- Hi, I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist.
- Brad Heineck,
physical therapist. - And together,
we are the most famous physical therapists on the internet.
- In our opinion, of course, Bob.
- Today, what are we gonna talk about, Brad?
We got a bike here.
- We got a bicycle here.
We've had a request from one of our viewers,
on appropriate positioning of the seat.
Okay? And it's very important.
Two reasons.
Number one, it's gonna help
save your knees. - Okay.
If your seat is too low, you're gonna have knee problems
if you keep riding like that.
Number two, you're gonna have more power.
You're gonna be a little faster
for your speedsters out there.
- So we're talking about comfort and speed.
- Right. Comfort and speed. - All right.
- That's it. So here we go. - All right.
- Brad's gonna change into his
Superman apparel. - We cannot be doing this.
- And while he's doing this, by the way,
I'm just gonna mention that yes,
if you do have suggestions for video titles
or video subjects, please do put 'em in the comments below.
We do listen to you and we try to do
all the ones that are requested,
whenever we feel like we have the talent to do so.
So how you doing Brad? - Excellent.
We're almost ready.
So I put on my my tights so that she can see
what's going on with the range of motion of my knee.
All right, so I'm gonna give a quick lesson,
and those of you who are just recreational riders.
You got flat pedals, you don't clip in,
and you go out maybe for 20 minutes,
couple times a week at the most,
and you say, "Geez, is my seat at the right height?"
Okay, so you just get on your bike
and pedal around so you feel comfortable,
and then when you get the pedal at the bottom area,
the bottom is six o'clock,
12 o'clock, three o'clock,
six o'clock, nine o'clock.
We're gonna go to six o'clock.
You're gonna put your foot so it's approximately
level with the floor, it's not pointed down or this way,
and your knee should be almost straight.
This would not be good.
Okay? - You wanna measure or not?
- You can measure, Bob, but actually for the person
that, yeah, - Okay.
- This would be no good. The seat's gotta go up.
All right. - That was too bent.
- It's too bent.
That is hard on a knee.
Your knee cap, the cartilage underneath it
is gonna wear on the condyle,
and the short story, short,
you're gonna get arthritis at an early age.
- By the way, Brad, I fit right into the category
of what you're talking about now.
I'm kind of the recreational. - Sure.
- 20 minutes, like you said.
So I'm gonna be going over, looking at my seat.
- All right, now I'm gonna go up to where I know,
'cause I marked this where I want it,
so we're gonna tighten up,
a lot of those cross trainers, entry-level bikes,
just have a cam lock here.
- Yeah, that's what I have. - You don't even
have to even get tools out,
which is kind of nice for those people,
and that's exactly what they're looking for.
And then you get on again and you check it.
You go to six o'clock. - Again, the foot is level.
Great. - And the knee
is slightly bent.
Okay, now if you pedal around,
and it feels like you're reaching way down,
and you can hardly reach the pedal, then you're too high.
You should feel comfortable.
But at the bottom, it's going to be just like this,
slight bend in it. - Sure.
Okay, so now for you speedsters out there,
and those people who have a road bike,
and you're gonna clip into the pedals.
You guys know what I'm talking about.
I'm gonna show you the advanced way to do it
and the right way to do it.
Thanks, Bob.
Okay, so what you're gonna do is you're gonna,
oh by the way, you do need to get into a trainer like this.
- Sure. - The other way,
you wouldn't have to have that,
you could have someone holding the bike up for you.
So you get your trainer out, get clipped in the trainer.
Bob, can I have the level?
Okay, you take your level,
put it on the frame, level it up by adjusting
the height of the front wheel.
Now you get your level on here,
and you also wanna have your saddle level.
That's a little bit of comfort,
but typically, a level from here to here,
I'd have a longer level like I do at home,
but you get what I mean. - Brad,
how do you adjust the front wheel for height?
- Height? Front?
This has three levels.
- Oh, I see. I was gonna say, "How do you do that?"
- Yeah, otherwise, you put a board under there.
- [Bob] Make sure you find the right board, though.
Then you do whatever you have to do to get the frame level.
That's the base while you're in here,
and then this is level, then you're set.
Get your biking pants on.
Get clipped in.
Now the first thing you're gonna do is just pedal
and get your seat in the saddle where you feel comfortable.
- And then can this come off? - Nope.
- You need that on? - Yep.
Okay, and then right there I'm level.
Now you wanna to get this accurate
for your riders who wanna be fast and really be comfortable.
So, Bob, I want you to take the device there,
and slide that, you have to go around.
This is the device I made for doing this.
You don't need this.
You could use some wood.
There you go.
Now my heel, move it back a little bit, Bob.
There, I'm gonna get at the six o'clock position
and set my heel.
Now I can rest on there.
Bob, take the level please,
and you're gonna use that level
right across the bottom of the foot.
Now we're just gonna eyeball it here quickly,
but you wanna get your foot level with the floor,
and it's gonna be level with the bike,
'cause everything isn't true together.
Okay, go ahead and say when you have that set.
Now you're gonna take a goniometer,
which you probably don't have,
So you're gonna have to guess with this,
get a goniometer or get a protractor from your math class,
and you wanna get 10 to 14 degrees of knee flexion.
And where are we at, Bob? - We are at 15.
- We're at 15. So one degree off.
I would raise this. - Oh, there we go.
It's 14. - Okay, I know we're
right in the ballpark,
'cause I had this set up from before.
- Here's your hip.
This lines up with the hip,
and this lines up with the fibula.
I don't know where that is. - I just use the ankle bone.
- Sure, the ankle bone.
There we go. - Yep, bone here,
the ankle bone there,
and the center of the knee. - And this makes an angle.
Yep, 14 degrees. - Yep, 10 to 14 degrees,
and that's what course I took three years ago,
or about five years ago, on doing this properly.
All right, so that's the height you get it at,
and voila, lock everything in, take some measurements here.
Write it down or mark it,
in case you ever wanna move it again.
Now I'm gonna have another video
on how to set the seat forward and backwards,
because that's another deal,
and that's very critical as well.
So Bob, I wanted to say one more thing.
Get this hat off old Bonaparte.
Bikers out there, just remember,
ride hard, ride fast and feel strong like a bull,
and subscribe, huh? - That's right.
Do 'em all. - Subscribe.
We gonna slap or something?
- Oh yes, slap.