🧵 How to Be Athletic For Your 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s, with Example of Each Age…
(X usually fails to upload my threads, so I wrote this all out beforehand, and I’m posting it one by one. My apologies. Thank you for your patience…)
30s
Me
Reached my 20s having never grabbed the rim.
Long list of knee problems.
Had always followed the exercise advice I was given:
“No knee over toes, and no full range of motion.”
Thanks to Charles Poliquin, who helped athletes win 26 Olympic gold medals across a variety of sports, I became OBSESSED with knee over toes and full range of motion.
Now they’re my greatest strengths, and I’ve been living my 30s as a great athlete.
Also 30s
My wife had to give up figure skating in her teens due to ankle problems.
I had shin and ankle problems of my own. When I saw my knees could be solved, I became obsessed with ankles, too.
It’s priceless to now be able to help her.
She’s 35 and has more knee and ankle ability than when she was a teenager!
40s
Stefan Holm
Olympic gold high jumper
What’s of particular note is that he was able to compete more often without injury than any high jumper ever.
And he was “unusual” in that he trained full range of motion.
And he still does.
And he’s still crazy bouncy in his 40s!
Also 40s
@Mr1nf1n1ty1
He’s been my training partner for the better part of my 13+ year journey with these subjects.
He’s 45, and sets the example I want for my 40s.
@Mr1nf1n1ty1 50s
There’s only one man under 6 foot tall and DUNKING…
Kadour Ziani!
@Mr1nf1n1ty1 Kadour told me he never believed the advice of no knee over toes and no full range of motion.
Instead, he embraces ability for his entire body, rather than limiting it.
@Kadour_ziani
@Mr1nf1n1ty1 @Kadour_ziani 60s
I started training my mom in 2018 when she was 64.
Her hips were becoming a major problem.
I used the exact same system, but at her level.
@Mr1nf1n1ty1 @Kadour_ziani Now she’s flying!
Her mobility with my kids is incredible.
She’s a SuperGrandma.
It’s painful to watch how the bodies of other grandparents are deteriorating.
It doesn’t have to be that way. At least, not as broadly as it is when we limit the body.
@Mr1nf1n1ty1 @Kadour_ziani 70s
George Hackenschmidt was 74 when this picture was taken.
He reportedly could jump over chairs all the way to his mid-80s when he moved on.
@Mr1nf1n1ty1 @Kadour_ziani George is one of the all-time great knee over toes and full range of motion pioneers.
His favorite exercise was holding weights behind his back and squatting all the way down while balancing on his toes!
@Mr1nf1n1ty1 @Kadour_ziani Conclusion:
Full range of motion has been suppressed for millions of people.
It felt like a duty to share what I learned, so I dedicated my career to this.
But I do NOT put down any form of exercise.
I support the WHOLE range, and ANY exercise you enjoy.
@Mr1nf1n1ty1 @Kadour_ziani If you’d like to see broad medical data supporting this, check out:
But what’s been missing the whole time is:
REGRESSION
Rather than avoiding ability, I seek to figure out how to exercise it at a level that feels good for you. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23821469/
@Mr1nf1n1ty1 @Kadour_ziani Life ain’t supposed to be magic and rainbows.
But it ain’t supposed to be an epidemic of joint replacements and painkillers either.
You CAN be athletic for your age, as you age.
And that can feel pretty magical.
@Mr1nf1n1ty1 @Kadour_ziani Maybe your greatest limitation now, is where you have the most potential.
My PE class format is: 1. PLAY, rotating through a wide variety of sports and games. 2. Learn just ONE exercise per day. Set the example, and kids will want to learn!
Here’s my system…
1/10. Slant squat = simple to build knee/quads foundation!
2/10. Kids love rings!
And by using the legs up, with some tension down, you can smoothly progress to pull-ups.
3 and 4/10. Sometime between childhood and leaving school, it’s easier to get and keep full front and side split squats!
Full demo below, showing how elevating the front foot scales difficulty.
I have no secrets and in this thread I will show you the progressions I used to now go 10+ years of no knee problems despite the following 10 conditions prior:
This is the first exercise I feel was really crucial for me.
Less angle, smaller step, and assistance make it easier, just as going downhill with less slope, smaller steps, and a walking stick, would make it easier.
Progression demo: (You can even add load for extreme goals.)
I don’t think backward walking was critical for me BUT it helped me warm up for the backward step ups I just showed you.
Progression is from smaller to bigger steps, and dragging load.
There’s a specific Big 3 for mobility relating to lower back pain and injury, and you can test and observe them for yourself.
In this thread, I’ll show you these 3 mobilities and the progression I use for each one…
The first mobility in the knee over ankle.
Notice how that allows me to sink down with less stress on my lower back.
None of these 3 are my opinions. They just are.
You can test and observe each for yourself.
My favorite progression for knee over ankle mobility is a full split squat, going from higher to lower front foot, and from assisted to unassisted (to, optionally: loaded, depending on the forces you want to handle in life).
🧵 2025 Knees Over Toes Update: 4 Main Progressions
I’ve been working on this subject for 15 years.
Despite a gnarly list beforehand, I’ve now been well over 10 years without a knee problem, while helping 1000s to their own wins.
The good news? These 4 are simpler than ever!…
Think of this thread as natural knee abilities in reverse, starting from:
In youth we can deep squat pain-free.
The more we lose that, the more benefits I’ve seen from counterbalance and heel elevation, progressing at your pain-free level from:
Bodyweight
to plate, full reach
to plate, reach only in front of knees
to dumbbell, above knees
to optional barbell loading.
The more wrecked the deep squat mobility, the more benefits I’ve seen from the deep split squat.
One of my knees has partially artificial kneecap, reattached quad tendon, and meniscus transplant.
The other then had diagnosed tears I didn’t operate on.
Progression from higher to lower front foot, and from assistance to bodyweight to weight, is perhaps the single greatest long-term investment I’ve made in my body.
10+ years of this has transformed my mobility and helped deep squats feel good!
Bonus: I think the increased hip flexor length is a major component of how I also ended my lower back problems - no problems there in 10+ years either!