11/12/2025
🦵Knees Over Toes — Why It’s Essential for Healthy Movement
For decades, people were told:
❌ “Never let your knees go past your toes.”
That cue was meant to protect the knees — but in reality, it limited how they function.
Your knees are designed to move forward.
Every time you walk downstairs, pick something up, or sprint, your knees naturally travel over your toes.
When we avoid that motion, the tissues that control it — your quads, patellar tendons, VMO, and ankle stabilizers — never learn to handle load. Over time, that leads to stiffness, pain, and a higher risk of injury.
✅ Training knees-over-toes intentionally (with movements like slant board squats, split squats, elevated lunges, and tap downs) builds:
- Stronger tendons & better load tolerance during deceleration and landing
- Improved ankle mobility & force transfer
- Greater neuromuscular control through the kinetic chain
Real-world examples:
🏔️ Descending stairs or hiking downhill → controlled forward motion prevents patellar overload
🏋️ Landing from a jump → trained knees absorb shock instead of collapsing inward
🪑 Rising from a deep squat → increased knee capacity = less strain and fatigue
Avoiding “knees over toes” doesn’t protect your knees — it leaves them unprepared for life.
Train it safely. Progressively. Intentionally.
Your knees will thank you later. 💪
