♪ 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. - So the question today
that we're gonna answer in our minds.
(laughs)
Are planks useless?
And you must see this because we're gonna show
you a five-minute real-time option
that we think works better.
I'm gonna jump to that whenever we're done.
- Absolutely, Bob.
And there are some very sound reasons why
we think there's better options.
Not that planks are bad or stupid, but...
- We think there's a better option.
- And we're gonna explain it all.
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- Yes.
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a 60-second version of our program.
- That's right.
- Bob, I wanna start this off with three years ago
we made a video that was very popular, it was,
"Planks, are they just a fad," question mark.
And we went on.
And at that point, I brought out the idea that doing
an isometric, horizontal plank, is not a bad thing to do,
it's gonna strengthen certain muscles.
But I think there's better ways to do it.
And the reason is because I have spondylosis.
- Yep.
- I have to have core muscles in order for me to function
without pain on a daily.
- Brad was, you were headed down a path of surgery I think,
and also you worked to the point where
you couldn't run anymore.
- Right.
- And you, since that time you strengthened you're core
to the point where you're able to run again.
You're doing triathlons, aren't you?
- Exactly.
I'm doing yard work,
last night I was wheeling black dirt
from one end of my lawn to the other.
And I don't have pain today.
- And he has, you have a grade two.
- Right, grade two,
it looks like a train went over L-4 and L-5.
- So, I think you can speak to this topic
with a little certainty.
And I think, the whole thing about planks,
whenever you're doing an exercise,
you gotta think of, why are you doing it?
- Right.
- What is the purpose, and one of the purposes should be,
that when you do things in your life,
activities, daily living, or working out,
or when you're doing sports, you can protect your back.
- Right.
- And protect your core.
- And we know that the core has to be strong.
It doesn't matter if you don't have a strong core,
the arm and leg strength isn't gonna help.
And the big thing with me is,
I tried planks and my back would get so sore,
I'd have to take Ibuprofen the next day
and a couple days later be fine.
So like, planks aren't workin' what's going on,
they're supposed to work.
And this was a few years ago.
And this is what happened.
Bob came in, with this book from Tom Brady.
- Sure.
- Who is, at the time he wrote it
I think he was 40 years old or so.
- Right and now he's 43, Mike, is he, or 42?
- Anyways, he's this old professional football player,
quarterback at the top of his game.
- Greatest of all time.
- And it's like, what is he doin',
you know, he's not gettin' injured anymore.
He's feeling great, if you read the book.
Feeling much better now than he was 10 years ago playing.
- Less soreness now.
- So, we looked at the book and we found out,
resistance bands.
- Yes.
And pliability to the muscles,
so I started my own program.
- By the way Brad, just real quick,
you can skip to the end of this video
if you want to see this program.
The five minute real option's gonna be at the end.
We felt like we had to give this introduction first.
- Right.
- So, I'm sorry Brad, I forgot to mention that,
and people are gonna go, "Why are you still talkin'?"
- You'll see when I'm workin' with the band.
But, this is a topic that
if you're into exercise and you're into fitness,
it's a controversy.
So I want to straighten people out a little bit,
if it might help them.
Because it certainly helped me.
I started doing banding exercises,
and this took some time, but over time,
it's like my core is feeling better,
I can run now without, it was a 3/4 of a mile,
and just walking, - You get pain down the leg.
- Yeah, numbness, so I was having a pinched nerve.
And I said, I knew it was going on,
I got to change this one way or another.
So I continued to do exercises for my spine,
and combining aggressive core exercises with the band.
And now, this is actually an upright version of planks,
with activity.
See, the problem with planks is,
you got an isometric position that strengthens
the front anterior muscles, more than the back.
And when those muscles get strong, or tight,
they actually promote...
- Pull you over into bad posture.
- Poor posture.
So we need to work at the other direction.
And actually,
I'm a big proponent of working all four directions.
All four planes of the back.
- And you know, the thing is Brad,
it's not just you anecdotally that's experiencing this,
doctor McGill did a lot of work on this in his books.
And we're big fans of his, and he's done,
he's spent his lifetime dedicated to treating back pain.
And he's talking about some of this same stuff,
strengthening your core in a functional way.
- Right. And I've been lookin' at a lot of research.
And now planks, right now, the research is at the point,
where they're doing suspended planks.
And they're consistently better than the static plank.
