♪ 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 opinion, of course, Bob.
- You're supposed to talk to the camera.
- Oh that's right, you read that comment.
- Yes, I did.
We're gonna talk about today
is indoor cycling with a trainer.
Best beginner set up demo for excellent cardio
- Cardio.
- So, Brad set my bike up.
And thank God you did because I had some problems.
We'll talk about them as we go along.
- Right, if you wanna do some indoor cycling on a trainer,
there's some things you need to know to make sure it's safe,
it's gonna not be hard on your knees
and you have a good experience.
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- Oh this is a Saturday?
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- Yes, absolutely.
- All right Brad.
- So Bob--
- We're bringing somebody in today, right?
- Yeah well actually Liz is back running the camera
so that's really nice.
And Mike he does our camera.
He films it, he does editing,
he's just part of the Bob and Brad crew.
He's a coroner post to our program there's no doubt.
- Coroner post, wow.
- So let's get on with the program
before he gets a fat head.
So indoor cycling, it's winter time,
it's January 5th
you're thinking about that training
you like to bicycle outside
but you've never did indoors, basically.
This is gonna be very critical for you.
I got seven steps to get through
and it's going to be very helpful.
So Bob, you're gonna have to--
- I'll move out of the way here.
Do you want me over here or here?
- Wherever you want, just out of the way.
So this,
you're gonna need a trainer,
get a good one you don't have to spend $500 on,
although you could if you want.
But you can get a basic one
like this is my old one, actually.
It's a Cyclops.
It's a nice trainer.
- That's what I have too.
- Yup Bob has one.
Real easy.
There's three types you can choose from.
There's the air trainer,
the resistance is made with air.
They're kind of noisy, but they're cheaper.
There's a magnetic
and they're quieter and they're mid-range.
And then the oil resistance which this one is,
they're more quiet.
This has a little fan on it
so there's a little noise with it.
And typically the more you spin
the quieter it is,
the quieter it is, the smoother it is.
So I'm assuming you can decide with that
by online or talking at your bike shop
with the people who know all about those things.
So
here what we have, this is a type
that it goes on a cam so to speak
and it tightens into the skewer of your back wheel.
It's important that you get the distance from here to here
adjusted properly,
I've already done it.
This loosens up and you just rotate it
and it brings us distance.
So when you get the skewer in there
in the right location it locks down tight
so you don't tip over.
Now, this is a really important thing.
If you do not do this right,
I found out the hard way.
Although I did it with poor advice from my bike mechanic.
this is the secure or the skewer from my bike
actually Mike's is the same one.
If you have this type of skewer that looks like that
versus this, make sure you get one of these
you can go buy one at your bike shop.
Usually when you buy these,
one of these comes with it.
Take the skewer out of the bike and put this in.
You have to be a little bit mechanically inclined
not too much.
These fit in here very nicely
which eliminates the potential for falling over.
I fell over on my bike when I was riding
without any indication I was going to fall
because I had this skewer in there.
I was told--
- [Bob] You fell indoors.
- [Brad] Indoors.
Which is worse than falling out doors in my mind.
Unless you're going fast.
- But luckily I fell into the wall
as opposed to down onto the floor.
I could have ruined my back tire,
I could have ruined my head, my body.
- [Bob] Brad the skewer is basically the axle.
- Axle. Exactly right Bob.
And they're on a cam lock.
- [Bob] Yeah mine came with one.
It had the correct one.
- Right exactly.
So I would suggest using it.
Usually on a better bike especially these are plastic
or they're a carbon fiber or some of them are aluminum,
something that looks nice and these will scratch it up.
So aesthetically it's not a very nice.
so I wanted to spend some time on it
cause it is really a critical.
Now we're going to bring Mike in.
Now if you bought a used bike and you don't know anything
about adjusting the height of the seat
which is really critical to save your knees
and more your comfort level,
make sure you pay attention to this.
If you bought one at a bike shop
sometimes they will spend the time,
put you on a trainer and make the adjustments for you.
So I'm assuming you didn't do that and let's carry on.
Now Mike bought a used bike.
Now the bike he bought,
he got one heck of it deal.
He got a real racing bike.
- [Bob] Oh wow.
- Yeah, this is a,
It's actually a time trial bike technically.
This is made strictly for speed.
One person you can't.
It's made so you cannot draft people,
it's not safe.
I'm gonna,
well whatever you've paid like 450 bucks
it's like a $3,000 bike.
Carbon fiber.
Okay you can do this by yourself
but it's a lot easier with two people.
So I've got the skewers lined up
and I'm going to push it down and relax in snug.
You have to get it snug
and I feel comfortable with it.
- [Bob] I actually had to take a hammer
to unloosen loosened mine the last time.
- Oh we might have it little too tight.
- [Bob] Yeah that's what I was going to say.
I was like--
- If you need a hammer that'd probably too tight.
So get it in here.
Now the next thing you want to do
is get your bike reasonably level.
You can buy one of these.
This has three different levels on it.
You don't have to you can just use boards or books,
something to raise it.
And there.
I'm going to go through some technical stuff here.
I'm going to let you know if it's necessary or not.
