Knee Braces

make sure you use the brace only when skiing and do like muscle and tendon strengthing around your knee. if you just use a brace all the time youll practically get atrophy around your knee

definitely wear your braces when skiing. i tore ligaments in both my knees last year and i just got out on the mountain yesterday for the first time in a year. i used braces and my knees felt pretty good, but my legs got sore because they're still pretty weak. ride the bike a lot because that will strengthen up the joints themselves. i usually ride the bike before every workout to get everything loosened up. do the leg press, hamstring and quad curls if you can. focus on single leg and both legs for these exercises. also, use lighter weights, but more reps. that's what my therapist said. also, stretch before and after working out, that will help too. lastly, if you can get access to the pool, do some exercises in there. the low impact works well with damaged knees. PM me with any other questions, I've been recuperating for a while so I know quite a bit!

dont bother with a brace unless its custom to you. if you cant afford it, save more because its worth it.

Berg

Lots of single leg work outs, lunges, split squats, there's lots just look em up on youtube. Single leg movements are key to a stronger knee and better surrounding muscles.

there is a difference between rehab, prehab, and training.

sounds like you are rehabbing - light weight, high rep, trying to get full ROM back.

prehab - getting flexibility to where it should be, and working supporting muscles, doing unilateral exercises.

Training - this will do more for preventing injuries than anything else. you are going to want to do heavy squats and its variations(5-8 rep range), heavy deadlifts, and heavy posterior chain work like RDL's. this builds your legs and posterior chain up enough so it takes much more force to get you in a position where you can injure yourself.

a football player has the same goals as a skier - gain explosive leg strength, injury proof the body from impacts, and generally be more atheltic. why wouldnt you train like a football player?

have you ever trained before? i mean like put in a consistent 4-6 months in the weight room?

thanks for the help guys, im talking to my doctor about getting fit for a knee brace vs the BREG braces. my knee is feeling pretty good and ive been doing light weight high reps exercises. want to start doing more explosive lifts but dont want to start too soon. im not very familiar with the weight room (even though i should be cause i was a good high school athlete) im doing squats with dumb bells, lunges, calf raises, leg press, hammie and quad curls. any exercises i should also consider that wont put too much pressure on my knee?

i hate to sound like a douche bag, but ive been weight training and playing football for 4 years now and my overall form and posture on the mountain has improved dramatically in the past 4 years. Weight training helps, obviously, with explosiveness and rotations(core and abs) but an invaluable piece of training is resistance to injury, my knees have pretty much become impervious to everything. Between skiing and football they take a royal beating. Being 6' and 220 lbs, my knees take some insane impact on big kickers and rails. Also the Breg braces are really nice, i tore my MCL a couple years ago and it helped suport my knee wonderfully after rehab.

Romanian deadlifts, deadlifts, back squats, front squats, bulgarian split squats.


that right there is all the lower body exercises you will ever need as an athlete...ever.

I ride with the Asterisk Cell knee braces, they are a bit bulky, but once you have them on, you completely forget about them, no pressure points, simple to use. and i honestly wont ride without them.