The KOT Squat

With the ATG Split Squat, you may think the full knee bend is covered, and that is true.

But there is a difference between full knee bend and full knee PRESSURE.

At the bottom of an ATG Split Squat, your hamstrings REST on your calves.

But in sports, you do not always have this luxury.

Watch this clip of Michael Jordan:

I spared you the full video because it went on to show the same action causing SEASON-ENDING and CAREER-ALTERING injuries to many other players!

Jordan was fine.

And Jordan was also a superior athlete to those who were caused serious harm by the same force.

So we get this interesting and beautiful phenomenon where the same strength that protects you, also makes you more able to fight gravity itself.

The KOT Squat:

My current advice is 5 sets of 10 ONCE PER WEEK and right after 10/10 PUMP to the area:

I cannot with good conscience tell an athlete he is all he can be without the KOT Squat, but I also cannot in good conscience advise anyone to do it without being VERY conservative.

It is the KOT Squat that took my stalled high-30s vertical and shot me right up over 40, BUT I had to put in a lot of work to get the movement right.

So let's back-track.

October 2018:

I'm in Sydney, Australia, to get married (my wife was born in Sydney).

I made a pact with myself not to use gyms other than hotel gyms.

I wanted to get REAL with what it was like for my ATG members on the road.

As a deep student of exercise history, it always bothered me that the BEST legs (in terms of both strength and LONGEVITY), could do the Sissy Squat, and I couldn't.

Guys like Tom Platz and Julian Smith could do it, and they are known not only for their lower body development but for superior joint health. Tom is in his 60s and still squatting over 300 pounds ass to grass with exceptional mobility!

The "Sissy Squat" is actually short for Sisyphus, a Greek mythology character who had the greatest quads in the universe.

I think I always used the name "Sissy" as an excuse not to be able to do them, when in fact anyone who can't, is a sissy to that degree.

So I used this trip to experiment with the Sissy Squat.

It was in Brisbane, honeymooning after the wedding, that I finally figured out I'd been going about it all wrong: after countless failed attempts, I saw thick, stackable stretching pads in the hotel gym, and tried using them to regress the movement.

The KOT Squat was born!

By the end of 2018, I could do them to the floor, and I found the next level of athleticism and stability I had been looking for but wasn't even sure could exist for me!

With the negative connotation of the Sissy Squat, I wanted a name that wouldn't scare people.

Also, it's a squat ONLY via knees over toes, so the name fits.

Conclusion:

The KOT Squat is only ONE aspect of Knee Ability.

The KOT Squat takes perhaps more recovery time than any of the other exercises, but causes perhaps more helpful adaptation, too!

5 sets of 10, once per week, is my current recommendation.

When knees to floor is EASY, I do love having fun with either deficit or dumbbell-loaded (like a goblet squat), and I have a video showing these Advanced options coming out on Friday!

Yours in Gains,

Ben