I like to put a leveler if this bar is horizontal
like this one is and I'm level.
You don't have to do that.
If you're a beginner you just want to get generally set up
eyeballing it is okay.
- [Bob] So if you weren't to add this underneath there
it wouldn't have been level.
- No I would have to put a book or something under there.
And if you're riding you're probably watching TV
or computer or something.
And usually it's up higher the screen is
so you want to elevate it so you don't get a sore neck
when you're watching the TV.
So get to that point.
Right now Mike has flats.
Now if you're a beginner,
there's a good chance you're going to use flats
as opposed to the clipless pedals
where you actually have a special shoe
and it clips right in.
The concepts of how we set it up are the same.
Just that with clipless pedals you actually lock in.
Which even makes it,
if you haven't used clipless pedals
you're probably gonna fall getting on and off the bike
a couple of times.
But in this case flats we're going to ignore that.
- [Bob] You mean fall outdoors.
- And possibly indoors. - [Bob] Really?
- Yeah because when you get off
you have to rotate your foot to unlock them
and if you forget to do that because you're tired
or you're watching your TV and you get off,
- [Bob] That'd be a bad fall.
- Yeah. It's not fun.
It big embarrassing if you're outside
in front of a group of people.
The biggest thing is it's embarrassing
because you usually do it when you're slow or stopped
getting on or off.
- Yeah this is like I bought,
we put the flats on because
I've never used a road bike before
I have a specialized like you kind of like a cross trainer
and just getting the balance of this
compared to my other bike was way different.
Like it took me awhile
and then it took me like four or five rides
till I wanted to use the forearms.
So I just went slow and I'm slowly building up to you know.
Okay. Why don't you hop on once.
So you're going to find out,
and I think Bob and both Mike are realizing
this raises your bike up.
So it's going to be harder to get on and off
your bike set up in a trainer.
You could take a stool and do that there's wrong with that.
- [Bob] Yeah I actually have a treadmill right next it to I
- Step up on there.
Make it easy.
So the contact surface,
can you rotate your foot this way.
There is right here
right at your metatarsus phalangeal joints here.
Okay not in the arch.
A lot of people think if you're riding flats
you put that in the arch of your foot.
You do not slide it back and not at the tip of your foot.
Get that, the big toe,
that ball of the big toe right over the axle
and that's where you want.
We're going to go to,
now just spin a little bit Mike get used to it.
Now you have no resistance on it.
Now I'm going to add a little resistance,
keep pedaling.
So on this particular one,
you rotate and crank until you get some resistance.
There we go.
- [Bob] And then you flip it up or?
- This one has a,
I found the screw.
Cause there are some that you flip around a cam.
- [Bob] Yeah that's what I have a flip
and I forget it every time also I get off.
So I'm thinking that's not good for the tire
with pressure on it like that.
- Yeah it could be worse things.
So then you just pedal
and then when you feel comfortable on the seat
where your home base is I'm going to call that.
Stop at 12 or six o'clock right here.
So 12 o'clock here, three here
and six here in regards to the axle position.
So come right about there.
Your foot should not be pointed like this or down.
It should be level.
You know, you could take a leveler
but you just eyeball it.
Now his knee at this point
should be between 10 and 14 degrees, you know
and you don't have to have a goniometer,
- [Bob] Just a slight bend.
- This is bent too much.
Cause right now we're at about,
between 35 and 40.
- [Bob] Wow I wouldn't have guessed that much.
- So this seat would have to be moved up
about a half an inch or so.
Now actually before the video we tried to adjust the seat.
It's a used bike,
the seat is actually locked in.
It's a carbon fiber bike.
I am not going to try to adjust that
and be responsible for breaking it.
I'm sure it costs hundreds of dollars to replace that
if it's not done with the proper equipment.
Okay so once you get your seat to the right height,
height, height.
I had another comment.
A English major was watching and she was correcting me.
- [Bob] Trying to correct my wife she's been doing it.
- All right now.
So you get the height adjusted properly.
It's the first step.
Then you got to get the seat to and fro
moving it forward and backwards.
And we're going to go to three o'clock position.
Again the foot is level to the floor.
Now, the way I was taught,
I was taught this from a professional.
They said, take a plumb Bob excuse me,
go over the knee cap, the patella and drop it down
so we know what vertical is.
And the line,
and we're only going and get really particular here,
should be at the front of the foot okay.
And this is pretty close.
The big thing about this is you could easily change this
if you slide your bottom forward or backwards.
- [Bob] Sure.
You really don't want the knee going beyond the foot.
Show wrong Mike.
- There you go.
So now we've got inches, which is clearly too much.
- [Bob] Right and you're putting too much pressure
on the knee.
- Yep, exactly.
You know your speed is going to be better too
if you adjust it properly.
Your knees feel better,
everything's better about it.
So why don't you hop off once.
- [Bob] So use used a plumb bob.
- Yeah. You can just use a string
and put any kind of weight on it.
- You didn't get my joke
- I got it.
- [Bob] Bob oh okay go ahead.
(laughing)
- It is to laugh.
All right.
