🧵 ATG Hamstrings Flexibility Guide For All Levels… The ATG hamstrings flexibility system starts ASSISTED:

Bend both knees

Straighten one leg by flexing your quads

Bend

Repeat on other side…

How to Walk Backward For Knee Health

& Backward Treadmill Giveaway

[Tapping the retweet button is the least time-consuming ask, and it shows me who retweets, so just do that and I’ll pick a winner tomorrow!]

🧵 Now here is a full usage thread, regardless of equipment access… Start with small steps.

Gradually increase the speed of those small steps, while trying to be smooth.

Gradually increase the size of those small steps, until your toes are getting behind your knee on each step.

Everything I Know About The Lower Back

I think of it like:

BELOW low back
AROUND low back
ABOVE low back

6 exercises to demo, with levels for everyone… 1/6. Below the low back.

Let’s take the inner thighs.

The stiffer you are, the more your low back has to round in this position.

So it’s actually the strength and flexibility of my inner thighs that puts my low back in a more “optimal” position.

But read on for that too…

I reached my 20s having never been close to dunking.

Now in my 30s it feels like an effortless joy.

The #1 shift for me was sitting in plain site.

But I missed it for so many years… This is a simple visual demo.

I do this now with my BW on my back (185).

But even BW alone for 50 reps would have changed my life when I was young.

🚨 The most untapped gain for jumpers lies FROM YOUR JUMP STANCE DOWN.

I NEVER thought to do this growing up…

🧵 Video Thread 🧵

ATG Split Squat Full Breakdown

1/3. How to Start

2/3. Long-Term Goals

3/3. Form Tips

Let’s go… 1/3. How to Start

🧵 The Slant Squat For Strong Legs & Healthy Knees

-Why?
-How to scale to any level
-CONTEXT

[FYI: Our kids slant is FREE if you coach young athletes. Just write in to with your story and shipping address. And I don’t just mean a one time giveaway. We’re going to see if we can maintain this.

For anyone else to purchase it’s only $24 for members and $30 for non-members, still the best price I’ve seen for a strong slant.]ATGequipment.com (Thank you for bearing with me as I post. I’ve lost countless hours having threads fail to upload. So I apologize for posting one segment at a time. 🙏)

🧵 CSU Fitness Regimen #1

These are 10 basics I will NOT be forcing on my kids. Rather: setting an example myself while gradually teaching them as part of their school system.

[Common Sense University is the humorous but real name of the school I’m creating for my kids.] 1/10. Wall Calf Raise: 20 reps - two legs makes it easier

Rather than starting with push ups and pull ups, we’re going to learn to strengthen from the ground up.

2 Modern Hip Problems & Solutions

Lots of interest on this lately, so slowing it down and clarifying. 👍

1. Modern body doesn’t sit in deep squat like it naturally would.

2. Modern body DOES sit in chair 8-10 hours a day.

So it’s not “chair bad” - it’s just excessive… 1. Lack of deep squat = inner hips stiff and weak relative to natural proportions of body

2. Excess sitting = front hips stiff and weak relative to natural proportions of body

These problems don’t “sit right” with the knees and lower back.

Fortunately, the solutions WORK…

5 Basics to Not Have Lower Back Pain (In My Opinion!)

The first 3 are more obvious: ability around the spine.

1/5. Forward 2/5. Backward

CSU Physical Fitness Regimen

[Common Sense University is the humorous but real name of the school system I’m making for my own kids.]

1/10. Tibialis Raise x 20

-back off wall
-knees don’t bend
-pause 1 second at top and bottom

Standing closer makes it easier 👍 2/10. Wall Calf Raise x 20/side

-leg straight
-pause 1 second at top and bottom

Two legs makes it easier 👍

How My Mom ATG Split Squats at 70 vs How I Do in My 30s

Youth = Flexibility
Adulthood = Strength
Aging/Injury = Loss of Both

But you can improve both at the exact same time…

My mom starts front foot elevated, using the poles to balance…

Knee PSA For Parents (Teen & Younger Surgeries Up 4X Since 2000)

I had chronic knee pain many years before the age MJ even specialized in basketball.

