Denis Thompson is a leading Exercise Physiologist with over 25 years of experience working with athletes and non-athletes of all types specializing in injuries associated with competing from all sports.

Where did you grow up and what was your childhood like? Did you have any particular experiences/stories that shaped your adult life?

I grew up in a small town in South Dakota and had the opportunity of mentoring with orthopedic surgeons in the area. This was a motivation for me to go on a quest to find a better way of addressing muscle-skeletal injuries and conditions. This quest confirmed I was a WHY guy, not a WHERE guy. I needed to understand WHY an injury happened not WHERE it happened.

What is something you wish you would’ve realized earlier in your life?

I wish I would have realized how reluctant to change the medical community was and is.

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

The number one bad recommendation is you need to work with insurance companies and accept their terms to be successful.

Tell me about one of the darker periods you’ve experienced in life. How you came out of it and what you learned from it?

We have been in the cash business for over 20 years and have treated over 500,000 patients with better than a 95% success at speeding up recovery, eliminating pain, and eliminating atrophy. We have thousands of the most elite athletes and celebrities as clients. We are the go-to source for any professional athlete who wants to recover faster from surgery or injury. We wanted to help more people and were told we could bill insurance for use of our technology. We tested the market and the reimbursements appeared to work as a business model. We scaled operations with a significant investment based on reimbursements. The carriers drastically cut reimbursements and in some cases were 120-180 days late in payments. We had over 10 million in AR and our cash was strangled. This caused major problems. We had to dig out of. The lesson I learned was to control your cash flow and do not rely on any source you have no control of such as insurance companies or medical doctors.

What is one thing that you do that you feel has been the biggest contributor to your success so far?

Never give up and always have a backup plan to test.

What is your morning routine?

This is my routine for over 20 years. I sleep every night with our technology to keep in parasympathetic dominance and to neurologically train my body. I am up at 7 am shower and do 10 minutes of neuro meditation with our technology and one hour of strength training with our technology. I then take my supplements and begin work at 8:30 am every day.

What habit or behavior that you have pursued for a few years has most improved your life?

My above routine is the one habit that has most improved my life.
What are your strategies for being productive and using your time most efficiently?
I run my business day by a calendar and when I begin a task I finish before beginning another task. I am laser-focused on the tasks at hand.

What book(s) have influenced your life the most? Why?

The books that influenced me the most are:

These books led me on my quest to help as many people as I could and helped reinforce my journey.

Do you have any quotes you live by or think of often?

These are my favorite quotes:

“Don’t expect anything you don’t inspect.”
“The greater the stimulus the greater the change.”
“I would much rather fail at trying something great than succeed at triviality.”
“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe the mind can achieve.”