What actually makes someone better — experience, repetition, or feedback?

In this episode of KIMEcast, Tony and Russ break down the power of feedback loops and why the speed and quality of feedback can dramatically change how we learn, coach, rehabilitate, and perform.

They explore how auditory, visual, and kinesthetic feedback influence movement; why external cues can be more effective than telling someone which muscles or body parts to move; and how creating the right environment can allow athletes and patients to discover better movement rather than simply being told what to do.

The conversation expands into clinical practice and the importance of having repeatable systems. If every patient is treated completely differently, how do you know what actually worked? Tony and Russ discuss how consistency creates a feedback loop that allows clinicians to recognize patterns, identify exceptions, and ultimately develop better clinical judgment.

They also take the concept beyond healthcare into sports, business, and life: fail fast, fail small, gather feedback, and iterate. Waiting for perfection can actually slow improvement. The goal is to create opportunities to test, learn, adjust, and keep moving forward.

In this episode:

• Why faster feedback accelerates learning

• Auditory vs. visual vs. kinesthetic coaching

• Internal vs. external movement cues

• Creating exercises that teach through constraints

• Why protocols can actually improve clinical reasoning

• The difference between experience and wisdom

• Using small failures to accelerate development

• Why perfection can become the enemy of progress

• Applying feedback loops to business and performance

• Measuring what matters — and getting the information fast enough to act on it

Whether you're a clinician, coach, athlete, leader, or simply trying to get better at what you do, the principle is the same:

Do. Get feedback. Adjust. Repeat.

What does great rehab actually look like—and have we let the pendulum swing too far?

In this episode of KIMEcast, Tony sits down with longtime friend and colleague Dr. Jess Elis of Rehab Code for a wide-ranging conversation about clinical decision-making, professional sports, manual therapy, exercise, technology, and the importance of understanding what is actually happening beneath the surface of an injury.

Jess shares lessons from his career working in elite performance and professional sports, including his time with the Portland Trail Blazers and New York Knicks, and pulls back the curtain on some of the realities clinicians face inside professional sports organizations—from load management and return-to-play decisions to the politics and pressure surrounding athlete availability.

The conversation then turns to a growing divide in physical therapy: manual therapy vs. exercise, research vs. clinical experience, and technology vs. the fundamentals of being a great clinician.

Tony and Jess challenge the idea that clinicians need to choose a side. Instead, they make the case for understanding structure, pathology, biomechanics, load, and context—and using all of those tools to make better decisions for the individual in front of you.

They also dive into:

• Why working in professional sports isn't always what young clinicians imagine
• The role of manual therapy in modern rehabilitation
• Why “all roads lead to exercise”—but getting there matters
• The danger of copying exercises and trends from social media
• How pathology changes mechanics and should influence rehab
• Meniscus tears, Baker's cysts, cartilage lesions, and tissue-specific loading
• Building systems and progressions without becoming trapped by protocols
• Why technology and data should support—not replace—clinical reasoning
• Developing better return-to-run and return-to-sport progressions
• Why the best clinicians learn to operate somewhere between the extremes

At its core, this episode is about learning how to think.

Research matters. Experience matters. Technology matters. Manual therapy matters. Exercise matters.

But none of them replace the ability to understand the person, understand the tissue, and make the right decision at the right point in the rehab process.

Special Guest: Dr. Jess Ellis | Rehab Code

How do elite athletes actually improve?

Former Major League pitcher Ryan Mattheus, founder of Optimum Athletes, joins Evan Hauger to explore what separates great coaching from great player development.

Drawing from his MLB career and years of developing high school, collegiate, and professional baseball players, Ryan explains why objective assessment, biomechanics, movement capacity, and individualized programming have transformed the way athletes should train. Together, Ryan and Evan discuss why many so-called "mechanical" problems are actually capacity problems, how collaboration between rehabilitation and performance creates better outcomes, and why the best coaches know when to lean on experts instead of trying to have every answer.

Whether you're a physical therapist, strength coach, coach, or athlete, this conversation offers practical insights into developing athletes through evidence-based coaching rather than guesswork.

• Why player development is a long-term process
• How biomechanics and movement assessments improve performance
• Capacity vs. mechanics: solving the real problem
• The importance of collaboration between rehab and performance
• Using force plates and objective testing to guide programming
• Why individualized coaching outperforms generic training plans
• Building athletes who become self-sufficient, not coach-dependent
• The relationship between performance and injury prevention

In this episode: