Meet the Barbell Rehab Team
Dr. Michael Mash
DPT, CSCS, BRM, SFMA, FMS
Founder/Owner
Hi, I’m Dr. Michael! I’m a Doctor of Physical Therapy and the owner and founder of Barbell Rehab. I help fitness and rehab professionals improve the management of their clients dealing with pain. I received my Doctor of Physical Therapy from Duquesne University in 2016, Bachelor of Science in Biology from St. Vincent College in 2014, and have been an NSCA Certified Strength & Conditioning Coach (CSCS) since 2015 as well.
I spent the first three years of my career working with thousands of older adults, teaching them the benefits of multi-joint compound movements for strength, power, and longevity. I’ve taught more people over the age of 70 how to squat, deadlift, and landmine press than I can even count!
Through my expertise with prescribing and modifying compound exercises for older adults, and my experience helping barbell athletes overcome pain through my cash-based Physical Therapy business, I created the Barbell Rehab Method Certification, a 2-day live course that teaches fitness and rehab professionals a step-by-step approach for how to safely work with clients in pain.
As Seen On
Since September 2019, my team and I have taught over 140 of these live courses at various locations all through the United States, Canada, and Europe including world-class facilities like Kabuki Strength, Under Armour Global Headquarters, and Onnit Gym.
So far to date, over 2,800 fitness and rehab professionals have gone through our course and are now out there in the world helping their clients continue to safely train in the presence of pain. To learn more about Barbell Rehab and our mission, please click here.
From Our Past Events
KABUKI STRENGTH | Portland, OR
ONNIT Gym | Austin, TX
Under Armour World Headquarters | Baltimore, MD
Dr. Sophia Veiras
PT, DPT, BRM
- BRM Course Instructor
- Creator of Unique Considerations for the Female Barbell Athlete
Sophia graduated from Northeastern University in 2015, earning both her Doctorate of Physical Therapy (DPT) and Bachelor of Science (BS) in Rehabilitation Science with a minor in Psychology. Following graduation, Sophia continued her formal education through Northeastern’s College of Professional Studies, earning her Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) in Orthopedic Physical Therapy.
Since then, Sophia has continued to develop her knowledge through a variety of courses and seminars with emphasis on strength training, women’s health, and psychological aspects of injury, pain, and rehabilitation. With her expertise, Dr. Sophia created Unique Considerations for the Female Barbell Athlete, an online course that teaches how to safely strength train women through pregnancy, postpartum, and beyond!
While pursuing her degree at Northeastern, Sophia participated on the NU club wrestling and club powerlifting teams. She achieved All-American honors within each sport, winning a national championship as a wrestler and world championship as a powerlifter. She continues to train, compete, coach, and volunteer within the sport of powerlifting at local, regional, national, and international levels.
Sophia’s clinical interests include working with strength athletes, females, and bridging the gap between injury and return to performance. Sophia’s treatment philosophy involves empowering individuals through education, activity modification, graded exposure and progressive loading to accomplish individual’s goals. She incorporates strength and conditioning principles as well as behavioral strategies to ensure that individuals are able to handle the physical and psychological constraints of their demands.
Dr. Miles Nicholas
PT, DPT, CSCS, BRM
- BRM Course Instructor
- Co-creator of Principles of Musculoskeletal Management
- Creator of Athletic Iron Group Programming
Miles graduated from Northeastern University in 2019, earning both his Doctorate of Physical Therapy (DPT) and Bachelor of Science (BS) in Rehabilitation Science. During his undergraduate program he completed the Concentration in Sports, Strength and Conditioning in addition to dual-minors in Exercise Science and Psychology. He has held the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist Certification (CSCS) through the NSCA since 2019, previously working as an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) between 2015-2018. He has undergone further education through Plus Plyos and the EXOS Performance Specialist (XPS) curriculum in order to better integrate coaching and programming of plyometrics, sprinting, and multi-directional speed.
Miles is the co-creator of our Principles of Musculoskeletal Management online course and runs our plyometric and speed-based group training program Athletic Iron.
Miles’ clinical interests include working with overhead athletes (baseball, tennis, volleyball etc.), field/court sport athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and active older adults. His treatment philosophy involves the utilization of education, activity modification, and goal-directed movement or exercise to assist each individual in achievement of meaningful goals. He incorporates strength and conditioning principles into each client's rehabilitation, as indicated, to ensure that each individual is physically prepared for the demands of their goal-activities. He makes every effort to treat each client holistically, with an evidence-based approach.
Outside of the clinic, Miles enjoys resistance training, skiing, hiking, running, and spending time with his wife, Lillie, and dog, Birdie.
Dr. Ben Geierman
PT, DPT, CSCS, BRM
- BRM Course Instructor
- Co-creator of Principles of Musculoskeletal Management
- Author of Research Roundup Email Newsletter
Dr. Benjamin Geierman graduated in 2019 with his Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Chatham University and in 2017 from Grand Valley State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Clinical Exercise Science. He also earned his Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) from the NSCA in 2017.
