Build Bulletproof Knees for Skiing

The Winter Olympics just started.
Ski season is in full swing.
The Super Bowl just wrapped up.
Congrats to the Seahawks.

Watching these athletes compete at the highest level is incredible.
They don't bullshit about what they want.
No corporate speak.
No sugar coating.
They want the gold.
The championship.
The win.
They want to be the best.

But there's one thing every athlete tries to avoid at all costs.
Injury.

Once you're injured, seriously injured, you're out.
Done.
Can't compete.

Unless you're Lindsey Vonn.

Last week, she tore her ACL in a crash during a World Cup race in Switzerland.
Got airlifted off the mountain.
MRI confirmed that her ACL is completely ruptured.

Nine days later, she's racing in the Olympic downhill.
At 41 years old.
On a shredded knee.
Going 80 miles per hour down a mountain.

On ice. With turns. On one bad knee.

How?

I can't tell you exactly what's keeping her knee together.
Probably an ungodly amount of cortisone, an iron-clad brace, and muscles around the knee strong enough to compensate for a missing ligament.
But most of all?
Mental fortitude that most people will never understand.

The reality is, we're not Lindsey Vonn.

We don't have Olympic-level medical teams, performance staff, or the pain tolerance of a honey badger on a mission.
But we CAN build knees strong enough to handle skiing, and life, without blowing them out.

Your knee isn't a bone.
It's a joint.
The meeting point between your femur (thigh bone) and your tibia and fibula (lower leg bones).

Those bones don't just touch.
They're held together by four major ligaments:

ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament)
Prevents your tibia from sliding forward.
This is the one Lindsey tore.

PCL (Posterior Cruciate Ligament)
Prevents your tibia from sliding backward.

MCL (Medial Collateral Ligament)
Stabilizes the inside of your knee.
Prevents it from caving inward.

LCL (Lateral Collateral Ligament)
Stabilizes the outside of your knee.

Inside the joint, you've got cartilage, two menisci (medial and lateral) that act as shock absorbers.
And the whole thing is wrapped in a capsule filled with synovial fluid that lubricates the joint so it moves smoothly.

The ligaments keep the bones aligned.
The cartilage absorbs impact.
The fluid reduces friction.

The issue with tearing a ligament is that they don't have great blood supply.
They heal slowly.
And once they're torn, they don't fully regenerate on their own.
That's why Lindsey Vonn skiing on one is borderline insane.

The biggest factor keeping your knee strong is the musculature around the knee.

Quads
Hamstrings
Glutes (they control hip stability which directly affects knee alignment)
Calves
Adductors, and abductors.

Weak muscles = ligaments take all the load = higher injury risk.
Strong muscles = load gets distributed = ligaments stay protected.

That's the only part you can control.

When you're skiing, you're in a bent knee position most of the time.
That's eccentric quad loading.
Your quads are lengthened and under constant tension, controlling your descent.

You need to be strong enough to stay in that position.
For hours.

You also need to be able to decelerate.
Stop yourself when you need to stop.
Going 40 mph down a mountain isn't the hard part.
Controlling your speed is.

You need single-leg stability.
You're never evenly weighted on both skis.
Every turn loads one leg more than the other.

You need to absorb impact.
Landing jumps.
Hitting moguls.
Sudden terrain changes.
Your knees take all of it.

And the one thing most people overlook?
Ankle strength and mobility.

Weak ankles mean your knee compensates for every micro-adjustment.
Increasing your chances for injury.

So how do you train for this?

Here's how.

The exercises below aren't optional if you want to ski without blowing out your knee.

Nordic curls (eccentric hamstring loading)
This one is brutal.
Fair warning, may cause cramping.
It's relatively advanced, but extremely effective.

Slider/Stability ball hamstring curls
I did these when rehabbing my knee.
Control the lengthening part of the move.
That's where the strength comes from.

Single-leg RDLs
Glutes get worked here as well. Super important for stability.

The key here is to keep the knee tracking over your toes, not caving in.

Lateral step-downs (THIS is the money exercise)
Use a box that forces your hip to start below the knee when your foot is on top.
Step down slowly under control.
This builds the exact strength pattern that prevents ACL tears.

Monster walks with resistance band
Band around feet = hardest
Band around calves/ankles = medium
Band around knees = easiest

Single-leg squats to box
Lower down to a box on one leg, sit back, stand up.
To modify, keep the other leg straight and push lightly through the heel for balance.

Bulgarian split squats (slow on the down)
Back foot elevated on a bench or box.
Keep most of the weight on your front leg.
Lower for 3-4 seconds.
This mimics the bent-knee position you're in while skiing.

Step-ups with pause at top
Pause for 1-2 seconds at the top.
Squeeze your glute.
Don't push off with your back leg.
Make the front leg do all the work.

Copenhagen planks
Start with a bent knee on a bench.
Keep your knee, hips, and shoulders in one line.
Progress to straight leg.
Brutal but effective for inner knee stability.

Lateral lunges
Drive your hip back as you sit into the lunge.
Keep the knee tracking over the toes.
Don't let it cave inward.
The leg stepping out is doing the work.

Adductor slides
Put a slider under one foot.
Slide that leg out to the side while keeping your weight on the stable leg.
Sit back into your hip.
Think of this as a lateral lunge with a slide.
The leg that's stable is doing the work.

Single-leg balance progressions (flat → foam pad → BOSU)
Start with 30 seconds, build up to 1 minute and more.
Focus on a still object to help with balance.
Your ankle learns to make micro-adjustments without your knee taking over.

Ankle circles with resistance band
Keep the band light.
Start with 10-15 circles each direction.
Builds strength in all planes of motion.

Calf raises (single-leg)
Do both straight leg and bent knee calf raises.
Works both calf muscles (gastrocnemius and soleus).

These are advanced. Proceed with caution.

Box jumps with controlled landing
Land like a mouse.
Absorb the impact with your quads and glutes, not your knees.
Start with a low box. Check your ego.

Skater jumps
Jump laterally from one leg to the other.
Land softly, stabilize, then explode to the other side.
Mimics the dynamic lateral movement of turning while skiing.

Pick 4-6 exercises that address your weaknesses.
Do them 2x per week for 6 weeks before ski season.
3-4 sets per exercise.
8-12 reps for strength exercises.
30-60 seconds for holds (planks, balance work).

Start light. Build up.
Don't be a hero on week one.

Lindsey Vonn crashed again.
Second airlift in two weeks.

This time it wasn't her knee, she clipped a gate.

But since you don't have to worry about clipping a gate at 80 miles an hour, focus on building the strongest knee possible.

Six weeks of training.
Two sessions per week.
4-6 exercises from the list above.

That's all it takes to build knees strong enough to handle the slopes.

Train Hard.
Think Deep.
Live with Intent.

— The CODE