By Dr. Kelly Yates, DPT | Owner, pelvRX Physical Therapy | Frederick, MD
People expect physical therapists to preach the value of movement. What they might not expect is a PT who will openly tell you that six years of CrossFit have made her a better clinician, a calmer business owner, and a more effective advocate for the women she treats every single day.
That PT is me. I am Dr. Kelly Yates, a Doctor of Physical Therapy and the owner of pelvRX Physical Therapy in Frederick, MD, a cash-based clinic specializing in women’s health, pelvic health, pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause, and menopause. And almost six years ago, I walked into ODIN CrossFit and completely changed the way I take care of myself and, by extension, my patients.
Why I Needed More Than a Workout
Before ODIN, I was working out alone. I had the discipline to show up, but not the energy to keep it interesting. Running your own clinic is not like having a demanding job. It is like having a demanding job, a second job as a business developer, a third as a human resources professional, and a fourth in marketing, all at once. Building pelvRX from the ground up means wearing every hat, making every decision, and carrying the weight of a growing team. By the time I get to the gym, I do not want to think. I want to show up, move, and go home.
I also did not want to program my own workouts. As a PT, I know enough about exercise science to make training complicated. What I actually needed was someone else to make it simple. ODIN gave me that. Show up, follow the coaching, work hard, done.
The Mind-Body Connection Is Not a Slogan. It Is Science.
As a clinician, I am asked constantly about the mind-body connection, especially in pelvic health where stress, tension, and nervous system regulation play such a direct role in symptoms. The same principles that apply to my patients apply to me.
Exercise is one of the most well-supported tools we have for managing psychological stress. It increases endorphins, the body’s natural mood elevators, and simultaneously lowers the stress hormones that accumulate during high-pressure workdays. For someone running a business while treating patients, that physiological reset is not optional. It is essential.
I notice it every week. On days I train, I am more patient in the treatment room, more decisive in the business, and more present for my team. On days I skip, I feel it. The difference is not subtle.
Community Is the Variable Nobody Talks About
Here is what most wellness advice leaves out: accountability and connection are the parts that actually make movement sustainable. Knowing you belong to a group who will wonder where you are if you do not show up changes the game entirely.
I have been going to afternoon classes during the week and open gym on Saturday mornings for nearly six years. In that time, I have built real friendships at ODIN. People who make the workouts more fun, who push me when I am tempted to back off, and who make the stress of running a clinic feel a lot lighter the moment I walk through the door.
The environment at ODIN makes this easy. Nobody is there to judge your strength level, your modifications, or your scaling choices. You start where you are. The coaching is clear, the community is welcoming, and the workouts are challenging in a way that demands your full attention, which means the mental noise from the workday has no room to follow you in.
How CrossFit Has Made Me a Better Physical Therapist
This is the part I feel most strongly about. Regularly training at a CrossFit gym has made me a genuinely better clinician, and not just because of the cardiovascular benefits or the strength gains.
I know what it actually feels like to do the movements my patients are trying to return to. I know the difference between a deadlift that feels solid and one that is compensating at the hip. I understand from experience how to modify a box jump, how to scale a barbell movement after injury, how breathing mechanics change under load, and how pelvic floor pressure management matters on a heavy back squat, not from a textbook but from having lived it.
When a patient comes to me wanting to return to CrossFit after a prolapse diagnosis, or asks me how to modify overhead pressing during pregnancy, or needs to understand why she is leaking during double-unders, I am not speaking from theory. I am speaking from a training floor I show up to every week. That context matters enormously in building trust and designing programs that are actually appropriate for active women.
The Pelvic Floor and High-Intensity Exercise: What Women Need to Know
At pelvRX, a significant portion of the women I treat are active. They are CrossFitters, runners, Orangetheory regulars, and strength athletes who love what they do and are not willing to give it up because of a pelvic floor symptom they have been told to just live with.
High-intensity exercise and pelvic health are absolutely compatible. But getting there requires understanding how to manage intra-abdominal pressure, how to coordinate breath with load, and how to progressively return to impact movements in a way that builds capacity rather than bypasses it.
This is exactly the kind of care we provide at pelvRX Physical Therapy. One-on-one, 55-minute sessions with a Doctor of Physical Therapy, no insurance constraints, no rushed appointments, and a treatment plan built around your actual goals. Whether you are managing postpartum symptoms, navigating perimenopause while staying active, or trying to figure out why something feels off when you lift heavy, we will build a plan to get you back to what you love.
I Practice What I Preach Because I Have To
Running a growing clinic, managing a team, making business decisions, and still showing up fully for 20-plus patients a week is a lot to hold. ODIN is how I hold it.
Not because I am trying to model anything for anyone. Not because it makes good marketing content. Because if I do not move, I do not function as well. My stress tolerance drops. My patience thins. My clarity suffers. And none of that is good for my patients, my team, or the business I am building.
The mind-body connection I talk about in the treatment room is the same one that gets me to ODIN CrossFit multiple times a week. Movement is medicine. Community makes it sustainable. And six years in, I have never needed both of those things more than I do right now.
If you are an active woman in the Frederick, MD area dealing with pelvic floor symptoms, whether during exercise, postpartum, or through perimenopause, pelvRX Physical Therapy is here to help you stay in the gym and feel good doing it. Reach out today to schedule your evaluation.
