♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The 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.
- Today, we're gonna talk
about the single best knee strengthening
and stretch exercise at home.
- That's right, Bob.
- And no equipment, right?
Or some equipment.
- Very little.
As a matter of fact,
this is gonna do hamstrings, quadriceps, calf muscle,
and we're gonna improve balance as well,
which is real nice to have as you get older.
- I think you're increasing butt strength too.
- All of that.
You cannot forget the hip, that gluteus maximus.
- Well, Brad, we're trying to get right into it,
so let's just start it. - Oh, that's right. (laughs)
All right, so actually let's jump right into it.
- All right, there we go. Awesome.
- So I thought about this one for quite a while, Bob.
Actually, this is an updated video.
- I know you did because I have thought
about the same thing and we both came to the same solution.
- Well, there you go.
Then, you know, two great minds.
This is really good for you people then. (laughs)
Anyways, we're gonna start.
You don't necessarily need something to hold on for balance.
I got a Booyah Stik.
You could use a cane, you could use a wall,
a piece of furniture. - You could use a furniture.
That's what I use all the time.
- Yup, so what I'm gonna do,
start with your feet about shoulder-width wide.
And we're gonna step back.
I'm gonna go through it slowly first
and explain a little bit.
Step back into a lunge, good posture.
And you're gonna go down as far as you feel comfortable,
but don't bang your knee cap into the floor
because that hurts.
So we're just going down to within an inch or two of that.
Now, the next step is,
and that's why I need something to balance here
'cause I'm going slow especially,
I'm gonna bring this up and I'm gonna flex my hip
as high as I feel comfortable.
And then, look down here at this foot,
I'm gonna add up on my heel rise.
So I'm up on my toes or forefoot,
and that's important 'cause that's gonna help that calf
and it's gonna stress your balance
and give you a little balance exercise as well.
- And in this case, would you mind,
as seen with Brad, he now has support on both sides.
- Exactly.
So back to here, up, and to here.
And then what you do is once you feel comfortable with it,
you continue to do it as many reps as you feel comfortable.
If you wanted to make it more difficult
'cause it's becoming too easy-
- It's pretty difficult already, Brad.
- yeah, well, eliminate one side
and then make it this way, you know?
- And you're working on your balance even more.
- You can see how I'm stressed a little bit with my balance
when I take my both hands off.
You could put an ankle weight on.
- Sure.
- Give you a little more resistance.
I think most people will be pretty fine
without any of it. - Right.
- I'm starting to breathe.
Make sure you do with both legs.
And up, and down.
Up on the toe and down.
So you're gonna look up and down.
That's just a little frill I put in there for the fun of it.
- Now the thing about this, it's very comprehensive.
It covers a lot of muscles.
You got the quadriceps working,
you got the hip extensors working,
you got the calf muscles working.
So you really almost get an,
even the hamstrings are probably jumping a little bit there.
- Oh absolutely, Bob.
I feel everything from here all the way down.
I'm feeling strong like bull, Bob.
- The other thing is it's functional, Brad.
- It is.
- So when you're gonna pick something off the floor,
you're gonna right away,
that's gonna kick in that muscle memory like,
"Oh, I've done something like this before."
- And you'll automatically go
like this, right. - Go down like that, yes.
- Good body mechanics. - And good control.
If you have knee pain,
you can kinda go knees over toes or knees not over toes,
whichever one of 'em is more comfortable.
- Right, for your knee.
- And you're training your knee
in a controlled circumstance.
- Exactly.
- So now, it's a great one for life.
- Right. - You know,
to treat you for life.
- But wait, Bob, there's more.
- All right, let's see more. - Observe the title.
Strengthening, that was the strengthening aspect.
One exercise doing from the hip down to the ankle.
Now with the stretch,
and I condensed this into one smooth stretch,
you're gonna need either a belt.
I'm gonna use a stretch strap.
- You can use a rolled up sheet, but I won't be as easy.
- I'll never use a rolled up sheet.
