Lindsey Vonn isn’t easing into her next surgery. She’s attacking the weight room like the clock is ticking and muscle is the only armor she has left.
In a new Instagram video posted October 22, the 42-year-old American skiing legend powered through one-legged squats on a resistance band, weighted and unweighted barbell squats, a plank on an exercise ball, and the early stages of jumps. Her caption laid out the strategy with typical blunt precision: “Pre-surgery prep…. Focusing on high reps, getting muscle endurance and building mass. I’m also easing my way into jumps both static, lateral and some stop-and-go absorption. Pretty basic but the results are adding up. Hoping to be as strong as possible so when my leg atrophies post surgery i might still have some muscle left. 2 1/2 weeks to go!”
Lindsey Vonn Shares Workout Video Days After ACL Tear
This isn’t cosmetic maintenance. It’s calculated preparation for the inevitable post-operative muscle loss that follows surgery and the long rehab that comes after it. Fans immediately recognized the signature Vonn intensity. One commenter wrote that looking up “determination” in the dictionary would show her photo. Others praised the example while a few gently urged her not to overdo it.
The context makes the sessions even more striking. In February 2026, just 13 seconds into the women’s downhill at the Milano Cortina Olympics, Vonn suffered a catastrophic crash that produced a complex fracture of her left tibia (and fibula involvement), a broken right ankle, and compartment syndrome so severe doctors had to perform a fasciotomy to save the leg from amputation. She had already torn her left ACL in a separate crash days earlier. Multiple operations followed—reports put the total around eight or nine—and she spent weeks immobilized before beginning the slow climb back through crutches, a wheelchair, and finally unassisted gym work.
Lindsey Vonn Shows off Incredible Gym Progress 6 Weeks After Olympics Crash
A World Cup return this season is effectively off the table. Vonn has indicated the earliest realistic window for competitive racing would be the 2027/28 season, after this upcoming procedure (widely understood to address the ACL once the bone healing and hardware considerations allow) and the lengthy recovery that follows. She has continued to appear at high-profile events and train consistently—including through her 42nd birthday earlier in October—while posting progress that has ranged from pull-ups and upper-body work to the current lower-body endurance focus.
Vonn’s approach is classic for her: treat the setback as just another training block. Build the buffer now so the inevitable atrophy doesn’t erase everything. The “pretty basic” exercises she showed are anything but casual when performed under the shadow of another operation and months of restricted loading ahead.
Whether this is pure rehab discipline or quiet preparation for one more chapter on snow, the message in the gym videos is unmistakable. Lindsey Vonn is still putting in the serious work—because that’s what she does.