Your seats typically,
some people may have a seat if it's a lower end bike
that you cannot move the seat forward or backwards
and then you're stuck where you are.
- [Bob] Does it tilt too Brad?
- Yeah and that's another thing.
The seat, if you put a level on here
you should be pretty close to level.
This one's tilted down a little bit.
- [Bob] And that's what mine was.
- [Brad] Yeah if it's tilted too much
and you feel like you're sliding forward all the time
you've got to rotate the seat and get in here
some wrenches and make some adjustments on there.
I actually took me three seats
to get the seat was comfortable for me.
Hopefully--
- [Bob] That does not look like a comfortable seat.
- This is better than the original one.
This is more padded,
the other one is harder yet.
- The big thing about seats is
get yourself a pair of biking shorts,
spandex ones
because that is a big difference.
You know if you don't like spandex shorts,
you're you know a little older like me
and you think I am not wearing that sissy stuff
that really helps on a bike.
It keeps you getting chaffed in the inside your thighs.
So this should be adjusted.
It's pretty close, it could be low enough.
You can't see this, this has got,
here let's tip this over,
this seat particularly for guys.
Right here there's a slot in between
and that's for the prostate
so you don't get pressure on there
which can save you some grief and pain,
not necessary it's an individual thing.
So that's called the saddle.
If you're a beginner,
you'll figure this out over time.
I'm just going to give you some cues.
All right.
- [Bob] That seat is kind of hard to adjust Brad.
- This way? - [Bob] Yeah.
When I watched you I was like,
I couldn't have done that.
- All this stuff takes a little bit mechanical
and experience and you know, patience.
- [Bob] You can't figure it out very easily.
- Yeah bike mechanics particularly, that I can do,
I cannot adjust the cables very well.
Next thing you'll see you get the up and down,
the forward and backwards on the seat,
the tilt of the seat so it all feels good.
You're not going to do this in 10 minutes.
You gonna take your time.
If you're going to ride all winter,
get it done right.
Then the height of the handlebars.
Again this is a aero bar setup.
This has made for time trial,
this is a high-end bike.
You probably are going to have either regular handlebars
or the drops.
What looks like the ram handlebar,
I used to call them when I was a kid.
But the higher the handlebars,
the easier it's going to be on your back,
speaking from a therapist mind.
From a bike rider,
the lower you are, the less resistance,
the faster you're going to be.
If you're a beginner,
bring them up, get comfortable
there's no resistance inside anyways,
air resistance.
And if you you know as you get more comfortable with riding,
you know you want to get faster,
drop them down,
get into that uncomfortable backbreaking position.
- [Bob] Right, right.
- So that's the primary thing that I look for
in the handlebar height.
All right hop on there again Mike,
why don't you just start peddling a little bit.
- Okay.
- There you go.
- [Bob] So I got my handlebars up so high
that everybody thinks I look like PV Herman
with his bike, you know.
- Yeah.
- [Bob] There's no speed with me.
There's just--
- And you're still going to get a good workout.
Now he's shifting through,
you should be able to shift and,
there you go.
Now there's one other thing safety wise,
you're going to say, well can I stand up on a trainer?
Yes you can
but I recommend it with a lot of caution.
Like you're going up a hill and you stand up.
You're not going to get crazy on it,
you're going to spin really smooth
because you'll feel the bike wobble.
It stresses the bike,
it stresses the trainer a little bit.
So, especially if you're a larger person,
you know 200, 250 pounder and you want to stand up
I would give yourself a few weeks
and get really used to it and stand up,
pedal very smooth without all kinds of gyrations,
make a big difference.
The other thing you're going to sweat for sure.
There's no wind going past,
just put a fan on you it works well.
I use a towel,
you can use a piece of cardboard.
You can just sweat on your carpet if you want,
if your wife doesn't mind or your parents
but use something to catch your sweat,
it helps out a lot so it doesn't smell so bad after a while.
When you're done
make sure you take the resistance off the back tire.
- [Bob] I always forget.
- Loosen up, yeah I've forgotten many times as well.
You can if you want buy special tire,
the rubber part the tire for the back
it's made for trainers.
They don't cost a lot.
Cause you're going to wear your tire out in one season
in the winter probably.
- [Bob] Yeah you will.
- Then you gotta buy a new tire in the spring
and you didn't go anywhere.
And the ones that are made for grip better to the trainer,
they work better, but it's an option
just something to let you know.
And then make sure you put a little bike oil on your chain
because you want to save those chains
and those sprockets.
Wear them out over the winter time
and it's no fun when it comes to spring
and they take it in for a tune up and they say
you need new chain and sprockets.
So they're expensive.
Mike what do you think?
- I think we need my seat higher.
- Yeah you do.
- Yeah you do I can see that.
- Yeah look at that bend in there.
- I can see he's bow legged even.
- Yeah he's going to get a knee replacement
if you rides like that for a couple of seasons.
- Yeah well we'll treat him.
- Yeah, yeah we'll treat you Mike.
We'll give you a deal on the therapy.
- Half off.
- All right that was a long video.
- Thanks everybody for watching.
- Take care. - Sticking with us.