Dropping 8 Pounds on a “Knee Rehab” Program!! Really???
November 12, 2008
A couple of months ago I wrote a “corrective exercise” program for a colleague of mine who had a really bad knee. Since he didn’t live close to me, I emailed him the program hoping that it would fix the months of pain and lack of function that he had been suffering through.
A few weeks after, I received an email from him telling me how awesome his knee felt and how he can now do all of the things he wanted to do, including playing with his kids, working out full time and living without pain.
At the end of the email, he also mentioned how since doing my program, he dropped about 8 pounds! I was happy for him, but not that surprised.
Although my intentions for his program were never about losing weight, I wrote the program with all of the necessary components that someone needs in an exercise program to drop pounds and unwanted fat. The main goal, actually, the ONLY goal of his program was to fix his bad knee. So just how was he able to lose 8 pounds on what some would consider a “rehab program!”
Without getting into the specific exercises, here is what was in his program. I think it is very important to pay attention to this list if you are trying to lose weight. Make sure your training program has these components.
- Full Body Training - Although it was all about his knee, I picked exercises that would challenge the whole body. It was important for his knee to be able to respond to the stresses of life.
- Leg and Hip work - Obviously I included exercise specifically for his knee, but I also incorporate hip work too. Things like squats, dead lifts, and glute bridges are all hip and leg exercises. The biggest muscles in your body are in the hip and legs. Train them!
- Resistance Training - Yes, that means weight training. If you do not have some kind of resistance training in your fat loss program, you are seriously missing a HUGE benefit in burning fat.
- Non-Stop movement - I didn’t have a lot of rest programmed into his plan. In other words, I made him go from exercise to exercise, with little down time if at all. This keeps the heart rate up, and the workload at a higher intensity. Both are key to fat burning.
- Multi-joint movements - You would think that with a knee rehab program I would have him doing knee extensions, and leg curls. Not a chance. Most of his plan was centered around multi-joint movements. For example: The squat works the knee joint musculature and the hip joint musculature. Not to mention the ankle joint as well. On top of that, squatting challenges the core at the same time. So just that one exercise gives a ton of “bang” for your “buck.”
Make sure your review the program you are on right now to ensure that you have at least these components included. If you don’t, make sure you change things up to include all of these. You can also add some HIIT, or other cardio as well.
If a guy can lose 8 pounds without even trying while doing a rehab program, you can do it too with a more focused fat loss program.
Good luck and fire questions at me if you have them.
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