This is Brent of the Brookbush Institute bringing you yet another quadruped progression. This
progression is based off an exercise that I know has become very popular- the
bear crawl. Only we're going to create a torturous mix of a quadruped and a
bear crawl. Maybe we can call it a quadruped crawl or a dynamic quadruped,
whatever you want to call it. The person we're going to torture is Melissa. I
can't wait to show you guys this progression, it is so hard. Being that this
is not our first take,
she's already sweating. So, first thing's first: we're going to get into quadruped
position, which I'm not really sure why they call it a quadruped- it's really a
six-point stance. I want feet as dorsiflexed as she possibly can get them with
toes extended, kind of pushing into the balls of her feet. She's drawn in, and of
course her scapula are protracted and depressed so that she's nice and stable
through her shoulder girdle. Now, what I like to do with my clients and patients
is give them a softball to put on their back- give me a little bit of an arch there.
There we go, that's more of a normal lumbar curve. And all that's doing is they
have to keep very stable from pelvis almost all the way to the cervical spine,
at least the end of the thoracic spine, to keep this ball from rolling off. So,
that gives them a good, fun challenge as we go through all these progressions. Now,
first thing's first to start this progression is just getting off the
knees.
Alright, so now we're getting into this really, really static bear-crawl. Nice
stabilization throughout the spine, throughout the shoulder girdle. She's
really using her glutes to press into the floor to keep stable. If she can do
that well- go ahead and relax, I'm going to give her rest. Good. Are you ready for
the next one? From here, if she can do that really well, I'm going to have her get into
that position, and then we're going to start working on moving limbs. We're
going to start with just one at a time. Can she slowly move one hand forward and
back without losing the ball? That was kind of a slide. Melissa needs some work or she's
just getting tired, because this isn't our first take. Good.
And one leg at a time. That was good. Alright, so she started with each arm and then she
went to each leg. If she gets that down and she can do it well, maybe a couple
times through before she has to take a rest, we'll have her try segmented
crawling. That's going to be arm, leg, arm, leg, arm, leg, arm, leg.
Remember, it's those crossbody patterns. Good. The thing you have to cue people most often is
smaller steps. They generally take steps that are a little too big.
They start with the steps that are a little too big, and of course that
creates a lot of torque force that they have to stabilize for and maybe aren't ready
for. So just keep cueing small steps and draw in. As they get stronger, they can
start taking bigger steps. The hardest thing about this exercise, guys,
sometimes it's just trying to get the ball up there and get into position.
Alright, good. Try to smooth it out.
Small steps, good.
If she can do that well, I'll have her start going backwards.
Go ahead and start over, even yourself out. Take a little breather. Guys,
obviously I would not have somebody do six sets, back-to-back, run them
through every progression. Make sure that you guys are moderate in your volume.
Good.
Oh, let's try that again. This might be the progression that she she has to work
on, right? This is the first progression where we've actually seen
Melissa lose the ball. For some reason going backwards is so tough. You guys
will see here the ball rolls back and forth a little bit, and that's okay. I'm more
worried about more transverse plane stabilization, even some frontal
plane stabilization. That's what the ball's good at detecting. Because we have
some momentum starting and stopping, the ball is going to roll back and forth.
That's ok. You ready for the last progression? Big, deep breath.
Alright, so in the last progression we start actually doing something that
looks a little bit more like that bear crawl, but is way harder
thanks to this softball. Can they do that bear crawl with a stable lumbar and
thoracic spine?
Give it another try, you didn't even get stable first.
Alright, so make sure they get up, they get stable, ball's not moving before they
start taking steps together. It's arm and leg together- there we go.
It's always these cross-body patterns, guys.
Oh, and she's going backwards. I didn't even have to tell her.
Usually we'll get somebody to be able to go forward far before they can go
backwards.
One more set? You can do better than that. I'm just kidding.
Thank you, Melissa. Guys, this is a great progression. I've definitely worked these
into my own program. I actually got hit on the basketball court a few weeks ago-
in the side and it caused a little low back pain. I started working myself back
through my quadruped progressions and started working on this particular
progression, and honestly my core has never felt stronger. I look forward to
hearing your stories, your outcomes, the results that you're getting from this,
just the fun you're having
trying to get somebody to do a quadruped in motion with a ball
balanced on your back. Of course, have fun with it.
I look forward to hearing from you guys.