You can though, sure.
You know, if you use a belt, get a loop on it
and put it around your foot like this.
- These stretch straps are really inexpensive.
- They are.
They're not that much. - And they're really nice.
- Yup, and the loops are really handy dandy
especially if you have any grip problem.
So what I'm gonna do is make sure the loop in the bottom,
you have to have your shoe on,
don't do it with the shoe off
because it allows for a better stretch.
And then it's a little easier too.
So I'm gonna keep my knee straight,
and at this point I'm gonna pull.
And, Bob, can you point out the dorsiflexion stretch.
- Now, look at how his ankle is going from here to here
like that.
So you're getting a good calf stretch here.
It could be argued, Brad,
you could even stretch it with the knee bent a little bit
like that- - Yes, good idea.
That's an excellent point. - and get both sides
of the gastroc and soleus.
- And see with the stretch strap,
I just go like this so I don't have to grip.
I'm using my wrist. - Right, easy on the hands.
You're going to large joints,
so it's not as hard on the joints.
- You know, and I just read an article
about the importance of stretching
for longer duration versus short.
I personally- - They go back and forth
on that, Brad.
- Yeah, I personally respect their research,
but I personally do not hold 30 seconds
unless there's a certain circumstance.
But anyways, I'm gonna go up
and now I'm gonna get my hamstring.
So I'm gonna lower this down into the crux of the foot,
but you don't have to, whatever's comfortable.
Keep my knee straight, relax.
I'm getting all hamstring right now
and I can feel a nice, comfortable.
And I can get more aggressive if I want.
And I'm gonna hold that and then I can go down
and go up. - Go, go, go, go, go, go.
- Oh, Bob. So nice to have a little extra motivation.
Now, this is the final thing so it's here.
I'm gonna keep it up here-
- I like this one. - and I'm gonna drop it out
to the side and boy, does this get the medial hamstring
and the groin muscles all at once.
And the gravity is doing most of the work.
The strap is just maintaining control.
- Now, if you start off and you're only up like this,
that's fine.
Just work your way over.
- Absolutely, you know, you might wanna bring this knee up
for comfort, it's your choice.
So I'll go through this a little quickly-er or so.
- Yeah, just boom, boom, boom, boom.
- Is quickly-er a word?
- Yes. I don't know. - Well, good.
- Quicker, quicker? - Yeah, we gotta get
our English majors.
They'll let us know. - Yeah.
- I'm telling you some of those people who write comments,
they must be English teacher because they are very good
at correcting us.
- They're Karens.
(both laughing)
- Karens, good gosh.
So stretch here, stretch here, and drop it out to here.
- Look at that. Boom, boom, boom, he's done.
- And then you can repeat, you know,
or hold for 30 seconds or repeat.
- Calf, hamstring, hip adductors.
- And at this point, look at that.
- He gets right up.
- I guess, whatever.
- And you'll do both sides, obviously.
- Yeah, absolutely.
'Cause right now my right leg feels stronger, more flexible.
I think I could do the polka right now.
- I think a lot of people don't even know
what the polka is probably, Brad.
- Well, that may be true. - Midwest, you know
what a polka is. - Come up to the Midwest
to a wedding, a traditional Wisconsin wedding
and (indistinct). - By the way,
our giveaway this week is
the Booyah Stik. - Oh, that's right.
- Go to our website, bobandbrad.com,
go to the giveaway section.
Or go to Facebook, it'll be pinned to the top of the page.
- The top of the page.
- We do wanna mention our podcast too, Brad.
- We really should. - We have a podcast out,
check 'em out, lot of fun.
- Yeah, especially when you're driving.
It's such a pleasant thing to get educated.
Listen to our guests.
- Listen to us.
- You could turn the volume down
when we're speaking. - When we're talking, right.
- And they should have an app for that. (laughs)
- They should, the Bob and Brad deletion app.
- Yeah, anyways, good.
Be careful in everything that you do.
- Yeah, that's right.
(keyboard chiming)