And I have a feeling the vertical plank,
which we did a video on a couple years ago,
is gonna take over, over the next few years.
- And it's just a lot easier to do.
- Exactly.
So, now we're to the point
where we're gonna show the exercise program.
- Brad's gonna show the five-minute real-time option.
- I really think, if you really like planks,
continue to do 'em, but add this.
It's gonna make a big difference
on your function on a daily basis.
You know, planks are not gonna give you a six pack anyways.
That's not the goal of planks.
The goal of planks may be a flat stomach
and strengthen that core.
You do need to have a stretch band for sure.
That's the only way that you can accomplish this.
You have to have one, two handles on it.
And then you're gonna find a place to anchor it.
Now you could anchor it, on a door knob somehow.
They do make,
when you get these,
where you open a door and you put a strap into the door.
And that works fine.
We use the wall anchor, as you'll see,
they're very very convenient.
One way or another, find a way to secure one end,
or in the middle of the banding.
So, here we go.
Got the timer goin'.
This should take just a little over five minutes.
I'm gonna do 20 reps.
- [Bob] All right, I'm gonna get out of the way.
I'll just get over here.
- So we're gonna start here.
Arms out straight.
The straighter the arms,
tighten up your core throughout the whole workout.
And we're gonna do, squats.
And you're gonna do 10.
Bob, you can talk about...
- [Bob] Now you can see here,
it doesn't look like he's doing anything with the band,
but he is.
It's preventing him from rotating.
And it actually makes it a lot harder.
- Oh, much harder.
- [Bob] So he's getting a bit of a cardio workout here too.
- I will be, you'll find out.
And we have to do both sides.
- [Bob] So he's going on the other side.
I believe this is called like, the Pallof Press too.
And actually, sometimes, throw some rotation in with it.
But, it'll be interesting.
As you see Brad do these things,
some of these things it looks like he's rotating,
but he's actually turning his pelvis too.
So, he's keeping his back pretty protected actually,
even when he's turning.
- Exactly.
Okay, the next one!
Same thing arms out, but we're gonna march.
And you'll find that you can change resistance by,
if I go closer to the wall, it's not so hard.
Back over here, my core is really working.
So, adjust it as needed.
- [Bob] Again, it's interesting watching this.
It doesn't look like you're working at all Brad.
(laughs)
- Oh yeah, I'm not, believe me. (laughs)
- [Bob] But he is.
And you'll find out yourselves once you do this.
And as you start these off,
you may have to take rests in between.
Are you gonna try it Brad without any rests?
- Yup! I'm gonna go for it, I've been practicing.
- [Bob] Brad's gonna go for it,
but you may have to use a yellow band.
Which is a lot less resistance.
- You can do this, - [Bob] And you go like that.
- I'm gonna get out of the camera...
Okay, now this one, look at this one.
Well, I'm gonna go down here.
You do not have to go to the bottom,
you can keep it at the same level.
But, I'm gonna actually work, a plank!
- [Bob] So now he's going to plank.
- With motion!
- [Bob] But he's keeping,
- Get my glasses off.
- [Bob] There we go.
- So I'm gonna do 10 on these.
- [Bob] Yeah, now this is,
look at this, this is almost a swimming motion.
- Yeah it is, exactly Bob.
- [Bob] And, this is actually,
what you wanna do in swimming too,
you wanna strengthen your core for swimming.
And strengthen the arms.
And you can do it in such a functional manner,
again, look, he's keeping his back straight.
And when he's turning, his hips are turning too.
So he's not getting rotational stresses at the back.
Same thing here, look at the hips and the back are turning.
So, he's not twisting the back.
He's moving the pelvis with the back at the same time.
This is a fantastic exercise for the core.
And to teach the back to move correctly.
- This is a hard one if you haven't done it before,
be patient with yourself.
- [Bob] Yeah, these are, Brad's making these look very easy,
very difficult to do!
You might want to start these actually,
without any resistance Brad.
- Right, exactly.
- [Bob] I mean, these are some of the ones,
that doctor McGill recommends in his books.
And some of these are for the lay person
and some of them are actually for some of the professional
in some of his books.
- And believe me, I can feel the core working,
these muscles over in here, literally feel them fatiguing.
- [Bob] Yeah I give you credit Brad, you're in good shape.
57? 58?
- 57!
- [Bob] 57 years old.
