Exploring Life & Business with Maria Wisman of The Cheer Doctor

Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Wisman.

Hi Maria, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I created The Cheer Doctor to introduce more cheerleaders to weightlifting for injury prevention and skill progression. I started cheering when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I cheered on an Allstar Team called Iyoowee fusion until I was in 6th grade. In middle school and high school I did school cheer only. I then went on to cheer on the Ohio State Cheer Team from 2016-2020 and I was on the USA Coed cheer team from 2018-2019 winning 3 gold medals. Now I am a Physical Therapist (graduated from DPT school at Ohio State in 2023), strength coach and founder of The Cheer Doctor where we help cheerleaders and cheer teams go from good to GREAT through strength and conditioning and physical therapy services. I am very passionate about helping more cheerleaders learn weightlifting because I never had access to these services until I was in college. Our high school cheer team never used the weight room and in all-star we just did more conditioning and cardio. I also ran track and cross-country so I was very well conditioned but my skills were plateauing and I had constant injuries and hip and back pain throughout high school. I was afraid to lift weights in high school because I thought it would make me “bulkier” as a flyer and wasn’t sure if I was doing the right things. Once I got to Ohio State, I saw they had their flyers in the weight room lifting heavy so it gave me the confidence to as well. Once I started lifting with the Ohio state cheer team my injuries almost immediately faded away and my skills exploded to the point where I was able to make the USA Cheer team. Our mission and goal today is to get more cheerleaders lifting like athletes and utilizing the weight room to not only progress our sport further as a whole but also to reduce injury risk. Through The Cheer Doctor we create strength and conditioning programs delivered via app to cheerleaders and cheer teams looking to take their training to the next level. Our goals is for all cheer teams to have access to expert strength training programs as well as other resources. In our strength app, we have also recorded calls we have done with sport psychologists, dietitians, college coaches and more so that no matter how big or small your team is you can have access to expert information!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We have definitely had some struggles along the way. I decided to start The Cheer Doctor business right away as a new grad physical therapist. Some people questioned my decision thinking I should start working a regular clinician job before attempting to open up my own practice. However, I knew the best time to take a risk was while I was young and I had time to make more mistakes. I found a business mentor right away and had a few physical therapy mentors by my side to help me in my endeavors and that definitely made all the difference! Being a small business owner, I have had to learn how to do everything (marketing, sales, social media, budgeting). I started my business with no funding, just a couple grand saved in the bank, and a lot of student loan debt. Before I even graduated college, I hired a business coach for $2000 per month for a yearly commitment although I was only currently making about $3000 per month as a personal trainer. Most people would look at that and say it was a really dumb financial mistake. However, I think it was partially the key to my success. I was forced to figure things quickly and I had a lot of support from my business coach and the community so I could learn quickly. I am super fortunate for my mentors and everyone who helped support me along the way.

As you know, we’re big fans of The Cheer Doctor. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We are a physical therapy and strength training business for cheerleaders. Our mission is to get cheerleaders lifting more like athletes for injury risk reduction and skill progression to enhance our sport as a whole. We offer group cheer workout classes, 1-1 physical therapy as well as online training programs for cheerleaders and cheer teams.

How do you define success?
I would define success as being intrinsically at peace with your day to day life. Success is the freedom to own your schedule while giving back to others and living with purpose.

Pricing:

• https://thecheerdoctor.com/groupclasses – group classes
• https://thecheerdoctor.com/monthly-online-training-plans-for-cheer-teams – online cheer team strength programs
• https://www.thecheerdoctor.com/makingmatmembership-5602-9626-2264- online individual cheerleader strength program
• Physical Therapy inquiry form: https://go.dptpreneur.com/widget/form/wgMVYT1JaxfJl7VG9xhU

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thecheerdoctor.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_cheerdoctor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EveryoneShouldLiftLLC/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheCheerDoctor1
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@the_cheerdoctor