2 Pieces of Knees Over Toes Science & 5 More to Be Added
Here we see a young Arnold Schwarzenegger squatting deep, with his knees over his toes. This was well-respected in the early days of exercise.
A decade later, a university study found that knee over toes = more pressure on the knee.
Since then, thousands of colleges and universities have used textbooks clearly stating THE KNEE SHOULD NOT GO OVER THE TOES when squatting.
Such textbooks are still widely in use to this day.
But in 2013, broad university research was examined, finding:
- A deep squat with knee over toes does NOT increase risk of injury.
- A deep squat with knee over toes helps PREVENT injury.
- A deep squat with knee over toes helps PREVENT knee degradation.
“Knee over toes = more pressure on knee.”
THAT was science.
“Deep squat = knees over toes.”
THAT was science.
But the OPINION to avoid these positions was a human error, NOT SCIENCE.
It is an UNDERSTANDABLE error, but the nature of a textbook system means this false data may continue to be passed on with mandatory adherence.
You fail the exam if you answer correctly.
I recall being in college, having to guess how up-to-date the textbook was in order to choose the “right” answer on the test.
Sadly, I had to lie in order to pass!
But I don’t pose problems without SOLUTIONS.
And I want to pause to add one more time, just to be crystal clear:
THE MISTAKE OF “NO KNEES OVER TOES” WAS UNDERSTANDABLE.
I’ve reached plenty of wrong conclusions in my life.
I could have made that mistake.
That mistake happened to cause me great suffering compared to what life could have been.
Learning about the mistake and creating a system based on true data happened to give me back my joy.
The last decade of my life has been incredible.
I am fueled by tremendous gratitude EVERY DAY, and I gladly accept my role in helping educate on the true science of this subject.
So in addition to “knee over toes = more pressure on knee,” and “deep squat = knees over toes,” here are 5 MORE pieces of science that should be added to the textbooks as rapidly as possible.
- Walking backward is knee over toes.
This is an observable fact, not a human opinion.
Backward walking opens many doors, since university research has “proven” it to be so therapeutic for so many different problems!
This step alone being added to university textbooks would be a HUGE WIN for the field of knee science!!!
2. You can add resistance to backward walking in a fundamentally different fashion than lifting weights.
This is another observable and testable fact, not human opinion.
I attached my mother to a 1,000-pound sled and she tried to move it backward.
The result?
It didn’t budge.
But she was fine!
Progress can be observed and measured with a sled or a resisted treadmill.
The resistance is the surface, not the load bearing down on you.
Backward walking opens the doors to tremendous CIRCULATION.
Circulation would also be very easy to test!
By finding an amount of resistance which you can step, knee over toes, without pain, you can then increase SPEED, allowing the knee to work incredibly vigorously in a knee over toes position while being fundamentally safe.
The word “safe” would not be as scientific, but the way the pressure and circulation are measured would be very easy for universities to establish.
3. While a “deep squat is knees over toes,” it should also be clear in the textbooks that a deep squat scales in ability levels, just as a pull-up does.
Every trainer knows that a pull-up can be done assisted, unassisted, or loaded.
But due to the mistake of “no knees over toes” in textbooks, it was not broadly taught that a deep squat can be done assisted, unassisted, or loaded.
It is a smooth SCALE of ability, not all-or-nothing.
Understanding ability as a SCALE — rather than AVOIDING ability — opens the door to helping millions of people.
4. The ATG Split Squat is knees over toes.
This exercise should be KNOWN, but it’s not currently in any university textbook in the world!
5. The ATG Split Squat also smoothly scales from assisted to unassisted to loaded.
That is all.
These 5 steps would help millions of people and ensure university students are graduated accurately, able to make ripple effects of more truth around them, rather than further perpetuating a very understandable human error.
Yours in Solutions,
Ben
