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This week we continue the same practice as Week One, while getting you to complete an athletic heat map.
Week Two tasks
Your daily routine is still to be done every day:
Foam rolling, 10 rolls each position
Knee isometrics, four sets of 30 seconds each leg
Keep logging your pain levels before and after each day's program
Additionally, complete at least two versions of the heat mapping activity this week.
One for your current activity, exercise and sporting levels
Another that reflects the level of activity you wish to be able to get back to (once your knees are pain free)
*If you do not have high activity aspirations you might not find the heat map activity hugely important, that's ok, just focus on your daily routine activities instead.
During the early stages of any injury rehab, taking extra time and care to lay a foundation is critical to long-term success. Our most successful athletes are the ones who complete the basics with ruthless precision!
For this reason, there are no new exercises this week. Spend this week foam rolling and doing the knee isometrics every day, repeating what you learned in week one. This will have huge benefits in the later, more advanced stages of the program.
If you are finding the knee isometrics easy you might like to increase the weight a small amount adding 1-2 pounds (0.5-1kg) every second day, only if these are feeling easy.
While you continue with these exercises, take an opportunity to learn how to track your training load. This is a crucial skill for people who like doing lots of exercise (especially running or court sports) in remaining pain-free after the seven week program, something we have written about here.
Activity: Map your training loads
A heat map shows you how much activity you are doing and its distribution over the week.
We have built a heat mapping spreadsheet specifically for junior athletes to complete but the same rules and lessons can be valuable for adults who are struggling with Osgood.
Enter your weekly sporting commitments into the spreadsheet and fill in the number of minutes the session lasts and a rating of perceived exertion (RPE)*.
*RPE is an individual’s measurement of how hard a training session was. 1/10 would be an easy walk, 10/10 being your hardest sporting session ever. Some sessions may have a mix of hard and easy components, but most athletes have a pretty clear idea of an overall score. Get them to use that score.
There is no magic number for weekly training load, as we all handle training stress differently, but keep an eye out for large spikes or changes, and aim to have at least one day (ideally two days) per week that have light or even no hard training volumes.
Closing Week Two
Continue foam rolling routine, performing the knee isometric holds every day and filling in your workbook. Take a few minutes to create an athletic heat map to get an idea of how much sport you are currently doing and which days have the highest loads.
When should I increase the weight on the knee iso holds?
As a general rule of thumb, be more conservative on this than you think. The magic in the iso’s isn’t about how heavy you can go, but about how well you can manage the hold and doing them consistently throughout the week. We recommend starting at 5kg (feel free to go lighter if this cannot be maintained for the full 30 seconds) and maybe increase by 1kg every second week.
Some athletes get great results and fully return to sport while never changing from the 5kg starting point.
Up Next
After successfully completing a full week of pain logging and daily rolling and isometric holds, it is time to progress!
