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2022 in the books!

Posted on by jimmy thorpe

It’s the year’s end!

I’m so excited around this time of year. It’s full of closure and renewal…ups and downs. And as long as we can navigate that emotionally, we can accept the exposure, and learn a ton!

Speaking of learning…I found a bunch of good books in 2022 that I want to share with you, and I learned a lot from them. I suppose if I distilled down what I learn when I read, I could name it Perspective (possibly humility too though). Reading presents me with another point of view, broadening my scope and reminding me that the world isn’t just seen through my own eyes. In that sense, it also humbles me. I know that each person I talk to, knows more about something than me. Reading has encouraged me to do that.

As always, I try to keep up on posting my reading list on my website here. I want to sing the praises of a select few that I read this year. Hopefully you’ll find one to enjoy:

Less — by Andrew Sean Greer
Pulitzer prize winner right here! I think I read this book in a day or two, and was so pissed when it was over. It follows Arthur Less who is trying to avoid the inevitability of his own life. Sadly, I could relate. It was laugh-out-loud funny, but also seriously threaded through the challenges we all face. Arthur is a failing author, who is invited to the wedding of his ex. So he quickly attempts to set up a book tour to show that can’t possibly RSVP. It’s messy and relatable. Oh…and Pulitzer prizes aren’t just passed out lacklusterly.

City of Girls — by Elizabeth Gilbert
Set in the hustle of 1940s New York, Vivian is kicked out of college and is then sent to be with her Aunt who runs Lily Playhouse — a somewhat rundown theater. Vivian tells the story as an old woman in the last years of her life…looking back. It’s full of great characters, the lively theater world, and the romanticism of New York city. It’s beautiful.

The Signature of All Things — by Elizabeth Gilbert
After reading City of Girls and realizing Gilbert’s quality, I heard about this. Holy! This one feels more like her magnum opus. It’s grand, spanning, and worldly. Centered in 1800s Philadelphia where a titan, Henry Whitaker establishes his estate. The story follows his daughter Alma, who instills herself in the botanical world. It’s full of family expectations, lineage, love, and death. The full span of it. I laughed and cried with both of these Gilbert pieces.

*The Dutch House* (Audiobook!) — by Ann Patchett
The actual book would be just great to pick up and read. However, the audiobook (that I listened to for free in the Hoopla app…connected to your local library) is read by Tom Hanks! His familiar and comforting voice, along with his acting/reading credentials made it so very nice to listen to. I recommend the book however you can get it…but highly recommend the Hanks version of the audiobook. This story uses a house as the focal point for a family tale about a father that achieves incredible wealth through real estate, and then the paradox within the lives of his children. I love how it relates the character of a physical thing (in this case, a house and all of it’s details) and how that can affect us as people. Being a home-body myself I can totally relate, seeing how a home can become part of our identity and how we define ourselves. This story isn’t just homey and happy though. It’s got the full span of life’s challenges too, touching on all of the human condition.

Here are some nonfiction pieces that I loved:

Clear Seeing Place — by Brian Rutenberg
Brian is my favorite contemporary painter/artist. I met him at a showing in Cape Cod, and what a guy! On top of his amazing paintings, he has an informative YouTube channel in which he delivers studio visits to describe his work, and educate aspiring painters like myself. This book is a valuable collection of all of his wisdom. I loved it.

How to be an Artist — by Jerry Saltz
Staying on the theme of art, Jerry is the only art critic that I’ve found so far, that I would read and listen to. Instead of the typical hoity toity look-down-your-nose-at-me type of writing and critique…Saltz is blue-collar, humble, realistic, seriously knowledgeable, encouraging, and hilarious. In this book, he very directly details the simple path to becoming the artist that you keep wondering about.

The 5am Club and The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari — by Robin Sharma
Both of these books are considered ‘Self Help’, which I love. I think that genre gets a bad reputation but sheesh, call it ‘Personal Development’ if that helps you feel better. I respect the hell out of anyone that takes time to read a book that potentially motivates them, and introduces them to new ways of living. Both of Sharma’s books here do that. One of them is focused on mornings and the structure of our day, and the other reminds us of functional ways for us to live more like a monk in today’s world. The x-factor to both of these books though, is the format that Sharma used. In both works, he uses characters and a story-type narrative structure to more effectively illustrate the messages. Both of these books are awesome.

As always, you can check out my reading list and see anything else I’m up to (blog posts, podcast episodes, etc.) on my website by clicking here.

Keep in touch with me. Feel free to send me an email… or send me a comment on my Facebook page by clicking here.

Thank you so much for reading!

All the best,
Jimmy Thorpe

Start Backwards

Posted on by jimmy thorpe

Dear friends,

“Don’t let your knees go over your toes,“ they said.

Turns out, training with our knees going forward over our toes… Is EXACTLY what will help lead to us bulletproofing our knees!

