Done in order: warm-up walk → mobility → strength → sled finisher. Knees travel forward over the toes on purpose, and range comes before load.
Well supported: letting the knees travel past the toes in a squat. Restricting it cuts knee torque but sharply raises hip and low-back torque. Nordics prevent hamstring strains. Backward walking improves pain and function in knee OA.
Mostly practitioner-derived: the rest of the ATG sequence (tib raises, VMO squat, reverse Nordic, sled walk-outs). These are reasonable, low-risk progressive loading, but they haven't been tested as a program. Note that "VMO squat" is a name, not physiology: you can't isolate the VMO.
Do one of these: backward walk 10 min, or cable squat walk-out, or sled pull. That's the whole session for someone starting out or with painful knees. It's the full-program warm-up (#1) and finisher (#11) on their own.
Treadmill (holding the rails, belt slow) or open floor/track. Tall posture.
Walk backward, reaching back with the toes first and pushing off through the front of the foot so the quads work the whole time. Add incline or a sled to progress.
Taking long, heel-first steps; looking down at the feet.
Knee-friendly quad loading with almost no impact. RCT data in knee OA.
Long split stance, front foot flat; start with the front foot on a step or box and a hand on a rail or wall for support.
Drive the front knee forward past the toes until the hamstring covers the calf, with the back knee nearly straight and a stretch in the back hip flexor. Pause, then stand.
Front heel lifting; forcing depth. Raise the front foot higher until you can reach full depth.
The main lift of the session. The stretch on the back hip flexor sets up the mobility block that follows.
Half-kneeling with the back foot up on a couch or bench behind you (couch-stretch position), pad under the knee.
Squeeze the glute of the back leg and tuck the pelvis (posterior tilt), then shift forward until you feel it in the front of the hip and thigh. Stay tall.
Arching the low back to fake range. If you can't stay upright, lower the back foot.
Feet very wide, toes forward, knees straight; a yoga block on the floor in front of you.
Hinge at the hips and reach down to the block. Breathe and let the inner thighs/hamstrings release, then lower the block height over time.
Rounding hard through the low back; bouncing.
Pigeon: front shin across the body, back leg straight behind, hands on the floor beside the front knee.
Push the torso up through the hands, then lower the chest toward the front shin, slow and continuous. You should feel the outside of the front hip and glute.
Pain in the front knee. Pull the front heel in closer to the hip, or put a pad under the hip.
Stand on a low step on one leg, heel elevated (slant board or plate under it), toes pointing forward; the other leg hangs off the side.
Bend the working knee forward over the toes to tap the free heel down, then straighten to full lockout. Short, controlled range.
Knee caving inward; hips shifting back to dodge the knee bend.
Tib raise: back against a wall, heels ~1–2 ft out. Calf raise: balls of the feet on a step, knees straight.
Tib: pull the toes up toward the shins as high as possible, lower slowly. Calf: full stretch at the bottom, high on the toes at the top, 1s hold. Alternate sets.
Bouncing; using short partial range on the calf raise.
Kneeling on a pad. Nordic: ankles anchored. Reverse Nordic: feet free, toes tucked or flat.
Nordic: keep a straight line knees-to-head and lower forward slowly, catching with the hands. Reverse: same straight line, lean back as far as you control, then return; this loads the quads at long length.
Breaking at the hips. Start at the low end (5) for the first 2 weeks, because the soreness is real.
Stand tall on a box on one leg, with the free leg hanging straight off the edge. Hand on a wall.
Drive the free knee up to hip height or above, 1s hold, lower with control. Add an ankle weight to progress.
Leaning back to swing the leg up.
Heels high on a slant board or plates, feet close together, dumbbells at the sides, torso upright.
Squat straight down, letting the knees travel far over the toes, to full depth (hamstrings on calves); stand up smoothly.
Leaning the torso forward; knees caving in. Use a lighter dumbbell before you cut depth.
A heels-elevated, quad-dominant squat. Good quad work, but no squat isolates the VMO.
Tonal/cable: handles held at the chest. Sled: strap or rope, light load.
Walk out against the resistance, alternating forward and backward. Backward = quads, with the knee flexed and pushing through the toes. Forward = hips and calves. Keep a steady, continuous pace.
Loading so heavy that the steps turn into a grind; this is meant to be conditioning.
Like the backward walk, there's no eccentric phase, so it builds a lot of work with very little soreness. Good on recovery days.
Abbr: ATG “ass to grass” (full depth) · VMO vastus medialis oblique · OA osteoarthritis.
Personal training reference. Numbers give the order the moves are done in.