ACL Prehab Strategy & Comments

I used a number of resources in developing my pre-hab strategy:

1. Personal trainer. I paid for an assessment & 3 sessions with a personal trainer. This was worth its weight in gold. A quick assessment revealed a few things:

• I had a torn ACL in my left knee (duh!)
• I had a tight ITB and some patella-femoral cracking in my good knee
• I had very weak glutes
• I had weak hamstrings
• I had tight ankles and limited ankle mobility
• My shoulders were pronated

2. www.t-nation.com, a gold mine of training resources.

As I had already used my patella in the first surgery, my ACL reconstruction was going to be a hamstring-graft this time around. So I had to get my hamstrings strong, as well as my quads.

The Chad Waterbury 10-10 program was solid in that it:

1. Had lots of hip-dominant movements to grow hamstrings & glutes
2. Had a lot of back exercises (chins & rows) vs chest to help rebalance my shoulders

I assume weak glutes/hammies is a common problem and Chad seems to have designed the workout accordingly. Zercher squats, good mornings and others are not common gym exercises and be prepared for a lot of stares from the upper-body only workout crowd.

In my phase III HFT program I added in a lot of leg movements as well such as clam shells, planks with glute & hip lifts, walking lunges, and overhead squats. This helped develop my quads and further develop my hips.

Here's my overall comments on my program:

Phase I - the diet was very hard. I was often spacey and couldn't sleep. I had to switch my last meal until right before bed to help me sleep. The circuit workouts were brutal - I often felt like I was going to barf on the last workout.

Phase II - This phase was relatively easy for me. The workouts weren't as tough as the first phase, all though challenging.

Phase III - I almost died a few times. This workout is tough on the nervous system. I'm also helping start a company right now and I often don't sleep enough, work hard and travel which probably didn't help. A few memorable highlights:

• I dropped a 135lb overhead squat when I lost balance (nervous system dying on me)
• My last workout in New York, lying on the ground for about 5 minutes after I finished my last set of 3x14 squats
• Working out at 6am before going to apply for a US TN visa and sitting there in a bath of sweat waiting for an immigration officer with a body that would not recover

But so far its all been worth it. My stats are great:

1. Lost 7lbs of fat
2. Added 12 lbs of muscle
3. Bench press went from 185 to 225lbs for 4 reps
4. Back squat - 225 for 4 with ass to the ground technique, not half-squats
5. Deadlifting - 305 for 4
6. Overhead squat - 135 for 4
7. Military press - 135 for 4