When you have knee problems at a young age, the musculature doesn’t form naturally.

3 Major Solutions… 1. Balanced Activity

MJ, Lebron, Kobe, Wilt… Who is your GOAT?

Well, if you know those names, know that NONE specialized in hoops at a young age.

I’m not advising less activity, just balancing it.

I’m not an expert on which sports balance “best.”

Use your own common sense.

Top 4 Things I’ve Learned About Exercise For Longevity

I’ve been training my mom for 6+ years.

She’s 70, but has the mobility of a much younger person.

Here’s what she does… 1. Resist from the GROUND

This is her foundation.

Sled or resisted treadmill.

-fundamentally safe!
-incredible circulation!
-powers up legs!

Nothing quite like it.

She’s been obsessed with it for 6 years and will do it for life.

Knee Ability For Youth vs Longevity

1/6. With young athletes you can easily start building more protected knees than the norm by working on slant squats and Nordics.

2/6. You can eventually add the ATG Split Squat, and easily maintain mobility above the norm from there on out!

10-Minute Footwork & Knee Workout For Young Athletes, with NFL DB Leonard Johnson

Most of my content is geared for longevity, but I also feel a duty to give back valuable data to kids.

These 4 steps have helped make millions of dollars and more importantly: REDUCE PAIN… 1/4. 60-Second Stance

Most athletes never master the actual athletic stance, leaving the knees weak relative to the impact of sports.

3 form points:

1. Knees over toes

2 Pieces of Knees Over Toes Science Plus 5 More to Be Added to The Textbooks

Here’s a young Arnold, deep squatting, knees over toes.

At the time, this was not controversial… [Threads usually fail to post for me, despite being in the best Wi-Fi I can find, and not touching my phone while loading. Thank you for your patience as I post each segment...]

3 Knee Progressions I’ve Used to Help People to Thousands of Knee Success Stories:

1/3. Slant Squat: Assisted > Unassisted > Loaded



Slant Squat FAQ:

1. No you don’t need a slant. It adds stability.

2. Heel up is not “better than” heel down. Heel up = more knee. Heel down = more hip.

George Hackenschmidt is the greatest athletic longevity case I’ve been able to find.

He could jump high in his 80s!

Here’s his favorite exercise, and how we can all use this data…

[In this picture he is 74.] His favorite exercise was holding a weight behind his back, balancing on his toes, and squatting all the way down!

My 5-Part “Core” Formula

As a relatively dorky, fragile and unathletic person…

Here’s how I now burn cals and train my core for greater resilience and athleticism than the norm:

1/5. My “cardio” is also REHAB and STRENGTH.

-3 minutes FAST to start workouts

2/5. I make sure I’m far stronger than the norm BELOW my belly button.

This is a common weak link.

Hip, groin and low back injuries are made more susceptible by being WEAK here.

Less than 1% of men I’ve tested can do my personal baseline:

-30 reps controlling knees to elbows

10 Exercises I’m Looking Forward to This Week & Why

1/10. Resisted Backward “Sprint”

Of course, start stepping as gently as you kneed. 👍

Knee health, incredible leg pump, stamina.

(This got me off painkillers 10+ yrs ago and I’ll never turn my back on it! No pun intended.) 2/10. Tibialis Raise

I’m grateful every time I do this one.

Even 1 set to failure is money for my athletic longevity and the resilience of my lower body.

And you can start with the bodyweight version for high reps. 👍🔥

I do this while catching my breath from #1. Quick. Done.

I’ve helped thousands get off pain medication for the knees by walking…

backward.

In this thread I’ll show you all levels, sets/reps I advise, how it works, and context.

1/5. People have reported that walking backward in a pool helped them regain the ability to walk forward… 2/5. Every day, many people report that walking backward on land, in a safe space, helped them reduce knee pains, among other problems.

I suggest 5-10 minutes, 3 days per week.