedentary adult. An overhead thrower returning from labral repair cannot sustain peak velocity if the oxidative system has atrophied. Movement-quality clearance and metabolic readiness are not the same thing, and we routinely test only the first.

This course supplies a working model of energy systems, a named library of conditioning methods with exact dosing, and a constraint-first method for choosing among them when tissue healing limits what an athlete may do. The organizing framework for conditioning dosing throughout is based on work from Joel Jamieson, Derek Hansen, resources from the NSCA and a variety of scholarly articles focused on advancing cardiovascular performance; the post-surgical constraint layer and the diagnosis-specific applications are the presenter’s.

Objectives:

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Describe how ATP is produced across the three metabolic engines and apply the energy-continuum concept to sport demands
• Explain the rate versus capacity trade-off and its implications for conditioning program design
• Identify the physiological basis of cardiovascular fitness and the impact of injury-induced deconditioning, including quality-specific decay rates
• Distinguish the Anaerobic Power Reserve and explain its relationship to fatigue, phosphocreatine resynthesis, and repeated-sprint ability
• Select an appropriate aerobic assessment maximal or submaximal, on feet or off feet based on the athlete’s clinical restrictions and risk profile
• Administer and interpret submaximal VO₂max estimates, stating the assumptions and error margins each carries
• Distinguish anaerobic power from anaerobic capacity, and select an appropriate anaerobic test across treadmill, sled, cycle, and rowing modes
• Test, calculate, and prescribe from Maximal Aerobic Speed, and explain why distance-based prescription outperforms heart rate for short intervals
• Select and dose conditioning methods from a named library spanning the aerobic, alactic, and lactic families
• Apply a constraint-first modality matrix to substitute training modes when a clinical or equipment restriction rules out the usual choice
• Monitor conditioning adaptations using HRV, resting heart rate, heart-rate recovery, session-RPE load, and criterion field re-testing
• Construct a periodized four-week conditioning block, with monitoring signals and written stop rules, for a return-to-sport athlete
• Apply the four-question case method to build a written conditioning plan for common sports medicine diagnoses, including ACL reconstruction, lateral ankle sprain, anterior shoulder instability, and lumbar discectomy

Schedule

Day 1
08:00 - 09:15	Part 1 - Intro/Cardiovascular Fitness & the Injured Athlete
09:15 - 11:00	Part 2 - Exercise Metabolism
11:00 - 11:15	Break
11:15 - 12:00	Part 3 - Measuring & Targeting the Engine (testing, profiling, & MAS)
12:00 - 12:45	LAB A - Run the Test, Own the Number (field/MAS)
12:45 - 13:15	Lunch (on your own)
13:15 - 14:15	Part 4 - Aerobic Methods 1-4
14:15 - 15:00	LAB B - Aerobic Method Circuit
15:00 - 15:15	Break
15:15 - 16:15	Part 5 - Anaerobic Methods 5-6
16:15 - 17:00	LAB C - Alactic & Lactic Stations
Day 2
08:00 - 09:00	Part 5B - The Complete Method Library
09:00 - 09:30	LAB D - Constraint Substitution Drill
09:30 - 09:45	Break
09:45 - 10:45	Part 6 - Programming, Monitoring & the Variables Outside the Session
10:45 - 11:30	LAB E - Programming Workshop
11:30 - 12:00	Lunch (on your own)
12:00 - 13:00	Part 7 - Case Studies & the Diagnosis Library
13:00 - 14:00	Implementation, Special Populations, Post-Test & Close

Presenter:

Mark Murphy

Mark Murphy, PT, DPT, SCS, CSCS, CPSS is a sports physical therapist, applied sport scientist, and DPT educator whose work bridges clinical rehabilitation and elite athletic performance. He serves as the Applied Sport Science & Performance Lead at the Mass General Brigham Center for Sports Performance & Research in Foxborough, MA, where he leads sport science and return-to-performance initiatives within a multidisciplinary medical, performance, and research team.

Mark came up through the University of Rhode Island as a former NCAA Division I football player who went on to work across the athletic program as a strength & conditioning coach, a sport coach, and ultimately URI Athletics’ Rehabilitation & Return-to-Performance Coordinator. He earned his Doctorate in Physical Therapy from URI and completed an orthopedic fellowship at the University of Oxford, where he also taught human anatomy at the Oxford School of Medicine. He is currently pursuing his PhD at the Mass General Brigham University of Health Professions. Mark is a Board-Certified Sports Clinical Specialist (SCS), Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), and Certified Performance & Sport Scientist (CPSS), and brings seven years of college-level teaching.

He is graduate faculty at Bridgewater State University, focusing on exercise metabolism, faculty in the Mass General Brigham sports & orthopedic residency programs, and a professor in the URI DPT program. His research and clinical interests center on conditioning and exercise metabolism, blood-flow-restriction training, isokinetic and force-plate testing, and closing the gap between the clinic and the field.

Contact Hours 13/CEU 1.3

This course meets the standards for 13 hours of continuing education by most state physical therapy boards. Please contact your state board for details on their specific requirements.

The Science PT (BOC AP#: P3211) is approved by the Board of Certification, Inc. to provide continuing education to Athletic Trainers. This program is eligible for a maximum of 13 Category A hours/CEUs. ATs should claim only those hours actually spent in the educational program.

The Science PT is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Physical Therapy as an approved provider of physical therapy and physical therapist assistant continuing education.

For more information on CEU, check out our Continuing Education Credit page.

Terms & Conditions/Refund Policy

By registering for this course you agree to the Terms & Conditions including the refund policy.

Upcoming Dates

Newton, MA – January 30-31, 2027
Divergence Physical Therapy & Wellness
REGISTRATION OPEN

We are currently scheduling for 2027. Please contact us if you are interested in hosting The Metabolic Engines That Could at your facility.