Ben is known by his peers as a passionate “pain nerd” and enjoys consuming a borderline irresponsible amount of literature on the dynamic and multifactorial experience of pain. He especially enjoys working with folks experiencing persistent spine and extremity pain along with guiding active individuals experiencing everyday aches and pains back to their valued activities. He is a long time hockey and fitness enthusiast and enjoys getting on the ice and in the gym recreationally as often as possible.
Along with Dr. Miles, Dr. Ben is the co-creator of Principles of Musculoskeletal Management and also the author of our Research Roundup Email Newsletter series.
Dr. Hays Estes
PT, DPT, MHA, OCS, USAW, BRM
- BRM Course Instructor
- Creator of Olympic Weightlifting Fundamentals
Dr. Hays graduated from the University of Florida in 2012 with his Doctorate of Physical Therapy, and he graduated longer ago than he cares to remember from The Pennsylvania State University with his B.S. in Biology. He is an Orthopedic Clinical Specialist through the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. Additionally, he has been a USA Weightlifting Level 1 Sports Performance Coach since 2018 and previously held his Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA.
Hays is the owner of Premier Physical Therapy in Clearwater, FL, and his clinical interests are barbell athletes (CrossFitters and powerlifters) and high school athletes. One of Hays’s professors at UF was on the forefront of pain science education, so Hays finds a way to overcome fear of movement with his patients using concepts of graded exercise and exposure. His goal in the clinic is to get all of his athletes lifting a weight and back in the gym as soon as safely possible by incorporating their desired lifts in their rehabilitation.
Hays is the creator of Olympic Weightlifting Fundamentals, one of our CEU-approved self-paced online courses. He has competed in local amateur Strongman competitions and is an avid golfer, competing in local leagues. His goal is to provide an example of “lift for life” for his patients and his children.
Dr. Susie Spirlock
PT, DPT, BRM
- BRM Course Instructor
Dr. Susie Spirlock is a coach, physical therapist, and movement optimist who brings an incredibly unique approach to both training and physical therapy practice. She believes that strength training IS rehab when it comes to treating pain and overcoming injury. Education and authenticity are at the center of what she does. People love her research-backed brain gains that they can confidently apply to their own training. Clients & colleagues love working with Susie, often describing her as quirky & fun, yet undeniably knowledgeable.
Susie earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Exercise Science from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in 2016 followed by her Doctor of Physical Therapy from Western Carolina University in 2020. She practiced in an outpatient orthopedic clinic for the first 3 years after DPT school, and then transitioned to all remote rehab and fitness coaching after launching her business, Move Your Bones LLC, in 2022. She has recreationally been lifting weights for the past 7 years with a training style incorporating powerlifting, bodybuilding, and multi-planar movements.
Within her education and certifications, Susie has developed particular expertise in human movement, training principles, and program design. She uses this knowledge to train clients online, helping hundreds of women get confident under the barbell, navigate injury, and fall in love with strength training.
When she’s not in the gym, you can find her snuggling or walking her two dogs, Winnie & Mowgli, watering her 37 houseplants, creating content for social media, or escaping to the mountains for a long hike!
Our Mission
Dr. Michael realized the benefits of barbell training long before he became a physical therapist. At the young age of 18, Michael participated in his first powerlifting competition but soon after underwent shoulder surgery for a long-standing baseball injury. After experiencing how heartbreaking injury can be as a young athlete, Dr. Michael yearned to help others optimize their recovery, program, & technique to rise above their injuries and unlock their ultimate potential. How does he do this?...By helping the COACHES and CLINICIANS who work with these folks the most!
At Barbell Rehab, our mission is to unite fitness and rehab professionals to improve the management of clients with pain or discomfort. Far too often I see healthcare providers hesitate to refer their patients to a personal trainer after discharge in fear that they might “undo all of their progress.” On the other hand, fitness professionals may be hesitant to refer their clients to a healthcare provider in fear that they’ll be told to stop lifting. We want to offer a better solution. One where rehab and fitness pros work TOGETHER to help prevent overmedicalization and unnecessary surgeries.
Only 23% of adults in the United States meet the recommended physical activity guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO). One of the major barriers to strength training and physical activity in general is musculoskeletal pain. Many people falsely believe that the presence of pain warrants a discontinuation of the activity and opt to rest instead. While older treatment strategies for pain may have recommended complete rest, this simply is no longer the case. We now know that pain doesn’t always mean something is “damaged” or “wrong” with the body, and that movement and exercising is actually one of the best things we can do for it!
Here’s where Barbell Rehab comes in.
In our live and online continuing education courses, we teach fitness and healthcare professionals how to coach and modify barbell exercises for clients with pain. These professionals, who range from personal trainers and strength coaches to physical therapists and athletic trainers, serve a pivotal role in their ability to promote strength training to the masses. By teaching these professionals how to make strength training exercises more comfortable for their clients, we believe we can make a great impact on keeping people exercising for life!