We’ve all experienced it–the nagging injury, the strained muscles, the pains we associate with “normal” aging or being too active. We’ve all had something that limits our physical activity, whether that activity is as intense as running a marathon or as simple as carrying groceries.
For many of us, we begin to think this is our new normal.
Stop thinking the aches and pains come with recovering from an injury, working a physically demanding job, or simply the price to pay for being active.
A new tenant located on Fifth Street in the Link Apartments building is combining physical therapy, personal training, and nutrition coaching services into one practice for a single purpose: offering truly personalized treatment for their clients.
Elite Movement, a small business started by two fitness fanatics, develops treatment programs customized for each individual client to help them move and perform at their best–whatever that looks like for them.
The Elite Movement business model is simple: cut the red tape and put a client’s needs and goals first. While that might sound like an obvious approach, it is far from being the norm, making the Elite Movement approach an innovative take on the pairing of traditional physical therapy and personal training.
The Elite Movement Vision
Elite Movement owners David Craft, PT, DPT, and Stefan Kinnin are full-time fitness enthusiasts. In fact, they first met in a Winston-Salem gym in June 2022. Little did they know, training together would birth the Elite Movement vision just two years later.
Meet David Craft
After Craft graduated from the University of Florida’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program, he worked in a traditional clinic setting at a hospital.
He was familiar with fitness and working with athletes from his time as a collegiate baseball player for Piedmont University. When he relocated to Winston-Salem, he joined the gym where Kinnin trained his clients. He treated the gym owners there, who began to refer other members to Craft.
What started as Craft having casual conversations about aches and pains with gym-goers here and there quickly shifted to questions like, “Can you see me here at the gym?” Even Kinnin would recommend that his clients consult with Craft when he thought it could be beneficial.
Meet Stefan Kinnin
Kinnin, a High Point University alumnus and powerlifting team member, worked as a personal trainer, applying what he learned while earning a science degree to his fitness interests.
“I have always had an interest in sports, and at a young age I got into different fitness activities outside of traditional sports,” Kinnin says.
At its foundation, weightlifting uses physics and math to understand the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration. Kinnin, a CrossFit Level 1 certified trainer, employs mathematical formulas in his program designs to move clients toward their goals by scientifically understanding how their bodies perform–and how to improve that performance. He also holds several certifications in nutrition that he employs to help clients optimize their nutrition.
Craft and Kinnin’s partnership is the product of two gym addicts working in their occupational passions with a desire to serve people better. They wanted to execute a model truly tailored to the client’s needs and goals, but they kept running into a problem: they were operating within systems that didn’t always allow them to put the client first.
Removing the Barriers to Personalization
Elite Movement is an out-of-network physical therapy provider, which some might see as a drawback, but that very mechanism allows Craft and Kinnin to achieve the personalization they want.
While Craft worked for a local hospital, he felt restricted and ineffective because the services he could offer were dictated by insurance billing.
“Insurance only reimburses physical therapists when a patient’s treatment is handled in a specific way,” Craft says.
Physical therapy treatment goes by units, which are bound by time increments. Insurance companies are involved in the standardized plan of care for patients and they’ll only pay for the units that were completed according to the plan. Furthermore, insurance companies only reimburse for treatment that gets patients back to their baseline–achieving higher performance is never the goal.
“Let’s say I believe a client needs two units of manual therapy, but insurance calls for one, they’ll only reimburse me for that one unit even if I do both,” Craft says. “If your reimbursements are down, your productivity is down, and your boss is not happy.”
Craft didn’t want his plan of care influenced by anything but the client’s needs. He wanted to be a physical therapist who could develop and execute the best strategy for an individual, not just check off exercises on a generalized plan.
Where there were preset goals at the hospital, Craft learned he could work with the client to develop their own goals without asking an insurance company for permission. He wanted to remove barriers preventing him from delivering care that gives his patients the best outcomes.
The best way to do that was to start his own business, one that wasn’t reliant upon insurance. Craft’s initial business venture was called DC Performance, which he started in November 2023.
“I was able to educate people better, to be a more patient-focused clinician, as an alternative for people who don’t want to go the traditional route,” Craft says.
DC Performance had a presence at the gym where Craft and Kinnin worked. They treated and trained clients with some overlap. As they continued to work together, Craft envisioned more than just trading clients at the gym. He pictured Elite Movement, and, it turns out, so did Kinnin.
