Kneehab Ski · 12 weeks · Inside the Strong Knees System
Strong Knees for Ski Season
If you've ever had your legs quit on you halfway through the best powder day of the year, or felt your knees get cranky by day three of a trip, or come back from a knee injury and quietly wondered whether the knee can handle a season, this is for you. It's the block I run on my own knee every fall before the lifts open, and now it carries you through the season too. Eight weeks to build ski legs, three sessions a week, then a two-day-a-week in-season block you repeat until the lifts close. Every exercise on video, and it's built around what skiing actually asks of a knee: quads that keep going when they're already burning, landings you can trust on one leg, and hips that keep the knee tracking straight when the snow gets rough.
In the app now
Gym or garage · 3 days, then 2
Who Kneehab Ski Is For
- ✓Skiers whose legs give out before the day does. Thighs on fire by the third run, form falls apart by the afternoon, and that is when knees get hurt.
- ✓Anyone coming back to skiing after a knee injury. ACL, meniscus, MCL, a scope. You have been cleared, you are strong enough to train, and you want the knee to be ready before the first chairlift instead of hoping.
- ✓Skiers with knees that ache after a ski trip. Day three of a trip should not be a negotiation. Ski conditioning that targets the knee specifically, not just general leg fitness.
- ✓Weekend skiers who want to stay off the injury list. Knee injuries are the most common serious injury in skiing, and early-season, fatigued legs are where most of them happen.
Not for a knee that is swollen, locking or giving way. Get that looked at first. If you are brand new to training, start with Foundations in the same app and begin Kneehab Ski eight weeks before your first ski day.
Why I Built This Program
Skiing is who I am. I grew up chasing a pro freeskiing career, sliding rails at Ski Sundown after school in Connecticut and lapping Carinthia every weekend I could, and by college I'd worked my way to 60th in the world in slopestyle. Then I tore my right ACL at the Aspen Open. Ten months later I tore it again on a switch 540 I landed clean (I didn't even fall). Then a third time celebrating a goal in a pickup soccer game, and a fourth time hitting a tree in Japan on a ski shoot. Two of the four happened on skis, and the one that still bugs me most is the second, because I'd passed my return-to-sport test with flying colors and it wasn't enough.
I've skied every winter since 2023 with no ACL in that knee, a compromised meniscus and arthritis. I'm not throwing the tricks I used to, and that's fine. I still rip park laps, I still chase powder, I did a week-long hut trip last winter and sent a flat 360 off an avalanche barrier in Japan on that knee. None of that is luck. It comes from training the specific strength skiing asks for: quads that keep firing when they're already burning, hamstrings that hold the shin when a ski catches, hips that keep the knee from caving on the inside edge, and landings you can trust on one leg.
Here is the honest version of the numbers. Knee injuries are the most common serious injury in skiing, and ACL and MCL sprains alone make up somewhere between 10% and 33% of all ski injuries. The research is clear on what stacks the odds against you: icy or fresh snow, a lower skill level, and fatigue late in the day. What every ski patroller will also tell you, and what I've seen in my own knee and in the people I coach, is that early-season legs are the ones that get hurt. You show up in December having done nothing like skiing since April, your quads give out by the third run, a ski catches, and that's the season. This program exists so your legs are ready before the first chairlift, not after, and so they stay ready through March.
"Comeback Season", spring 2017, nine months after my second reconstruction. This is what these knees used to do. They still ski every winter, now with no ACL.
How the 12 Weeks Are Built
Three blocks. Build, load, then keep it all season.
Weeks 1 to 4
Block 1: Build the base
Three sessions a week. Moderate weights, isometric holds, two-foot jumps and landings. You find your working weights and your knees get used to the positions a ski boot puts them in.
Weeks 5 to 8
Block 2: Load and speed
Heavier bars, Nordics, weighted holds, single-leg landings, box jump switches and the Downhill Burner. Week 8 is a deload so you start the season fresh instead of sore.
Weeks 9 to 12
Block 3: In-season
Two sessions a week once the lifts are open, and skiing is your third. Monday rebuilds the legs after the weekend, Thursday sharpens them before the next one. Repeat it until the lifts close.
The Three Sessions
Monday, Wednesday, Friday is the easy version. Any three days with a day between them works. In-season it drops to Monday and Thursday.
Monday
Ski A: Squat Strength
The legs that last all day.
