(upbeat music)
- Welcome my friends, to the "Bob & Brad Podcast",
produced by Bob and Brad,
the two most famous physical therapists on the internet.
I am Bob, exactly one half of the Bob and Brad team.
And today, my partner in crime is actually...
- Mike Keynits, PT Assistant.
- Right, yeah, no Brad.
But we're gonna talk about, today,
we're talk about, with Ross Clifford,
he is the author of the book, Mike, wanna say it?
- "Build your own Bulletproof Body",
all body weight exercises, or stretches,
and foam rolling as well.
- You're gonna find this really interesting.
Here we go.
Welcome to the program, Ross Clifford.
So big fan of the book, "Build your own Bulletproof Body".
We'll have the link below.
All right, we're gonna start
on how to bulletproof your hips.
- So what are some common hip problems
that these exercises may help with?
- Well, I mean, going back
to my original story for writing the book,
so this idea of hip impingement, in particular,
you know, a lot of people spend time sitting during the day,
so you get shortening of the hip flexors,
you get weakening of the hip extensors and the glutes,
and you also get shortening of the hamstrings as well,
which can be a factor in back pain.
So really, the exercises within this section will target
stretching out the hip flexors, strengthen up the glutes,
actively working the hamstrings at the origin,
at the pelvic origin, to really try and address
some of that imbalance that can be found.
And as well, also looking at some of the lower back muscles
to try and make sure
that the hip has its full range of mobility.
- Gotcha.
- So what are the goals
of the body weight exercises prescribed for the hips?
- And we're over that.
- Well, yeah, definitely to restore range of motion.
So that's a key factor.
And going back to Bob's question there
about osteoarthritis on a previous episode, you know,
we've got this issue with the fact
that people are underusing their joints,
and that may be a factor in osteoarthritis.
So just mobilizing joints, restoring key movements,
lubricating, remember that motion is lotion,
and then also strengthen up some of those weak muscles,
particularly around the glutes.
- So again, there are many exercises in the book.
we're gonna roll over five.
So we'll start with the knee circle.
I guess Mike will demonstrate.
- Yeah, I'll demonstrate, I guess.
- Absolutely, so, well,
it's a good one to demonstrate, Mike, it's a nice easy one.
And although it's called knee circles,
it might mislead you to think it's a knee exercise,
but actually we're basically circumducting the hip,
So this is a motion at the hip
where you take it in a rounded motion.
the diagram in the book is a little bit
like a dog urinating up against a lamp post.
- [Bob] Right. - [Mike] Yep.
- Or fire hydrant, I guess, for you guys.
- [Bob] Right. - So, you know,
it's the old comic cartoon version, isn't it?
- Exactly.
It's that sort of movement,
but the idea is you are working the,
because of that position, that use utilizes gravity,
so that in order to circumduct the hip out,
you have to work the gluteal muscles
in addition to stretching the hip flexors
and the hip adductors as well.
And again, that's a key format of body weight exercises
that you are doing simultaneous multiple movements
to really maximize your workout.
- Do you want to talk
about the benefits of your deep-squat-position stretch?
- Yeah, well, the deep squat
is really the holy grail of the book.
So if there's anybody out there
who cannot achieve a deep squat,
that should be your life mission,
assuming that you are medically well enough to do so,
because it's,
I have to look at pictures from other cultures
where the chair does not exist.
- [Bob] Right.
In history, the chair's a relatively new phenomenon
for the average person.
You know, only kings and queens had thrones,
once upon a time, (Bob laughs)
and everybody else squatted on the floor
and sat in a pot.
But now we all sit at this nice 90-degree angle at the hip,
90-degree angle at the knee.
But in other cultures
there are people in their seventies, eighties
and nineties who can still do a deep squat,
sitting around a campfire, eating, talking with friends,
you know, that's the position.
So there is no reason,
other than, perhaps,
you have lost the ability to do that movement.
So I do often argue with some patients when they say,
well, you know, I've sort of seized up,
well, you've probably seized up
because you haven't been taking your body through that.
But again, just a word of caution, you know,
if you're not medically able,
then seek professional guidance.
But most people would benefit if they can move
towards doing a deep squat,
for hip flexion, for knee flexion,
and for what's called dorsiflexion at the ankle as well.
- So I gotta ask, if you can't squat deep,
what's the best way to obtain that?
- We're hinting that neither of us can.
- [Bob] Right.
- Well, I think you two should both get yourself
a copy of "Bulletproof Bodies" for a start,
without a doubt.
But yeah, I mean, squat as deep as you are able to.
- [Bob] Right.
- So there are sort of things you can do,
you can go through a series of going around your home
and finding chairs, or seats of different heights.
So you can start off, you know, on a dining chair,
and then you can move to a drumming stall,
if you've got one, or, you know,
something that's maybe height adjustable,
and just practice sitting on chairs of lower height.
Another little cheat that you'll see a lot of therapists
or personal trainers use in gyms when they're helping people
is they often put a wedge under their heel.
