Knee Ability Zero Paperback – November 1, 2021

I bought this book after seeing some videos of its author, Ben Patrick, on YouTube, and I'm very satisfied with the purchase. I have been following the book's program for about five weeks now and have noticed a marked improvement in the strength and flexibility of my knees, and I am hopeful that the results will continue. I started doing the Knee Ability Exercises about six weeks after having arthroscopic surgery on one of my knees to remove some calcified bursa "floaters."I liked the book's emphasis on not doing anything that causes pain, and I started at a very beginner's level; the programs' exercises are easily scalable, with an abundance of photos detailing beginner to advanced possibilities with the movements. There are also many colorful diagrams showing how the muscles, bones, and ligaments are activated, and the writing is simple and complete. It's a great book, particularly for it's price, and seems to represent the life's work and research of its author. I wish it had been around twenty years ago or more; I think it would have saved me a lot of pain.

I’ve only had this book for a week and I’m already feeling results in my knees. I was having extreme pain in one knee, so I started walking backwards for 10 minutes, (I saw one of Knees Over Toes Guy videos on YouTube). After feeling results from this I wanted to get the book, and wow!!! Very simple and detailed explanations with corresponding pictures of different levels for each exercise, and why it works with graphics of muscles and ligaments. I’m really looking forward to having strong knees again so I can ride my bike and hike with out weeks of recovery. Very grateful for this book.

Where to start? Just turned 70, and have been dealing with bad knees for many, many years, courtesy of 41 years in law enforcement with numerous injuries throughout the years. I dodged surgery early in my career, mainly by declining and working through the pain, doing rehab, and stuffing supplements down my throat. I was not going out on injury retirement, I wanted to retire on my terms. Since retirement, my doctor has put me on notice that, mainly due to my mobility issues, arthritis, and pain (mainly in left knee) that I am a candidate for knee replacement.That's my background. Oh, and I was 80 pounds overweight to boot. After losing close to 60 pounds recently, and still going, I am pleased with a definite mitigation in my knee pain, but not so for my flexibility, strength, etc. In fact, I developed a "mystery pain" in my left leg, radiating from the knee to the ankle. Doctor ruled out DVT and finally said the pain is basically a mystery, possibly nerve related. I heard about the KOT guy at the gym, and researched the concept. I bought this book, frankly expecting it to end up in the attic with all the other broken toys (gizmos "guaranteed" to "cure" the knee pain, strengthen the legs, etc). The book consists of 8 exercises, the first 4 especially being simple, and the last 4 a bit more challenging. In fact, the last 2 exercises I am staying away from for the time being. Anyway, I started slowly, like Patrick advised, and did not overdo any of the exercises. I quickly found Youtube videos (a lot of them) which detail each of these movements (I recommend using them). Within less than a week, my pain and discomfort improved by about 20%, a BIG deal for me. That was about a month ago. Presently I am seeing about an 80% lessening of pain! And my flexibility has improved. I attribute much of this improvement to the strengthening of the muscles around the knees, and hamstring stretching, which was always a problem for me. I also swear by his opening pre-exercise, a simple walking in reverse for about 20 minutes on flat ground. What a difference it made for my balance. Also, I splurged and purchased a pulling harness and a pulling sled for weights (both for well under $100). I waited a couple weeks before trying the sled pull, and believe me, even starting slowly with small weights, it really, really helped.I truly wished these exercises where incorporated in my numerous rehabs my work sent me too, I could have avoided a lot of future injuries, and lived pain-free these past few years. The best advise I can give is that sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands, like I did when I bought this book and seriously started using it. Second piece of advise is that you WILL feel better, and that may cause you to jump the gun and start overdoing the exercises, or thinking you'll be clever and "modify" the exercises (like with more weights, or increasing the angle for more resistance). Don't! Keep it simple, and follow his plan. I look forward to the day I can do the more advanced stretching exercises in the last two exercises.

I am trying to strengthen my knees if I can. This book tells you simple things you can do. I usually exercise in a swimming pool to support my weight and take pressure off my joints. I am starting with one basic exercise then going up to another and gradually increasing. If I do my pool walking I do 10 minutes, and if I do it at home outside the pool, I only do 5 minutes. The pictures are great. The exercises are doable. I am a senior who is starting small and building up.

I really like what Ben is doing to help people regain, or even create joint mobility without pain. The program has been working for me so far. I don’t get debilitating knee pain, but I’m always being told that I’m going to be needing a knee replacement by the time I’m 35. Being 21, I’m trying to stay away from this while still being able to do activities like snowboarding.I believe in the program but I really can’t see why this book is $22. It’s around 95 pages long and filled with pictures (which is probably where most of the cost goes to), which comes out to about 20-30 pages of reading content. I read through the first 50 pages in less than 30 minutes and was a little disappointed to see that this is simply a starters guide to the program. I was hoping for something a little more in depth behind the “why” of each exercise, rather than a show of what muscles are used during deceleration of certain movements like jumping or sprinting. I personally would like to see citation of studies or something similar to further show why these exercises are beneficial.Regardless, this is a good book to have on hand to keep all the movements centralized, rather than saving a bunch of instagram videos and having to look through those to find what you should/should not be doing.