A Good Fit for Both
Movement isn’t just a catchy fitness term for this iQ establishment–it’s a part of the chemistry between the two owners.
As an in-house trainer, Kinnin successfully propelled his clients toward their goals, but he still felt there were new heights they could reach. Enter Elite Movement, where he’s designing training programs that are actually personalized to achieve the client’s highest fitness goals.
“I noticed trainers were taking their clients through the same programs, which isn’t really personal training,” says Kinnin. “It’s no different than a generic workout platform that multiple people can subscribe to.”
“Elite Movement is a way I can get my clients into personalized training programs that focus on their goals and needs,” Kinnin says.
He trains everyone from tradespeople wanting to do their jobs easier, to athletes seeking better performance, to people with knee replacements who want to hike again. What all these clients have in common is passion to improve their movement.
Kinnin helps his clients discover what’s holding them back and gives them the tools to overcome. Whether lifting heavier weight or losing body weight, they’re finding the strength they didn’t know they had.
It makes a perfect pairing for him and Craft, who is a movement and fitness-focused therapist. Craft prioritizes improving his patient’s movement capabilities and body mechanics, going beyond exclusively treating specific injuries or pain points. He gets his client’s body pain free so they can return to the activities they love, like running, weightlifting, CrossFit, sports, or just moving.
Being a Client with Elite Movement
Every Elite Movement client and their goals are evaluated as an individual case, but more importantly, Craft and Kinnin specialize in uncovering the reason they’re passionate to achieve their outcomes–the “why” behind their goals.
You can see the difference right from the start. Once Elite Movement receives an inquiry, the client speaks with Craft or Kinnin for a discovery call. They want to make sure the client’s issues and goals truly align with Elite Movement services, that they are the right fit for achieving a client’s goals. If not, they attempt to help people get the care they need elsewhere.
Once a client comes on board, they get a personalized treatment plan. Whether the client needs rehab or training, wants to reduce pain, or train for an ultramarathon, the plan is based on who the client is, where they are physically, and where they want to be in their wellness journey.
Sometimes, though, the plan takes a backseat to what the client needs in that specific session. Kinnin endeavors to get the most out of his clients every session, but he makes adjustments based on a client’s mood, energy, or level of motivation.
“Sometimes people are just having a bad day, and we’ll just walk,” Kinnin says. “The perfect plan isn’t always perfect on the perfect day, but it can be if you listen to the client.”
“We find ways we can guide clients to help them solve their problems by creating the most direct path on how to get there,” Craft says.
Having their own space in the iQ, located on the ground floor of the Link Apartments, allows Craft and Kinnin to tailor schedules as well. Before, they used other gym spaces and battled with group classes, peak hours, and other events. With their own space that operates by appointment between 5 a.m. and 7 p.m. on weekdays, they provide a one-on-one session personalized to the clients wants and needs.
Elite Movement offers more than a service to help people feel better physically or grow stronger. They uniquely combine the passions of Craft and Kinnin and their clients, resulting in a personal connection between goal and the process. The business is also contributing to a growing wellness community downtown.
Building a Stronger Community
Craft and Kinnin are no strangers to building community. While they don’t work for a gym anymore, they recommend running clubs and gyms for clients to continue their wellness journeys.
And they’re already growing. This year, Elite Movement added another physical trainer to the team: Christina Orcino. Orcino, a sports performance coach for Georgetown University for 7 years, works with a wide range of clients–from college athletes to pregnant women, emergency personnel to elderly individuals.
While Elite Movement’s services and interests help build connections within the fitness community, having a new location in the iQ is doing the same for the innovation district.
It adds to the growing wellness community in the iQ, where service businesses are joining research companies and entrepreneurs to create a place where people go for more than science and technology. They are also going for the lifestyle.
“Once we found the opportunity in the iQ, we recognized the significance of what this part of town is doing for the community by developing a place to live, work, and play,” Craft said. “We want to be a part of that.”
Craft and Kinnin believe wellness is paramount to a high quality of life. They aim to carve a niche as a go-to choice in the local community, building fitter, stronger people by allowing them to prioritize their needs, which enhances every area of their life.
Elite Movement not only complements the other wellness businesses already present in the iQ, but it also adds to the iQ’s mission to build a vibrant–and healthy–community.
