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In August last year I went back to training at a gym. I spent a few years away from it, whether it was trying out calisthenics or being creative with some kettlebells I bought during the pandemic. Although some people manage to get excellent results by those means, to me it was not working out. Just like in a treadmill, I was doing lots of effort, but ultimately not moving anywhere. After I found out that a gym with a squat rack—a rarity around here—openned close to home, getting my membership there was a no-brainer.
Like many people around the world, I like to obsess over details and get nowhere. To prevent this from happening, I simply consulted my primary fitness source: Martin Berkhan. In his book The Leangains Method he lays down a pretty efficient training routine I had done before: 3 days per week; 2 compound exercises and 1 accessory per day; all sets done in a as many repetitions as possible (AMRAP) style; increase the weight whenever you achieve the reps target for each exercise. When (re)starting to exercise, the worst thing you can do is get into some extravagant routine. Doing 10 exercises each day, not really knowing why and also not learning proper technique—something which requires focus and time—is a recipe for disaster.
Until the end of the year I was in pure joy: I was really enjoying my time in the gym; my progress, as in the weights being lifted, was nonstop; my mood was incredible; and I started seeing the world through rose colored glasses again.
Then came 2024.
New year, new resolutions, new routine. Again I went to Martin Berkhan for guidance, now opting for doing his Patreon routine. It is brutal. On paper it does not appear to be that much more taxing, but adding a fourth day and hitting all the muscle groups twice a week is no joke. Combine this with a few non-gym related accidents throughout the year and I ended up in a very uncomfortable situation. My muscles can adapt pretty quickly, but all the rest (ligaments, tendons, joints etc.) lags behind. As anyone with some basic knowledge on body imbalances know, this is not a good situation and leads to all sorts of problems. The problem manifested itself primarily as knee pain for me.
I pushed through the pain at least three times this year. Everytime I thought that by giving proper rest, applying massages and taking some anti-inflammatory all would be solved. When getting back at the gym, I would use lighter weights, focusing on technique and volume. In theory this would lead to more blood circulation in the affected areas and improve healing. Well, it worked. Sort of. The issue here is that I was fixing the symptoms but not the root cause.
I am not a kid anymore and my overall sedentary lifestyle is taking its toll. Coming to terms with this reality, I spent an entire month barely moving my legs and throughly researching everything about body anatomy, muscles, biomechanics and all sorts of intricate details. In the end, by accident, I came across Ben Patrick. Known on the Internet as The Knee Over Toes Guy, this man faced similar issues in his childhood as I am having right now. Fortunately for me, my situation is nowhere near what he went through. You can read his story here. And fortunately for me also, this meant that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I am doing the routine from his book Knee Ability Zero for a few weeks already and both of my legs are feeling incredible. There are still some discomforts, but I am slowly but surely getting rid of them. My legs definitely feel younger than they have been this past years. I will keep doing it exactly as in the book until I feel both of my legs completely healthy, then I start to add weights back, litlle by little.
I like Ben's approach of building your body from the ground up, so I decided to throw out almost everything I was doing until now and start over. After about 1 month into his routine, my legs are more than good enough for me to go back to the gym, taking care of everything above my waist. Tapping into Martin's routines, using fixed rep scheme and changing the progression system to step loading instead of his RPT system I designed the following workout regimen:
- Monday, Wednesday, Friday: Knee Ability Zero
- Tuesday: Bench press, Barbell row, Barbell lying triceps extension
- Thursday: Overhead press, Supinated lat pulldown, biceps curl
As this kind of information can potentially help someone, I will report back as progress is made. Maybe my journey can lead you away from your own body pain too. Or at least give you some ideas on how to experiment.