By now, many in strength and sports conditioning circles have come across the “knees over toes” [KOT] concept. Ben Patrick, known as the ‘Knees Over Toes Guy,’ popularized it on social media, challenging the old idea that knees should never pass the toes during movement. While this approach has spurred valuable discussion, it’s not without criticism. A Sportsmith article from last year, for instance, raises concerns about overgeneralization and potential biomechanical risks when KOT is misapplied.
Still, KOT has prompted a fresh look at movement patterns beyond the traditional so-called fundamental movement patterns: push, pull, carry, hinge, rotate, and squat.
It is with this in mind, that we can discuss maybe the only true fundamental pattern: the “knees behind butt” pattern.
My friend Kelly Starrett has been talking about the importance of “knees behind butt” for years—it is a keystone pattern for many sports, often overlooked by trainers and coaches in favor of the classic fundamentals.
Rethinking Fundamental Movement Patterns
Standard training programs rely on these fundamental movement patterns to build balanced movement and strength, following the mantra “movement before muscles”—the idea that athletes should prioritize movement patterns over solely increasing individual muscle, or muscle group, strength and size.
This approach makes sense, doesn’t it?
For the general population, this way of training is highly effective. But for elite athletes, is it the most appropriate approach?
In high-level sport, these patterns alone often fall short. Rarely do athletes excel across all the fundamental patterns, yet they still perform at an elite level in their sport. This suggests that athletic excellence depends on patterns more specific to high-speed, dynamic movements.
But what about youth athletes—shouldn’t their training focus be more generalized?
Absolutely. In developmental phases, working on pushing, pulling, hinging, squatting, rotating, and carrying is a solid foundation for building all-around athletic ability. However, it still misses the most important pattern: hip extension.
None of the traditional fundamental patterns are universal across all sports, but hip extension might just be.
The Power of Hip Extension
Hip extension is the engine for nearly all athletic movement—from sprinting and jumping to throwing and changing direction. By driving the hip backward to generate force, athletes tap into the keystone of performance. The ability to drive the knee behind the butt with appropriate force, velocity, range, control, and repeatability is fundamental to almost every track, court, and field-based sport.
Hip extension lies at the core of all locomotion.
Exercises like squats and deadlifts may train parts of this pattern but miss the essential “knees behind butt” position, which enables the force, range, and velocity needed in high-speed sports.
Consider a sprint: whether during acceleration or upright sprinting, it is the hip extension pattern that governs velocity.
Simply put, you will not find a fast athlete in any sport without an excellent hip extension pattern – meaning, they drive the “knee behind the butt” with the force, velocity, range, control, and repeatability required of the task.
