CONFRONTING Your Achilles

1. A tendon is what connects your muscle to your bone.

2. Your Achilles is the largest and strongest tendon in your body.

3. You have two different calf muscles, and the lower, deeper one: the soleus, is the one that relates most to protecting your Achilles. The soleus also has the strongest pull of any muscle in your body.

4. Your soleus naturally gets trained when your knees go over your toes.

In fact, I came up with the Patrick Step Up when I got the chance to help an NFL player who was attempting to return from full ACHILLES tear. I assessed the situation with no bias or preconceived notions and gave his body what it needed. I only got the opportunity to train him because the doctor of physical therapy he was going to said he would miss the entire season. He was actually cut out of the NFL at the time and, as an undrafted player to begin with, the odds were low that he would even play in the NFL again, especially as a cornerback who ran a 4.71 40-yard-dash at the Combine (that was amongst the slowest ever for his position.)

He needed RESULTS and the existing system did not have the solutions I needed to get him what he was asking for. So I improvised.

And the Patrick Step Up got him exactly what he needed! He dazzled scouts at a workout WAY ahead of schedule, PLAYED that season, and never had a repeat issue with that Achilles.

Simply put: I trained him to greater ankle mobility and soleus strength than he ever possessed even prior to the injury.

The surrounding muscles had more range and more strength than before. So the Achilles was more protected. And he could run faster and jump higher off of it.

“No knees over toes” for him would have meant: “no millions of dollars,” “no joy of playing the sport you love at the highest level,” and perhaps “no playing with your kids after you retire.”

In fact, he recently dunked a basketball for the first time in his life! (Click here to watch it!)

5. “Ankle stiffness” in jumping does NOT mean lack of ankle mobility! The term “ankle stiffness” is used in jumping circles to refer to how elastic your ankle can spring back. It does NOT mean your ankles are inflexible. You want ankle stiffness AND ankle mobility — not one or the other!

6. Arguably the greatest ankle stiffness in history was possessed by Stefan Holm. He was an Olympic gold medalist high jumper who had the greatest height-to-jump difference ever (how tall he was, vs. how high he cleared — at less than 6 feet he won an OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL IN HIGH JUMP!!!). He ALSO had phenomenal ankle MOBILITY! See the screenshots below of his full-knee-bend squats!

7. Stefan not only achieved arguably the greatest jumps of any human, he INARGUABLY competed more often and WON MORE COMPETITIONS THAN ANY OTHER HIGH JUMPER EVER. Stefan was the most bulletproof high jumper ever.

So wait a second…

The majority of trainers are preventing us from being great with our knees over our toes? Even though the highest and HEALTHIEST high jumper ever DID MORE KNEES OVER TOES THAN ANY OTHER HIGH JUMPER EVER?

Even though evidence and studies ONLY show that the BETTER we are with our knees over our toes, the more protected we are?

Stefan must have been laughing at his competition!!! Honestly though: it baffles me now how easy basketball is for my knees, even though this same game (pre-KOT-training) ruined my life and caused me 3 surgical knee alterations by age 18.

Fortunately, I don’t have any competitors!

This isn’t a competition for me. This is only about JOY.

My only “enemy” is unnecessary suffering, which is happening not only for our knees but ALSO for our a
Achilles due to lack of ABILITY with our knees over the toes.

Biologically-speaking, avoiding your knees over your toes MANUFACTURES knee and Achilles injuries, because you leave yourself vulnerable there.

It’s easy to avoid knees over toes in training, but IMPOSSIBLE to avoid in sports and in life! Just walk down the stairs and you’ll see how obvious this is.

When you avoid confronting ANY area of your life, you may not feel the heat today, but you are creating a ticking time bomb that can EXPLODE much worse later on!

My strategy in training and in life is to CONFRONT and HANDLE my problems — not avoid them. And that’s exactly what I’ve done for myself and now thousands of others by creating pain-free and SCALABLE solutions for the areas of ability that our bodies need.

These solutions happen to be unorthodox.

But “orthodox” today means injured. Knee and Achilles injuries and surgeries have soared to epidemic levels in direct ratio to how much we neglect the muscles which protect them.

My opinions don’t matter. My job is to deliver you with the facts, and I hope the 7 facts above help you understand your own Achilles, so that it never takes away your joy.

Yours in CONFRONT,
Ben

To do my programs with your own form coached for the lowest price on earth, check out atgonlinecoaching.com! Members get full access to all programs, and I have solutions for every age and ability level. I also answer all Instagram DMs if you have any questions before starting!