12/12/21
30 minutes on the exercise bike. Too much rain for a ride outside today.
12/14/21, Day 1, Week 5
Modified KOT Zero Program
Mini band pullaparts 2x30
Dbell neutral bench 18x80, 15x80
Supinated barbell rows 2x18x115
Dbell curls 2x18x25
Tricep pressdowns 2x18 (light band)
Kickstand KB RDL 2x18x62
Front foot elevated, heels elevated split squat 2x18x60
Hanging leg raises 12, 2x5x10
120 seconds rest. Overestimated what I could do on the dumbbell bench. I always seem to overshoot on these high rep days to start.
2 Likes
12/16/21, Day 2, Week 5
Modified KOT Zero Program
Mini band pullaparts 2x30
Dbell laterals 3x8x30
KB one-arm overhead press 2x8x44, 15x44
Chins 3x8
Straight arm pulldowns 2x8x55, 9x55
GH raises 3x8
One leg hip thrust + mini 3x8
Cyclist squats 15x20, 2x15x30
L Sits 3x15s
60 seconds rest. I way undershot the weight on my overhead presses – should have used my 62 pounder. I was worried I’d overshoot again and went the other direction. Changed my setup a bit on the GH raises to make them harder, so didn’t need weight. The one leg glute bridges felt awkward as hell but I’ll keep at them. Good session overall.
3 Likes
12/17/21
10 mile bike ride. Mostly flat. Fast and cold but at least it was sunny.
1 Like
Has the Knees over toes programming improved your knees any? I assume that is what “KOT” means?
Yes, KOT is the Knees Over Toes programming. It has helped my knees though they are definitely still a work in progress and the process has been a lot slower than I had hoped it would be. In retrospect I should not have expected it to be quick – it took a long time for me to get my knees as beat up as they are so I don’t know why I thought KOT would “fix” them in 90 days. 
Where I think the program really shines is in how it gradually conditions your knees. This was what seemed to be missing from all of the PT stuff I tried. That helped too as I had some pretty bad mobility issues at my ankles and hips, but it didn’t include a system for progressively strengthening the joint itself. At the price point for the program ($25 for the book I think) it would be well worth it. I did the coaching for a couple of months and initially found it useful but then stopped after I felt I no longer needed it (and after receiving some inconsistent coaching). The one thing I’ll say is that the program takes longer than advertised when you get to the point you can make it through all of the steps – what I’m doing takes me about 45-60 minutes. The 30 minutes that is advertised was more like what it took when I wasn’t able to make it through all the steps.
12/18/21 Day 3, Week 5
Modified KOT Zero Program
Miniband pullaparts 2x30
Nautilus plate loaded incline 2x12x105 (counted each side)
Nautilus flies 2x12x160
Cable Rows 2x12x190
Rear laterals 2x12x130
Seated leg curls 2x12x160
Leg press 2x12x515
Cyclist squats 12x20, 2x12x35
L Sits 15s, 20s, 25s
Weekly average bodyweight: 223.5
90 seconds rest. Finally was able to do an ATG split squat from the floor with no pain. It only took 6.5 months. Lol. Good session overall today once I remembered I was supposed to do sets of 12 not 15. It was nice to be in a gym; this one has a ton of old Nautilus equipment that I’m sure the guys over in the Darden forum would love.
3 Likes
12/19/21
10.85 mile bike ride, ~900 feet climbing. Beautiful day for a ride in San Diego up Soledad Mountain.
2 Likes
12/21/21, Day 1, Week 6 (Antagonist Day)
Modified KOT Zero Program
Miniband pullaparts 2x30
Dbell neutral bench 2x18x75
Supinated BB row 2x18x125
Dbell curls 2x18x25
Tricep Pressdowns (light band + mini) 2x18
Kickstand RDLs 2x18x80
Front foot elevated, heel elevated split squats 2x18x70
Hanging leg raises 12, 2x5x10
Good session overall. Picked better weights on everything this week. The spilt squats give me a good quad burn and don’t bother my knees, so that’s a win.
3 Likes
12/23/21, Day 2, Week 6 (Antagonist Day)
Modified KOT Zero Program
Miniband pullaparts 2x30
KB one-arm overhead press 3x8x62
Chins 4x8
Dbell laterals 3x8x30
Straight arm pulldown 3x8x60
GH Raises 3x8x5
Cyclist squats 2x15x35, 25x35
Single leg hip thrusts 3x10
Last session before I took off for a ski trip to SLC. Will repeat this week of the program next week when I return to training.
2 Likes
1/1/22
January 1, 2021 bodyweight: 230.8
January 1, 2022 bodyweight: 221
I lost nearly 10 pounds in 2021 by making better food choices and prioritizing getting out on my bike. 220ish feels like a pretty good weight for me at this stage in my life, so I’m going to try to stick around that for 2022 while continuing to lean up a bit.
