should you LISTEN TO "KNEES OVER TOES GUY?"

Aside from being a knee fixer, the KneesOverToesGuy also advertises himself as a guy who can help you take your overall athleticism: your speed, explosiveness, jumping ability, etc., to the next level. So in Part 2 today we're going to analyze his advice from the perspective of building power and explosiveness - developing the raw horsepower of the athlete. Is his advice actually any good for taking a good athlete and making them great? Will it take an elite athlete and make them world class? Does he actually provide you with the tools to develop your raw physical capacities and enhance your overall raw athleticism? Let's find out!

Power and explosiveness - the raw horsepower of the athlete. I've discussed this concept and my theories on it in depth in my video titled Train Like An Athlete: What Does That Even Mean??? Where we thoroughly dissected and debunked Jeff Cavaliere of Athlean X DOT COMS motto and mantra of supposedly "training like an athlete." Hint: Jeff ain't it. And if you want to hear my full thoughts on this subject just click that video and give it a quick watch.

So, all that to say, a lot of athletic qualities, the things that we think of that make the best athletes the best athletes, who do the things that no one else can replicate develop primarily when we're younger - when we're adolescents and even as teenagers. BUT athletes can still improve as they get older, even into their 20's and 30's, so that can't be the only aspect at play here. And improving actually sporting skill notwithstanding, the primary mechanism to enhance athleticism in already developed athletes is to increase the horsepower of the athlete. Increase their RAW capacity. Build them a bigger engine to use and perform with. And we do this by building power and elasticity and reactive strength, those are probably the main components that dictate improvements in athletic explosiveness, agility, and overall movement capacity as we mature.

So does KneesOverToesGuy follow this formula? Does he help you build the bridge? The simple is answer is, yes, he does. We see a large emphasis on strength exercises in his program: that would be the ATG split squat primarily for building leg strength, along with the Romanian deadlift for building hip extensor strength, the Nordic curl for building knee flexor strength, the calf raise and the tibialis raise for building lower strength, and the hip flexion exercise for building strength in the hip flexors.

My only real point of contention with him is the way certain exercises seem to be prioritized and emphasized in his programming. I think that a decent portion of what he is emphasizing, at least in his YouTube videos (again I cannot speak to paid program because I do not own it), feels like majoring in the minors. The ATG split squat, for example, which is his baby, and then the tibialis raise, and the single leg RDL, I don't see these things as cornerstones of an athlete's program, personally, whereas he seems to. I think that their greatest value probably exists in terms of building resilience and durability - that longevity perspective we talked about last time. But that can be done from a secondary position in the program. And in terms of improving raw leg strength in the greatest and most optimal fashion possible, I have to say why not use a full range of motion bilateral squatting variation, like a front squat or high bar back squat instead of the ATG split squat as your primary squat variation?

And then with the single leg RDL, the Romanian deadlift, it's kind of the same deal as with the split squat: I just don't see the value in placing a unilateral variant into a primary exercise category. Use the unilateral version as a secondary or ancillary component to your comprehensive program, but keep the bilateral version in as your big dog and you'll build more hip extensor strength in the long run. That just is what it is. 

Lastly, as an addendum to that, I would also like to see him include some sort of glute focused posterior chain pattern in his program as well. He emphasizes the hamstrings a bit more than the glutes with the Romanian deadlift, the seated good morning, and Nordic leg curl in his program - all of which are hamstring dominant posterior chain movements. So I would also like to see a glute dominant posterior chain movement included as well, my personal favorite here being the hip thrust.

So really just a few minor disagreements in terms of what constitutes optimal exercise priority and emphasis, but overall I think the guy's methods are sound. In terms of rehab and longevity - building strong, durable, and resilient knees and ankles and even hips - I think the methods he's espousing are A1. Point blank. And then in terms of building up the horsepower of the athlete - increasing the size of the athlete's engine, building explosive power, and reactive strength, and movement capacity - I think that if you are able to sift past some of the noise and analyze the actual framework that he's espousing that you'll be able to use his methods with great success. I don't agree with everything he says here, but I think his overall theories and methods are sound and I think that he's providing plenty of golden tidbits for us to extract and use in our own training to make ourselves better, more resilient athletes and overall higher level performers. I've already started using several of his tips in my own training at this point.