- Sure.
- So they get people to, you know, disc weights,
and they'll put those on the floor,
a phone book, or, you know, a good quality textbook
or a copy of "Bulletproof Bodies", perhaps.
- Yeah.
Or, you know, if you really need a big wedge,
maybe buy five copies of the book.
- Ah ha, there we go.
And so this, yeah, there are cheats around it,
but my advice is
squat as deep as you are physically able to
- Gotcha.
- in a safe and controlled way.
- Yeah, I found that I go in a, I stand in a doorway,
and I grab the frame, and then I do it that way,
because my problem is my ankles are so tight,
once I get certain depth, I'll go backwards.
So as long as I'm holding on,
I can actually stretch that way.
- [Bob] That's actually me too.
- Ah, that's good.
Yeah, that's great.
So you're supporting your upper body.
And again, it sounds like you would really benefit, Mike,
from having that bit of a wedge under the heel.
- Mm-hmm.
And then as you get better,
you gradually reduce the size of that wedge,
and that's really the purpose of any exercise
is start at the edge of your comfort zone
and gradually take yourself out of that comfort zone
in a controlled and safe way.
- Right.
- All right, next.
- Hamstring stretching.
- Hamstring, yep.
- Well, it does exactly as it says on the label, really,
it's a static stretch for the hamstring.
The one we've put in there is quite a basic one.
- [Bob] Right.
- I think some people might refer to it
as the hurdle stretch.
- you know, the hurdles, - [Bob] Yes, yep.
- is an athletic track event.
But the idea is you isolate the hamstring on one leg
before you then swap to the other leg,
and that allows you to really focus
on the difference between the two legs.
But ultimately, as I say, we spend a lot of time,
sitting, particularly, with a degree of knee flexion,
and the hamstrings will habitually shorten.
- Gotcha.
- So you can't go wrong
with a nice controlled stretch of the hamstrings.
- The next one you discuss is the growing stretch,
full disclosure, when I played American football,
we used to call this the butterfly stretch.
- Yeah, absolutely.
So you've got the butterfly wings opening there,
so that's a great audio description there.
And yeah, so effectively,
this again is a safe way of doing it, so you're seated.
And one of the things that I find with adults
is that they don't know how to sit cross-legged anymore,
they just don't have that ability.
You know, they'll try and get into a cross-legged position
and they'll just want to fall backwards,
- [Bob] Sure.
Because they've lost that mobility
around the low back and the hips.
And that's why we put this particular butterfly stretching
for the hip and the groin,
is that it actually requires you to start stretching out
the low back as well. - [Bob] Sure.
- And so the idea again,
with the the bulletproof body weight exercise
is that it uses multiple different areas
in any one exercise.
- Yeah, that fascia of the back.
How about the next one, glute stretch.
- Yeah, so the glute stretch is a real winner.
You can never go wrong with stretching out the glutes,
it always feels quite nice to stretch
with the one we've put in
which I think is the one with the slight twist in the body.
- [Bob And Mike] Yes, yep.
So again, we added that one, as opposed to
the classic figure of four when you're laid on your back,
but we added this one in
because you get that spinal rotation as well.
And again, once you've had that stretch for a few seconds
you might find that you got a little bit
of a pop or click in the lower back as it releases,
and again, everybody likes the sound and the feel of that.
So you just get that benefit of the rotation of the spine,
the flexion of the hip,
and the stretch of the glutes as well.
- So are there any other thoughts on stretches or exercises
you can do for bulletproofing your hips?
- Well, I'll come back to the frog stance again.
So although I mentioned it in a previous episode
linked to the shoulder,
it's that old adage of multiple body parts being used
at any one time with body weight exercise.
And the idea of being able to do the frog stance
is that you force your elbows
into the inside of your thighs, and really open up.
And then, as you are able to safely do,
you bring your weight forward onto your hands,
which then just pushes the hips out a little bit.
And that was one of my key exercises
that took me away from having three years of hip locking to,
after six weeks of doing that particular exercise,
very little issues with the left hip now.
- All right, you talked me into it.
(Mike and Bob laugh)
All right.
Thank you for taking the time to demonstrate, I mean,
discuss all these exercises.
And again, we wanna mention the book?
Mike, do you wanna?
- Do you have a website or anything
where people can reach you at?
- Um... - Or social media?
- Actually, I want to say yes, but I dunno what it is.
(Bob and Mike laugh) Ashley would know, but-
- We'll put it in the description box below
if you just want to email it to us.
- Right.
- Yeah, we'll send you something to post production.
- There we go.
- That sounds good.
- All right,
any final thoughts you want to give, Ross?
- I just wanna say thank you both for your time,
it's been a pleasure to talk to you both, and I really,
really appreciate this platform
and this conversation we've had today,
so thank you very much.
- That's a terrific book.
So I should just...
- Oh, thank you, you're kind.
- [Mike] Everyone should get one.
- You've got one already, what more could you ask for?
- That's right.
- We need two.