Ben Patrick isn't your typical fitness influencer. He didn't start with a silver spoon or a genetic lottery ticket. Actually, he started with a pair of knees that felt like they were filled with broken glass and a basketball dream that was basically dead on arrival. If you've spent more than five minutes on YouTube or Instagram looking at fitness content, you've seen him: the man known as the knees over toes guy, usually performing some absurdly deep lunge or walking backward on a treadmill that isn’t even turned on. It looks weird. Honestly, a decade ago, most physical therapists would have told you he was actively trying to destroy his joints.
But things changed.
The traditional wisdom in the lifting world used to be "never let your knees go past your toes." Coaches screamed it. Textbooks printed it. We were all terrified of the dreaded shear force. Yet, here is Patrick, showing the world that not only is the knee-past-toe position safe, it might actually be the secret to bulletproofing your body against the very injuries we were trying to avoid.
Why the Knees Over Toes Guy Won the Internet’s Respect
The thing about Ben Patrick is that his results are loud. He went from multiple knee surgeries and a vertical jump that couldn't clear a phone book to dunking with ease and having zero pain. That’s the kind of transformation that makes people stop scrolling. He founded the ATG (Athletic Truth Group) system, and it isn't just about big quads. It’s about the "forgotten" muscles. Think about the tibialis anterior—that little strip of muscle on the front of your shin. When was the last time you trained that? Probably never.
Patrick argues that most of our knee pain comes from a chain reaction of weakness. If your feet are weak, your ankles are stiff. If your ankles are stiff, your knees take the brunt of every step, jump, and landing. By the time you feel the "twinge" in your patellar tendon, the disaster has been brewing for months in your lower leg.
It’s about structural integrity.
Most gym routines focus on the big movers like the hamstrings and the glutes. Those are great, but if your "brakes" aren't working, you're just a Ferrari with no stopping power. The ATG system flips the script. It focuses on the bottom-up approach. It’s why you see the knees over toes guy obsessing over ankle mobility and shin strength. He’s building the brakes so the engine can actually go fast without crashing.
The Science Behind the Controversy
Let's talk about the "forbidden" movement. For years, the 1978 study from Duke University was cited as the reason to keep knees behind toes. It found that "stress" on the knee increased when the knee moved forward. But here’s the kicker: while the stress on the knee increased, the stress on the hips actually decreased when the knee was allowed to travel forward.
Science isn't static.
Later research, specifically a 2003 study by Fry, Smith, and Schilling, showed that while limiting forward knee travel might reduce knee stress, it forces the body to lean further forward at the hips. This shifts the load to the lower back. So, by "protecting" your knees, you were basically just nuking your spine. The knees over toes guy leaned into this nuance. He realized that the human body is designed to handle stress, provided you scale the load correctly. If you never put your knee in a deep, forward position, it never gets strong there. Then, one day you trip or play a game of pickup basketball, your knee goes over your toe, and snap.
You were fragile because you were "protecting" yourself.
The Movements That Actually Matter
If you’re looking to dive into this style of training, you aren't just jumping into 300-pound split squats on day one. That would be a disaster. Ben Patrick’s whole philosophy is built on "regressing" a movement until it is pain-free.
- The Tibialis Raise: You lean against a wall and pull your toes toward your shins. It sounds stupidly simple. It feels like your shins are on fire after twenty reps. This is the first line of defense against shin splints and knee pain.
- The Patrick Step: This is a tiny movement. You stand on one leg and touch your other heel to the ground just in front of you. It targets the VMO (the teardrop-shaped muscle near your knee).
- The ATG Split Squat: This is the big one. It’s a lunge where the hamstring fully covers the calf. It looks intense because it is. But when done right, it stretches the hip flexors while strengthening the knee at its most vulnerable angle.
- Backward Walking: Whether it's on a dead treadmill or pulling a weighted sled, walking backward is the foundation. It pumps blood into the knee without the impact of forward movement. It’s basically "lubricating" the joint.
It’s Not Just for Athletes
You’d think this is only for guys trying to increase their vertical. It's not. The knees over toes guy has a massive following among the "older" crowd—people in their 50s, 60s, and 70s who were told their knees were just "done" because of age or arthritis.
The medical community is starting to catch up.
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Movement is medicine, but only if the movement is progressive. Patrick’s brilliance wasn't necessarily in "inventing" these exercises—many of them come from old-school weightlifting and legends like Charles Poliquin—but in making them accessible to the average person. He broke the barrier between "rehab" and "performance." In his world, they are the same thing. You rehab your way into becoming a high-level athlete.
Dealing with the Critics
Of course, not everyone is a fan. Some physical therapists argue that the ATG system is too aggressive for people with specific degenerative conditions. And they have a point. If you have a literal mechanical tear in your meniscus, "walking it off" backward might not be the magic pill.
Context is everything.
The knees over toes guy is often his own best advertisement, which can lead to a bit of a "survivorship bias." Just because Ben Patrick can do something doesn't mean a sedentary office worker should try it without a long ramp-up period. The danger isn't in the exercises themselves, but in the ego. People see a video, try the most advanced version of a lunge, and end up worse off.
But if you actually listen to what he says, he’s constantly preaching regression. If it hurts, make it easier. Use a slant board. Hold onto a railing. Shorten the range of motion. It’s a philosophy of "no pain" rather than "no pain, no gain."
Actionable Steps for Bulletproof Knees
If you're sick of your knees clicking every time you stand up from the couch, you don't need a gym membership to start. You can actually start today.
- Start walking backward. Find a flat stretch of grass or a hallway. Do it for 10 minutes. It sounds crazy, but the way it engages the muscles around the patella is unique.
- Buy or DIY a Tib Bar. Or just do the wall version. Strengthening the front of your leg is the single most overlooked aspect of lower-body health.
- Address your ankles. If your ankles are tight, your knees are forced to move in ways they shouldn't. Spend time in a deep squat, holding onto a doorframe if you have to.
- Stop fearing the toe line. Next time you squat, let your knees move naturally. Don't force them back so far that you're folding in half.
- Focus on the "Long Range." Most gym movements happen in the middle of the muscle's range. The ATG system prizes the "extreme" ranges—where the muscle is fully stretched or fully contracted. That’s where the real resilience is built.
The knees over toes guy didn't just create a workout plan; he started a bit of a movement. It's a shift toward self-reliance. It’s about realizing that "bone on bone" doesn't have to be a life sentence and that the human body is significantly more adaptable than we give it credit for. You just have to be willing to look a little bit silly walking backward in the park.
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The real secret isn't a specific exercise. It's the consistency of strengthening the positions that everyone else told you to avoid. That's how you actually fix the problem. That's how you stop being fragile.
Start small.
Scale slowly.
Don't ignore the pain, but don't let it make you sedentary either.
Your knees are meant to move. Let them.