♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous ♪
♪ Physical therapists on the internet ♪
- Hi folks, I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist.
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
- Together, we are the most famous
physical therapists on the internet.
- In our own opinion, of course, Bob.
- Today we're going to show you five of the best core
strengthening exercises you should do every day.
They're really great for the back.
If you have back problems, you can try these,
as long as they don't hurt.
But if you don't have back problems,
this is a great way to prevent them.
- Right. - I said great way.
- Yeah. - Great way.
- Yeah, that's like that cartoon.
- Flub.
Fudd.
- (laughs) Elmer Fudd. - Elmer Fudd.
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We're giving away some of our exercise loops.
There was five of them.
There are different colors and different intensities.
And you can use them for a whole myriad of exercises.
- That's right, Bob.
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- There you go!
- All right, let's start off with the easiest one, Brad.
- Sure.
- Now you probably would be doing these on the floor.
You wouldn't be doing these in bed.
You possibly could, but it'd be difficult.
- [Brad] Right.
- So the first one you're gonna do is just simple bridging.
So you're just going to lift the body up,
and you get it to a straight line here.
You're strengthening some of the bigger muscles here,
but you're also strengthening the back.
And it's something you could do
a good set of 15 repetitions.
- Right, so you get that glutes and the multifidi,
and those other lower back muscles.
They all work together, so you don't want to isolate,
you want to work them together.
- And eventually you could go to til about here.
- Oh yeah.
Now that adds another-
- Adds another dimension, Brad.
So, all right 15 times, then you're going to do curls.
- Without a barbell?
- Well, you actually, I put my hands
underneath here like that for support.
And then you're just gonna
lift your head straight up like that.
Don't go like this.
You're lifting straight up.
- So are you bringing the shoulders up as well?
- Yep.
- So the shoulder blades leave the floor?
- If they can. - Yep.
- And believe it or not,
when you first start these, my neck got really sore.
- Sure, it looks like it.
- Yeah, and eventually the neck muscles
got strong enough where it didn't bother anymore.
But I used to have to, I actually do these now like this.
I actually move my legs while I'm doing the curls.
- Which makes it quite a bit-
- Makes it a lot difficult, yeah.
- So you put your hands underneath to support the back.
So just above the belt lining.
And you can feel that I'm assuming, it feels good?
- Yes, exactly.
- Looks like it isolates a little bit better, too.
- Yeah, and you don't get set rectus,
which it's difficult to do without doing curls.
- Sure, yep.
- I mean, as far as full curls.
All right, next one, side plank.
And now you can start, if you're just starting these,
you can start them on your knee like this.
And you're just going to lift up like this.
And again, this is going to get some of those
rotator muscles for the abdomen.
- So this would be the way to start,
if you haven't done it before, then you can go to the full.
- Yeah, and so you put one foot in front of the other.
And then you lift up like this.
- Yep, there's a airspace in there,
but his microphones getting into it (chuckles).
- I'm on the end of the mat, which makes me wobble.
- [Brad] Yeah, you know the whole table's wobbling?
- The whole table (laughs), yeah.
- That table, of what falls right apart someday.
It's getting pretty old, I think it's 15 years old.
- So I do sets of this, Brad, I'll do like,
I'll count to 30, then do another set of 30.
All right, next one is the forward plank.
And you're gonna raise your arms.
Now you can can start these on your knees too.
If you're new to them, is my back straight, Brad?
- Well, your butts up a little higher, Bob.
- How's that?
- So down a little bit there.
You're doing just a plank?
- Yep and then you're gonna go up like this,
but you rotate your pelvis too.
You don't go like this, you rotate everything.
- [Brad] So the spine stays natural.
- So you're teaching your spine to rotate with everything
so that it stays in neutral and there's less stress on it.
I can actually feel this when I go like this, Brad.
And it actually hurts.
- [Brad] Where?
- In my back, well, if I go like this, it doesn't hurt if I-
- Oh, when you rotate it? - Yeah, pelvis.
- So that that's something you want to listen to.
If any of these irritate your back
and give you back pain, don't do them.
I won't do these, a couple of them,
because my spondylolisthesis, that's why Bob's doing these.
- Yeah, this is a little more difficult.
But you can actually work it this way too, if you want to.
- Sure, so you get that whole body rotation.
- Then you go right into the final one, the pointer dog.
- Oh, the famous pointer dog.
- Now, you could put a couple of pillows underneath you,
and not do it on all fours.
- Sure, or you can actually put a exercise ball underneath.
I have done that.
- Sure, that gives a nice support.
- A lot of stress off the back.
- Now, if you're new to these,
you might just start with the legs.
Or just start with the arms.
But eventually you want to do both together,
and then you do the opposite side.
Again, this is mat throws me off.
- Yeah, your balance is challenged.
We got three inches of cushion there.
Now this, the key I think on this is
that you don't do them too fast.
Out and hold it and then come back slowly.
But there's a big balance component in this.
- Now you're working your core,
and you're working a little bit on your balance,
but you're getting that back muscles, which, you know,
you're not always getting on some of these other ones.
- Right, a lot of people think core means abdomen,
but you've got to work the back of the core too.
- There they are, you know, it's just five ones.
Brad, I practice what I preach, I do.
Well, I do the curls and the side planks.
- How many?
- I do four sets, I do, I lift weight.
- Four sets of how many reps?
- I vary, I mean. - Depending on the day?
- Some are 30. - 30?
- Yeah. - Wow.
- So yeah, these core exercises, you can do a lot.
- Pump up the volume.
- Yeah, 'cause it's endurance muscles.
You want them to be working all the time
when you're trying to protect your back.
- Right, oh yeah.
- They should be kicking in
every time you're lifting something
- Yeah, it's like running a marathon.
There we go, all right. - There you go.
- Thanks for watching everybody.
(upbeat music)