Rebuilding My Knees.

A year ago my knees were pretty shot. I could barely half squat, and my right knee would regularly lock up while training jiu-jitsu.

Around that time I heard an interview with Ben Patrick and found out my buddy Noah had been doing his "knees over toes" training program for a few months with great success.

I immediately started on the knee ability zero program and dropped all other training. I quit rolling and only drilled at BJJ class for a few weeks to keep some stress off the knees as well.

Within 2-3 months my knees were no longer locking up or "shifting" during training and now a year later I'm finally progressing to some loaded squatting again. Nothing impressive by any means, but yesterday's session I was able to go full range of motion in a slantboard squat for 5 sets of 5 reps with a 55lb bar and 95lbs of band tension - with ZERO pain.

As I've gotten older, I've definitely shifted the focus of my own strength training to longevity and joint health. This does not mean I don't plan to push my strength up in the lifts I am training, it just means that I will focus on getting stronger, pain free, through a full and complete range of motion on the lifts.

I can't recommend Ben's Knee Ability book enough. Yes, I know these exercises are nothing new, but the way Ben has put together a system of progression to restore pain free range of motion and knee ability is awesome.

Always learning...