In this video, Victoria S. Dorsano shares a detailed update on her first month using the Knees Over Toes (KOT) program following ACL reconstruction surgery. She explains why she chose the program—to improve knee mobility, strength, and long‑term joint health—and outlines the program’s structure, starting with the foundational KneeAbility Zero phase and progressing to the live‑updated ATG phase. Victoria praises the app’s ease of use, the responsive form‑coaching, and the ability to send videos for feedback. She highlights specific exercises she enjoys, such as ATG split squats, ATG squats, calf work, and daily sled pushes/pulls, noting improvements in strength, range of motion, muscular endurance, and cardio. The program’s built‑in regressions and progressions make it adaptable for post‑surgery athletes, and she feels confident because the creator, Ben Patrick, has personal experience with knee injuries. Victoria reports mild, expected soreness but no major issues, and she plans to test her performance in volleyball and other sports in the coming weeks. She concludes with a strong endorsement, encouraging viewers to subscribe and share the video with anyone interested in joint health and rehabilitation.
Chapters
What's up everyone, Victoria S. Dorsano here, and today I wanted to give you guys an update on how the program's going with the Knees Over Toes Guy. But before I get started, if you could go ahead and like this video and subscribe to my channel, I would greatly appreciate it. All right, so let's dive in. Some of you guys know I started the Knees Over Toes Guy program to really work on my knee mobility, strength, flexibility, and just continue to treat my joints well overall. Lots of you guys on this this channel already know that I've had ACL reconstruction surgery. If you want to follow along with my journey and all the videos I made about that, I will link those down below in the description. But, um, as I mentioned about a month ago, I was planning on starting the Knees Over Toes Guide program, and I'm so glad I did. I absolutely love it. I was a little cautious at first, was like, uh, I don't know, like, you know, what if, you know, what if I spend this money and it's not gonna work? Which, money, well worth it. Gosh, it's amazing so far. So I wanted to give you guys an update about my experience, what I've really liked in the program. Um, there's really nothing that I don't like. I'll try to think if there's any cons to it at all, but I do want to share my experience with you guys and keep you guys in the loop of how my progress is going month to month. And again, for those of you guys that don't know, the reason why I started to do the Knees Over Toes Guy program is because after going through ACL reconstruction and having several setbacks along the way and just really recognizing how important, you know, our knees are, our joints and our body in general are, and how that's such a crucial, you know, working on your joints is such a crucial step to just longevity and aging well and aging without pain. I just really wanted to find a program that was going to A, prevent me from having any more joint injuries, and B, help me work through the last kind of kinks that I was having left in my knee from having ACL reconstruction surgery and preventing osteoarthritis down the, down the line. Because I think I mentioned in some of my previous videos, I was a little concerned about osteoarthritis being something that develops, and it can develop. You have a more likelihood of developing it when you have had ACL reconstruction. So I was like, I want to find something that's really going to, you know, help my joints age well. And, you know, I came upon the Knees Over Toes Guide. So I started off with this program and signed up right away and downloaded the app. And number one, I will mention the app is super easy to use, really easy to navigate. I've had no issues with it like being glitchy or anything like that. So really impressed with how they've uploaded the program into the app and how easy it is to navigate and find the exercises that you're doing daily. So when I started out, they immediately put me into Kneeability Zero, which is kind of their like I guess you can call it their foundational program, right? These are kind of all the moves that are very foundational to the Knees Over Toes Guide training. It's doing like the ATG split squats and the ATG squat and working on your calves, doing, um, you know, calf raises and doing different types of mobility work for the upper body. So they're very kind of like basic building blocks to the more advanced programs. They do traditionally recommend that you stay in Kneeability Zero for 12 weeks. However, me being me, I was like itching to, to continue to progress and, you know, go, go forward and be able to add weight. Because when I did go through the first 2 weeks, I was able to do the moves, you know, fairly easily after some time. And, you know, had really good mobility through them, pretty good strength through them. And I was like, I really wanna just continue to build upon this. Like, I get this, I'm doing good with this. Like, how can I keep moving forward? Which leads me into talking about their coaches. Other live coaches that you get access to with the program. So as you're working your way through the program, as I have been with KneeAbility Zero, I messaged the coaches right away and I was like, hey, you know, these exercises are feeling pretty easy at this point. Should I add weight? What do you guys recommend? Is there another program I can advance to? Um, and they basically said like, you know, if you're feeling good, we can bump you to the next program, which is called the ATG program. But I did wanna mention, you know, part of the program is sending in your form. So with the KneeAbility Zero program, that kind of foundational one, I was sending in, you know, my form for each move that I was doing and making sure I was doing it correctly and getting corrections. And then I asked them to move up after the point that, you know, I wasn't needing any more corrections at that point. So it wasn't like I jumped into it and kind of was like, I wanna go harder, I wanna go faster, give me more. I made sure that I was getting all the movements correct first and really mastering those before I asked to get bumped into the next program. So like I mentioned, I was in the KneeAbility Zero program for about 2 weeks or so until I got bumped into the next program up called the ATG program. And