Andy McDonald on Performance Frameworks, Integrated Rehab Cultures, and Return to Play

Andy McDonald on Performance Frameworks, Integrated Rehab Cultures, and Return to Play

From Physical Preparation Podcast by Mike Robertson

May 1, 2026 · 54 min

About this episode

Andy McDonald discusses athlete recovery and challenges traditional rehab models.

Andy McDonald is a strength and conditioning coach turned rehab innovator. He’s the founder of Gameplan Performance, and host for the Informed Performance Podcast. In this episode, Andy and I attempt to unravel the complexities of athlete recovery. He challenges the traditional “three-phase rehab model” of return to play, and advocates for a more nuance and collaborative approach. We talk about how important terminology and language are in the rehab process, versus throwing around buzzwords like “strength” or “power.” And most importantly, we talk about the synergy that needs to occur between PT’s and strength coaches if we want to get athletes back to 100% – and beyond. This is an awesome episode and one I know you’re going to love – let’s do this!   Quotable Quotes: Nobody owns rehab. At the end stage of rehab, if we’re talking about the athlete getting back to a sustainable level of performance at the highest level we can get them back at, the people that know the most about what that looks and feels like is the athlete and the coach   Three-phase systems don’t work. We’ve got…

People in this episode

Host: Mike Robertson

Guest: Andy McDonald

Topics covered

  • athlete recovery
  • rehab models
  • collaboration in rehab
  • strength and conditioning
  • performance frameworks

Keywords

  • rehab
  • athlete recovery
  • strength conditioning
  • performance
  • collaboration

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Gameplan Performance, Informed Performance Podcast

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