The entry-level exercise for this, and the ‘special sauce’ for repairing your knees is…walking backwards. When you take a step backwards, you land on your toes…and your knee is ‘over your toes’. This is a short-range movement that’s low impact (notice how the landing is softer than a forward walking heel strike). It also flexes and works the big toe and foot…an area that all of us could give more TLC to.

Perform this walking backward special sauce for 5-10 minutes a day. Make sure that you have a clear area and a smooth surface to do this on. Your partner can help by holding your hand, being your eyes, and guiding you. Then switch positions. Another great method, especially during these colder months is to get on a treadmill and without turning it on, turn around and spin the treadmill belt yourself by walking backwards on it. This provides a really good resistance to the walking… And helps build up those muscles around the knee.

The absolute best method, is to pull a fitness sled on turf while walking backwards. Maybe your gym has this? If this can’t happen, there are DIY options for making your own sled and pulling it in your driveway or yard as well.

Backwards walking? It sounds kind of silly… But this is the X factor that has brought my knees back to being out of pain. There are certainly other things to be doing along with this… But this is where it all starts. I can help you find a way to be doing this.

Please call me or message me with your knee story… whether it won’t bend, it hurts, or both! I can’t believe the restrictions that I’m hearing that many of us are living with. And dealing with chronic pain is for the fricken birds! Let’s deal with that! I’m confident that I can help.

No cost, no pressure or obligation. I’m passionate about helping, and I get paid by learning through your story.

with bulletproof knees,

How is ATG helping so many?

Posted on by jimmy thorpe

How is ATG helping so many?

> Quality of Life < Consider your pain, what you want to be doing, and how you feel right now. Can you stand up and run a quarter mile immediately? Can you get down on the floor to play with your grandkid? Can you get back up? Does it hurt to go down stairs? This is grand scheme…and should weigh heavily into how we consider being fit for life.

> Range of Motion < Full range, partial, and everything in between. Would it be wise to be strong in one particular part of the range but not others? Also, moving our joints through a full range brings synovial fluid in, signaling repair and restore. As most of us can acknowledge with age, our joints work under an approach of ‘use it or lose it’.

> Connective Tissues < Yes we can develop our tendons, ligaments, cartilage etc.! They take longer to adapt, but we must put effort here. If we simply add muscle to the upper body for an athlete, but we don’t focus on joint development in the lower body…we’re basically manufacturing knee surgeries! Another way to think of this is that if we’re carrying around extra weight, but we haven’t built joints and tissues from the ground up, we’re asking for problems.

>Structural Balance< This is about being as strong forward as backward. It’s about being strong in acceleration AND deceleration. ATG considers ‘overuse’, and builds strength in reverse of that action. A baseball pitcher for example, with all of that forward throwing must create structural balance by building strength in reverse with something like an external rotation exercise. Mimi and Grampa who have taken millions of steps forward? They can use backward walking to reverse out damage and build strength into the future.

>Old & New< Tried and true methods are important. The squat. Ideas from successful coaches from the past like Charles Poliquin or Louie Simmons. They gave us methods that will stand forever. In another way, we must continue to push innovation, try new movements, and consider radical ideas. Not to accept every one of them…but to stay relevant and accessible to each individual. Success leaves clues, whether in history, or in your own knee today.

Good Things,

Desk worker? These 4 movements will help

Posted on by jimmy thorpe

We clearly hold our bodies in some interesting positions at the workplace…and consequently throw our bodies waaaay out of structural balance. It’s no wonder we have tight backs, hips, shoulders, etc.

I believe that our bodies will balance out on it’s own. But modern day desk sitting is NOT natural. Therefore, we must move in particular ways to remedy this.

Here are some movements to do while sitting at the desk. I’d do these 3 or 4 times throughout an 8 hour shift:

  1. 25 reps Seated Tibialis Raise (shoes off if possible) — By staying seated, this exercise becomes easier than standing. Start with your feet flat on the floor, then lift your toes to the sky keeping your heels down. Aim for a 45 degree angle with the foot. Hold in the top position for 1 second . This works the front of the shin, and the tibialis muscle is the ‘decelerator’ muscle of the legs. If weak here, the rest of the body takes more impact than it should.
  2. 25 reps Seated Calf Raise (shoes off for this too!) — Bring your feet back a little bit under your chair so that there’s a slight stretch on the heel. Then simply stand up on the toes while staying seated. This focuses on the soleus (one of the calf muscles), which is connected to the achilles tendon. Often overlooked, this is a great way to strengthen that tendon, which has the strongest pull of any in the body. Also huge with this movement is strengthening the feet which we neglect. By focusing on going up on that big toe, we do wonderful things for those dogs that carry us around all day.
  3. 15 reps Seated Cat Cow — Similar to the yoga movement performed on your hands and knees, but stay seated in the chair. Start by simply hunching forward slowly, curling your back and getting to that posture that looks poor. It helps to exhale while moving into this. Roll the shoulders forward when going here. Then, roll the shoulders back and slowly move that stretched and arched position. Sit up tall. Chest out, and proud as hell! Inhale during this movement. Smile and hold for a second. Repeat 14 more times!
  4. 20 reps External Rotations — Still seated at the desk and pretending to work…lift elbows out so that upper arms are parallel to the floor. Forearms are hanging directly down toward the floor with palms facing behind you. Keeping those upper arms stable and parallel to floor, roll the shoulders back so that fingers point in front of you and eventually all the way so that fingers are pointed to ceiling. Then roll shoulders and arms back to original position. Repeat 19 more times! This does incredible things for reversing out shoulder pain (ROSP), and creates that ‘opening up’ effect of the upper body. This paired with the Cat Cow can help to balance out our poor posture from the desk sitting all day.