Back squats, Bulgarian split squats and hamstring work that progresses from dumbbell RDLs to barbell RDLs to Nordics. Then wall sits, Copenhagen planks and hip work, the stuff that keeps your knees tracking straight on the inside edge.
Wednesday
Ski B: The Burn
The session that feels like a long run of moguls.
Spanish squat holds and pulses, lateral lunges, step downs, skater hops, single-leg lateral hops and rapid twist drops with a plate. Block 2 adds weight to the holds and ends with the Downhill Burner: wall sit, jump squats, bottom-half squats, repeat.
Friday
Ski C: Single-Leg + Power
Jumps, landings and one leg at a time.
Box jumps and depth drops while you are fresh, then front squats, single-leg squats to a box, hamstring slides into single-leg RDLs, Poliquin step ups. Block 2 brings in box jump switches, the closest thing to moguls you can do in a gym.
Stronger knees or your money back.
$67 every 3 months (about $22 per month). Cancel anytime.
What's Inside Kneehab Ski
- ✓ Twelve weeks, 32 sessions. Eight weeks to build ski legs, three days a week, then a four-week in-season block at two days a week that you can run on repeat all winter.
- ✓ A video of me doing every exercise. 68 movements, all filmed by me, with the sets, reps, rest and a note on why each one is in there.
- ✓ Swaps for every barbell lift. Dumbbell and bodyweight versions are written into every session, so a garage with a box, a band and a few dumbbells is enough.
- ✓ Warm-ups that change week to week and cool-downs built on the mobility work I use on my own knee: hip rotation, deep squat reaches, Spiderman, pigeon.
- ✓ The Kneehab Training app. Your sessions, timers, progress tracking and the demo videos in one place, on your phone, in the gym.
One rule runs the whole program: pain stays at 3 out of 10 or less, during the session and the next morning. Every session tells you what to drop if a knee gets loud.
It Comes Inside the Strong Knees System
Kneehab Ski is not a stand-alone download. It is one program inside the Strong Knees System, the membership that holds every program I have built, and the ski block works best on top of the base those programs give you. One price gets you all of it, in one app.
Kneehab Ski (12 weeks)
This page. Ski legs before the season, two days a week during it.
Foundations (8 weeks)
Where everyone starts. A band and your living room. Wakes up the tibialis, calves, VMO, hamstrings and glutes.
Strength (12 weeks)
Quad day, posterior chain day, hip day. The base that makes a ski block work.
Performance (8 weeks)
Plyometrics, deceleration, landing mechanics. Jump, sprint and cut at full speed.
The Patellar Tendon Fix
Five phases for pain right below the kneecap. Runs alongside anything else.
Knee Mobility Library
Ten minutes a day for ankles, hips and knees. Makes every session above it load better.
Kneehab Run (12 weeks)
The return-to-running block, landing in the app soon. Like every program I add, it is included while you are a member. Read about Kneehab Run.
Every Session, on Your Phone
The whole system runs inside the Kneehab Training App. Tap today's session, follow the video demo, log your sets, done. Timers, progress tracking, and daily step tracking are built in, and I'm on the other side of the message button when you want a form check.
Buy today and your first session is waiting before you finish reading this page.
Stronger knees or your money back.
$67 every 3 months (about $22 per month). Cancel anytime.
Program preview · 1 min
See Inside the Strong Knees System
Watch the video for a quick preview of what the Strong Knees System looks like from the inside.
Stronger knees or your money back.
$67 every 3 months (about $22 per month). Cancel anytime.
Everything You Get Today
FOUNDATIONS — 8-WEEK PROGRAM
24 guided sessions. A resistance band and your living room. Wakes up the muscles that protect your knees. This is the full build my free guide was pulled from.
STRENGTH — 12-WEEK PROGRAM
36 guided sessions. Quad day, posterior chain day, hip day. Every week progresses on the last, with a built-in deload.
PERFORMANCE — 8-WEEK PROGRAM
24 guided sessions. Plyometrics, deceleration, and landing mechanics, so you can jump, sprint, and cut at full speed.
THE PATELLAR TENDON FIX
5 progressive phases for pain right below the kneecap. Slow, heavy loading that builds your tendon back to tolerance.
KNEEHAB SKI — 12-WEEK PROGRAM
32 guided sessions. Eight weeks to build ski legs, then a two-day-a-week in-season block you repeat until the lifts close. Squat strength, the burn, single-leg power.
