KOT Calf Raise: Boring but Valuable

Amazing long-term results do not have to be complicated!

1/7. Intro

The conclusion I’ve come to after 15 years experimenting and coaching this category is:

It might be boring… but it’s valuable!

So let’s look at:

-how to start

-where this fits in my knee system and WHY

-when and how I use free weight or machine loading

2/7. How to Start

Two legs makes it easier, and you control difficulty by how far you reach your knee over your toes.

Work at a pain-free level… to BURNOUT (approx. 25 reps works well).

Over time, improve ability, like a push-up or pull-up.

When two legs is easy, begin the process over again on one.

(Don’t assume amazing long-term results have to be complicated!)

3/7. Ground-up Approach to Knee

As you improve ability in the ankle and in an isometric knee position (“iso” = equal, and “metric” = measure), it gets smoother to then move the knee and hip!

4/7. Knee Ability Zero Order

So now maybe it makes more sense why I:

-start with STRAIGHT leg calf raise (not loading knee)

-THEN tibialis raise (still not loading the knee)

-THEN knee over toes calf raise (isometric knee position, knee not even in motion yet!)

-and FINALLY start moving the knees and then hips

And to be clear, this isn’t the “best” or “only” way to improve knee ability, but for 7 years it’s been a game changer in allowing people to take control and systematically rebuild fundamental knee function, with absolutely zero equipment!

5/7. Loading, Machine

For pro athletes, the KOT calf raise is in the warm-up/maintenance/get-out-of-knee-pain department.

I also advise them to get seated calf machines for their home gyms. When millions of dollars are on the line, with extreme lower body demands, I err on the side of extra ability from the ground up.

(Fun fact: I hadn’t even thought to use Knee Ability Zero principles in a sports warm-up until one of the 10 highest-paid athletes of all time called me on the phone and told me he uses it as part of his warm-up for games, and it handled his chronic knee pain in-season! And to be clear: My basketball warm-up process is simply dribbling, then shooting, and so on, because my knees are stable and not in pain when I play. But it’s cool that Knee Ability Zero can be a valuable and 100% accessible option for someone in-season to use as prep for sport.)

And there’s another way to load this…

6/7. Loading, Free Weight

Having taken the role of volunteer school exercise coach, I know that seated calf machines aren’t an option when training 20+ students at a time.

For extreme demands, without a machine, you can still load straight and bent leg calf raises by standing on a bumper plate or step.

Again: boring.

And again: UNDERRATED in my coaching experience.

7/7. DEMAND vs. ABILITY

15 years ago if I tried to dunk and land in a pistol squat, I would have hurt my knee (and I wouldn’t have even jumped high enough to dunk, since knee problems had hampered my ability to express force for so many years).

So what changed? The ABILITY of my knees.

But I can’t infinitely increase my ability! If I dropped off a house and landed on one leg, I’d probably hurt my knee, or worse.

So when it comes to pain and injury, you have these factors of life’s demands and your ability.

There’s no utopia of zero risk in life.

But once it clicks to train your ability at your pain-free level, and graduallyimprove what that level is, you can systematically make your body more resilient.

Yours in Solutions,

Ben

Knee Ability Zero (and equipment/loading programs)

Equipment

Shoes