that program is one that is updated live week by week. Ben Patrick is constantly adding new exercises and changing, you know, changing basically the layout of it each week. And this is the program that he's doing, you know, live in his gym with his athletes. So it's really cool that these are exercises that he's doing along the way, you know, in his own gym as well. So with the ATG program, I have absolutely been loving it. Um, I think it's just— I mean, it's been working my body and my joints and my knee, um, in so many different ways that I'm used to, and really working that full range of motion, but also building like very solid strength throughout that. And I love, love, love the sled that you do, you know, in the program. You do a sled push or pull or combination of those two every day of the program, and it just feels so good on the knees to get that blood flow going, to get the joints moving. My legs feel very, very strong, like I'm building so many muscles around my legs and the quads. So, so far loving that aspect of how unique and multifunctional these exercises are. The other thing I love, again, about both the KneeAbility Zero program and the ATG program is that the form coaching is just amazing. The coaches that you have access to have been super helpful because with each of the exercises in both KneeAbility Zero and the ATG, um, program, you're supposed to send in your form for the last, um, set that you're doing that exercise for, and they'll respond within a day and give you some good feedback on how you can adjust your form. You know, how, how are pain levels? I've been, you know, noting for different exercises like, hey, I'm feeling like a 1 out of 10 pain level in my knee. Should I, you know, what do you suggest? And he'll be like, okay, why don't you try decreasing this angle or decreasing the weight? And I'm just getting some great coaching and feedback from them, which is, you know, hard to deliver, I think, through an app. But they're doing a phenomenal job in that company so far. Overall, I can tell that this is a program I'm going to stick to for a while because it's challenging me. It changes week to week, so I'm not getting bored. The movements feel good on my body. Like, I feel very strong and stable and like I'm doing things in a way that's going to help my body in the long run and not damage it for the sake of performance. So I just, I feel like it's a really well-rounded program. I've been working on my upper body with it. You work on your core, you're working on your lower body, but all things that are so unique and so functional to how the body is wired to move. So it's just, I can't say enough good things about it. I'm so, so, so glad I started this program. And I also love how this program can be adapted for, you know, wherever you're at really. There's different progressions and regressions for each exercise, so I think Ben, AKA the Knees Over Toes Guy, has done a really great job of building these exercises so that they can be taken to a level harder or multiple levels harder or be taken to multiple levels easier. So it makes this program really adaptable for all ages, all ability levels. And again, for people like myself that have come from having ACL reconstruction surgery and are a little cautious about different movements, there's a lot of different regressions so you can kind of get your body used to a certain movement without having to add load or put a lot of stress on a knee or, you know, a shoulder joint or anything like that. So honestly, I really can't say anything bad about this program. It's challenged me in so many ways, you know, like I've mentioned, from my range of motion to my strength to my muscular endurance, even my cardio from all the sled pushing and pulling. I just feel like it's such a well-rounded program and I'm really excited to see how my body does in playing a sport. I haven't played volleyball yet, this month, so I'm planning on doing that soon. I really want to see how my body performs in jumping and feeling stable on the court. But man, like, I can— I'm, I'm kind of predicting we're gonna have some good hops because I just feel very, like, explosive. Like, I feel like I've built, started to build really good muscle strength and power in different areas of my legs that were really lacking before. But as I mentioned, guys, I'm going to keep you guys posted as I keep moving throughout this program and let you know my thoughts as I'm, you know, moving through and how my knee is feeling in particular. So far I can say, you know, it's been a little bit achy, but nothing out of the ordinary. I think it's just a matter of getting used to different exercises, and, um, that's pretty much it. But I think the thing that's comforting is that Ben Patrick himself has had multiple knee surgeries and has had, you know, joint injuries. You know, I don't know if he's had an ACL rupture, but I think he's had like an MCL, meniscus, and a kneecap injury. And there's several other people that have done the program that have had ACL injuries too. So I feel kind of like understood, and an aspect of like safety in doing the program too, because I feel like he knows where, you know, us ACL reconstruction folks are coming from and the cautiousness that we have around, um, starting a new program. But like I mentioned, I promise to keep you guys posted as I move through this program. So I will make another update video in about another month and let you guys know. Hopefully I'll played some sports by then. I think it's gonna be warmer outside, so maybe doing some basketball outside and stuff like that. I just really want to test some, you know, different areas and see how my body functions after doing some training like this. So I will keep you guys posted. Make sure to subscribe if you haven't yet so you can make sure to catch those videos when I post them. And if you haven't already, give this video a thumbs up. I really appreciate all the support and subscribers that I've gotten so far. It's really been wonderful to see this ACL community in particular start to develop out of this, but just other people that want to learn more about health and wellness and how to treat their bodies well. So I really appreciate every subscriber here, and if you know somebody that might benefit from learning more about what I'm sharing on my channel— health, wellness, ACL and joint care— please forward this video or forward any of my videos their way. So that is all I have, and until then, I will see you guys later. Bye!