KNEE MOBILITY LIBRARY
Short daily sessions for ankles, hips, and knees. Ten minutes that makes every other session load better.
EXERCISE VIDEO LIBRARY
100+ movement demos and growing. Filmed by me, not stock footage. You'll never guess whether you're doing it right.
TECHNIQUE DEEP DIVES
Full breakdowns of the harder movements, with the coaching cues I'd give you if I were standing next to you.
THE RESOURCE HUB
Knee health, recovery, training mindset, and nutrition. The stuff I had to learn the slow way, in one place.
FORM REVIEWS WITH ME
Message me your lift videos in the app and I'll tell you what I see.
THE APP & STEP TRACKER
Your sessions on your phone. Video demos, timers, progress tracking, and daily step tracking built in. Tap, follow, done.
EVERY PROGRAM I ADD IS INCLUDED
Train it, finish it, run it back next season. Every new program I build for the Strong Knees System lands in your app at no extra cost while you're a member. Kneehab Ski is live in the app now. Next up: Kneehab Run, the 12-week return-to-running block, in November.
$371 Total Value
$371 $67
every 3 months
about $22 per month
Six Programs · Every Future Program Included
Cancel anytime · 30-day money-back guarantee
The programs run 8 to 12 weeks, so a month isn't long enough to finish one. Billing every 3 months matches how long the programs actually take. You'll be charged $67 today, then $67 again in 3 months, and every 3 months after that. Cancel anytime.
Stronger knees or your money back.
$67 every 3 months (about $22 per month). Cancel anytime.
From People Who've Done the Work
These are real reviews from people on my programs, pulled straight from my review wall. A few of them ski, one of them skied the Grand Teton on these knees, and one of them is living without an ACL like me.
Stronger Knees or It's Free
Run the first four weeks of any program in the system. If your knees don't feel stronger and more capable than they have in months, email me at [email protected] within 30 days of your first payment and I'll refund that payment in full. No questions asked.
The guarantee covers your first payment. After that, cancel anytime and you won't be billed again.
Questions About Kneehab Ski
Is Kneehab Ski sold on its own? +
No. It is one of the programs inside the Strong Knees System, which is $67 every 3 months (about $22 per month). One payment covers the full 12 weeks of Kneehab Ski and everything else in the app, and you can cancel any time after.
What equipment do I need? +
A barbell and rack is ideal for the squats, but every barbell lift has a dumbbell swap written into the session. Beyond that: a box or step (a plate works for the switches to start), a resistance band, a mini band and a bench. A slant board helps for step ups but is optional.
What level is this for? +
You should be cleared to train and able to squat and lunge without sharp pain. The first four weeks start light and every session has an easier swap. If you are newer to training or coming off an injury, run Foundations first (it is in the same app) and start Kneehab Ski eight weeks before your first ski day.
When should I start? +
Eight weeks before your first ski day is the plan, but starting four weeks out still beats starting on the chairlift. Once the lifts open you move to the in-season block: two sessions a week, repeated for as long as the season lasts.
I have had an ACL injury. Can I do this? +
I ski every winter with no ACL in my right knee, and this is the block I run before every season. You need to be cleared by whoever rebuilt your knee, be able to squat and lunge without sharp pain, and keep the one rule: pain stays at 3 out of 10 or less, during the session and the next morning. If a knee is swollen, locking or giving way, get it looked at before you load it.
How do I get the program after I pay? +
Your app invite lands by email within a few minutes. Download the Kneehab Training app on your phone, log in with the email you used at checkout, and Kneehab Ski is in your Programs tab with the rest of the System.
Is there a refund? +
Yes. Run the first four weeks. If your knees do not feel stronger and more capable, email me within 30 days of your first payment and I will refund it in full.
Who's Behind It
I'm Connor, The Kneehaber. Former park skier, four ACL tears in the same knee, currently skiing without one. I'm a NASM certified trainer and an ATG Level 2 coach, not a physical therapist, and I'll always tell you to get a loud knee looked at before you load it. This is the exact block I run every fall so my own knee can handle a season, and I'd love for it to do the same for yours. If you've got a question before you join, email me at [email protected] and I'll get back to you.
Happy Kneehabing,
Connor
Join the Strong Knees System
$67 every 3 months (about $22 per month). You'll be charged $67 today, then $67 again in 3 months, and every 3 months after that. Cancel anytime, and your first 30 days are covered by my money-back guarantee.
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