3 Likes
1/3/22
10.7 mile bike ride, mostly flat. I didn’t push this too hard as I’m still dealing with some left knee swelling from three days of skiing last week.
1 Like
1/4/22, Day 1, Week 6.1 (Antagonist Day)
Modified KOT Zero Program
Miniband pullaparts 2x30
Dbell neutral bench 2x18x75
Supinated BB row 2x18x125
EZ Bar curls 2x18x40
Skull crushers 18x40, 20x40
Kickstand RDLs 2x18x95
Front foot elevated, heel elevated split squats 2x18, 12 (BFR last two sets)
Hanging leg raises 3x12
A decent session back after some time off for a ski trip. My left knee is still not too happy. Most of the swelling is gone but I wasn’t able to do even a regressed version of the ATG split squat so stuck with bodyweight only for my quad “work.” Hopefully I’ll be able to get back to normal by the end of the week.
3 Likes
1/6/22, Day 2, Week 6.1 (Antagonist Day)
Modified KOT Zero Program
Miniband pullaparts 2x30
KB one-arm overhead press 3x8x62
Chins 2x8x10, 8
Dbell laterals 3x8x30
Straight arm pulldown 3x8x60
GH Raises 8x5, 2x8
Cyclist squats 2x10, 16
Monkey foot leg ext. 2x15x15
Landmine squat 25x90
Bus Drivers 3x10x45
Still not able to do a regressed version of the ATG split squat and felt my way through the leg portion of my workout just trying to move it through some ranges of motion and find exercises that didn’t piss it off. Oddly the monkey foot leg extensions felt just fine. I’ll probably do the sled for my leg work on Saturday and then hopefully next week my left knee will be back to where it was prior to skiing.
3 Likes
1/7/22
20.6 mile bike ride, 945 feet of climbing, 1:23. Got a basic bike fitting done today and while the fitter didn’t adjust much, it was more comfortable and felt like I had a bit more power.
2 Likes
1/8/22, Day 3, Week 6.1 (Antagonist Day)
Modified KOT Zero Program
Miniband pullaparts 2x30
Dbell Incline. 2x12x85
Chest supported dbell rows. 2x12x70
Dbell flies + mini 2x12x30
Face pulls 12x70, 15x70
Hip thrust 2x12x185
Sled 3 trips on 2, first backwards and then last two forwards
Goblet squats 20x62
Ab wheel 3x10
Getting closer on the ATG split squat but still not there. Kept it light on the hip thrusts as I haven’t done that movement in a while. My left knee didn’t like the planned backwards sled drags so switched to pushes. Oh well.
2 Likes
1/9/22
19.5 mile bike ride, 775 feet of climbing, 1:45. The ride I planned to do with my wife didn’t happen since the bike path by the bay we planned to ride was closed. So we ended up doing something a little random. Beautiful day to be out though.
Weekly average bodyweight: 223.4. I switched to a new scale as of 1/3 (a Renpho bodyfat scale) and it is weighing me ~1.5# heavier than the one I was using.
2 Likes
1/11/22, Day 1, Week 7
Modified KOT Zero program
Miniband pullaparts 2x30
Dbell neutral bench 2x18x75, 14x75
Supinated BB row 3x18x125
EZ Bar curls 18x50, 2x18x40
Skull crushers 2x18x5
RDLs 3x18x185 (lost count and might have done four of these)
Heels elevated goblet squats 3x18x70
L Sits 3x15s
Finally was able to do a regressed version of the ATG split squat. Overshot on bench again. Good session overall.
3 Likes
1/12/22
~20 mile bike ride, 1284 feet of climbing, 1:24. Ducked out of the home office a bit early to get this one in before it got too dark and was treated to a nice sunset.
2 Likes
1/14/22, Day 2, Week 7
Modified KOT zero program
Miniband pullaparts 2x30
One arm dbell overhead 3x8x60
Chins 2x8x10, 6, 2 (rest pause last set)
Dbell laterals 3x8x30
Straight arm pulldowns 3x8x70
Seated leg curls 2x8x170, 10x170
Bulgarian split squats 2x8x60, 10x60
L Sits 2 sets of ~25 seconds
Drove to San Diego on Thursday so got a day behind with this session. Good overall. I realized that last week for this workout I was supposed to just do 2 working sets of 8 and I did 3 instead. A bit of extra volume I suppose. I also received a compliment on my chinups from an older guy at the gym. I’ve received compliments sporadically over the years but never on a chin up – I was terrible at these when I was heavier. So that was nice.
3 Likes