- Don't give me older than I look, or somethin' like that.
- [Bob] Don't add anymore years to the...
- This one we're gonna hold up tall,
if you don't have shoulder problems.
If you have shoulder problems, bring it down here.
Just get farther away.
Tighten the core up, and foot fire.
- [Bob] There we go.
- 20 seconds works good.
- [Bob] Mike called it, Mike our camera man,
from the Mike and Bob and Brad crew, he calls it fast feet.
- Fast feet. Yeah.
Ole foot fire might be old school.
- [Bob] What's that?
- Now I'm gonna turn 90 degrees, so I work the core here.
I was working my lateral, or side core.
But we're gonna do it this direction.
We're gonna do four directions
so we work the core in all directions.
You can see, particularly if you're a football player,
or soccer,
you're moving all different directions.
You have to have core strength and mobility
in all directions with so many sports.
And this offers that.
- [Bob] Really tough ones to do.
- This is really hard.
It really makes you realize you're back is weak.
- [Bob] Yeah, you're really working posture on this one.
You're working those muscles around the shoulder blades.
I'm giving you credit Brad! Kudos to Brad.
- Now, this one's tough if you,
you can use one foot for balance,
if you can hold up like this,
And then you go to the right, and to the left.
And just, touch for balance when you need it.
If you can hold it up, that's the goal.
Whew.
- [Bob] Look at this.
- This is fun.
- [Bob] He's reaching back to his karate days.
(laughs)
And his martial arts days.
And he's...
- I'll be like the, what was that movie?
That popular movie with the kid?
The child?
- [Bob] "Karate Kid"
- Oh yeah!
- [Bob] That's right.
- Make sure you do both legs.
So that you, this is great,
this is so functional when it comes to activities.
Leg, hip, everything.
- [Bob] You can do lots of activities.
You know where that's from, Mike?
- Okay, next one!
Now Bob's been doing this one for years when we started.
- [Bob] Right, I do this, and I also do lateral motion. Yup.
- Now, we can go down, with foot fire.
To the middle, or out like reverse flies.
And you can go up.
Keep the motion going for a goal of 20 seconds.
Or you can count, 20 to 30 repetitions with your foot fire.
- [Bob] Again, you're obviously getting core,
and you're also getting cardio at the same time.
- Oh yeah, and you always have to do both sides.
So we're gonna start here.
I'll start with some flies.
- [Bob] Yeah, if you're wondering
how to get some cardio in your own home,
this is a great one to, you can actually run with it.
- Oh yeah.
- [Bob] And Brad even hooks up the cuff
to the lower extremity too.
- Right, and the bands, hook the bands up to my ankles.
And we're gonna finish up,
last but not least is stir the pot.
Get in that good athletic stance.
Elbows straight, with the bands.
And, circles. I'm not just doing arm motion.
I'm working my whole body, my whole torso works together.
- [Bob] Yeah, he's stirring the pot.
- Tight stomach, other direction.
- [Bob] Now he unwound himself.
He got wound up, now he's unwinding.
- That's right, and obviously,
we must face the other direction.
One, two, in Aikido we used to call like that.
One, two, three, four.
- [Bob] What's that? - I don't know why.
Well, I'm counting, one two three four five.
- [Bob] I know, but do you have to do it in that voice?
- Yeah, I don't know why they did it that way.
I was afraid to ask.
(laughter)
- [Bob] All right, I'm gonna take a nap,
I'm gettin' tired watching ya.
- So, great core workout, hips, body, balance,
the whole works.
And you can maybe understand why I think,
cause this has not been proven scientifically yet.
But, after reading Tom's book, with the success of my back,
and it just makes sense, doesn't it?
- I thought McGill did some work on this to mention Brad.
And show that, scientifically it does help.
- Sure.
- And you're performance in athletics is gonna go up,
but you can obviously tone it down.
You can start off with just,
much less motion to start off with.
- Right, exactly.
So, when you're following here,
you can just stop and rest when you get tired.
- Stop and rest, or just don't do it as intense.
You can, maybe not even throw the steps in there,
and just start doing core that way.
- My body goes either on or off,
I'm sorry, but I can't...
- Yeah, Brads' got one speed.
- Thats a personality thing.
- One speed, and it's turned all the way up.
- Or off.
- Yeah, or off.
- Thanks everybody for watching.
- Take care.