Best,

Pain in my knees!

Posted on by jimmy thorpe

Dear friends, Let’s talk about knee pain. For the past five years or so I’d say my knees felt uncomfortable. But last winter, I started experiencing acute pain in my right knee…in the patellar tendon directly below the knee cap. It got to the point where the first thought I would have upon waking would be worrisome… Because I knew the first squat up out of bed… And then the first step down the stairs in the morning would be excruciating. I didn’t enjoy that as my very first thought! What a way to start the day.

I figured that this is just something that happens for those of us that play a sport, and begin aging. I see many of my friends and family members dealing with joint pain so I accepted that this is just something that comes with getting older.

When I found Kneesovertoesguy and the ATG system at the beginning of 2022 I was intrigued and caught off-guard. Here was a guy proving that training with our ‘knees over our toes’ was actually beneficial, and perhaps the route to recovery. I’ve been around sports and gyms all my life… And one of the phrases I heard ad nauseam was “don’t let your knees go over your toes”…meaning don’t allow your knee to go forward in exercises like squats, lunges, etc. so the ATG system was radical, different, and against many of the accepted literature. I love that.

The mainstream caution stems from a research study done in 1978 at Duke University concluding that when the knees go over the toes it creates more pressure in the knee. And then word was exaggerated over time to just avoid that position. Ok, that movement DOES create more pressure, but the conclusion COULD have been that we should carefully and strategically strengthen that area…not fricken avoid it!

Look at how we move in life. Look at how athletes move in sport. Start the first movement down a stair, and look at how far your back knee goes over your toes. Look at how far my right knee is over my toes in the picture (also see my dad and family worried about my knees going over my toes). We are in this position all the time! Doesn’t it make sense that we should strengthen our bodies in that position? Throughout my entire basketball career, I never strengthened myself in that position. However, within my sport I consistently drove my body into that position and put the harshest of demands on it. It’s no wonder my knees suffered!

The more ancestral cultures, look at China in particular, inherently use the deep squatting position often whereas most of us in the West stop at 90 degrees after a certain age. Range of motion then suffers for us. And 1 knee surgery in China for every 19 here!

When we don’t express a joint throughout its full range, our body stops sending synovial fluid to the area. Consequently, we miss out on the nourishment and lubrication there. Then the pain sets in! After all of my knee surgeries, I used a ton of painkillers and anti-inflammatories (which actually break down cartilage!), and of course I limited the range of motion of my knee, compounding the issue. Anything at or past 90° felt too tight and too painful.

One of the great things about the ATG system is that it meets you wherever you are. Instead of trying to work through pain or avoiding an area (we see how that works!), we can be grateful for whatever pain-free ability you have now and slowly and consistently build on that. Remember though… I’ve been strengthening muscles WITHOUT full range of motion… And WITHOUT letting my knees go over my toes for about 27 years (since I was 15). I can’t expect to achieve structural balance and undo all of that within a couple of workouts. As I’ve said, I am making good progress and I feel like I’m on the right track. It’s just good for us to understand that this is going to take time.

Since making my first Facebook post on this and asking for feedback… I’ve already received so many stories that make me more passionate about wanting to help. Some of us have to move in a particular way throughout our day to avoid pain on one side… Then when that used side gets too painful, we have to find other ways to navigate. Some of us have knee replacements, hip replacements, multiple surgeries attempting to repair the same issue… Then further surgeries recommended, then replacements. It’s just not a path that looks promising. ATG at least provides another option to consider.

I want to close in saying how grateful for, and how much I respect the doctors that are doing this work. A lot of my current feelings will sound like I’m anti-surgery. But actually, doctors and surgery are what stitched me up and put me back together to get back out there and live my life. These folks are way more educated than me, and they have the courage and skill to look at pictures, then actually open up a knee and correct the issue they see. I am certainly not an expert, and by no means want to put these people down. I’ve just been introduced to another method… A different option… And I want to share that with anyone who may be interested.

Do me a favor and share your story with me! I’ve heard a bunch but I haven’t heard yours yet… And I want to connect. This is completely free for now…And simply want to learn and help as much as I can rolling into 2023 with knees a little better than 2022. ‘When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.’ You can start adding tiny webs and fibers to your knees tonight.

Please message me!

Love, jimmy