♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ the two most famous ♪
♪ physical therapists ♪
♪ on the internet ♪
- 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.
- I'm sick of listening to myself, Brad.
We've been doing this so long today.
(Brad chuckles)
Today, we're gonna talk about best lumbar strengthening
or stabilization exercises on a ball.
Brad is an absolute expert on the ball,
and you've got spondylolisthesis,
so you've been using the ball to strengthen your core
to keep you outta trouble, right?
- Exactly right.
And not only that, but to improve my symptoms
and make me more active over the last few years.
- Right.
- And if you wait till the end of the video,
I'm gonna show you a little trick on this ball.
that very few people, - - Oh, cool.
- very few people can do.
Okay. Let's go on.
- All right.
These exercise are great for the core,
and I really like 'em, because Bob,
they're great for the beginner
as well as an advanced person who is really strong.
- I'm gonna take these off, Brad,
because I'm afraid they're gonna
block your mic.
- Yeah. Yeah.
Those are my CliC glasses.
All right. Lay down.
Carpeted floor works great. Hard floor, not so good.
I like to have tennis shoes on or some shoes on,
so I can grip the ball, okay?
And I'm squeezing the ball,
so I'm not only working my core
but some of these abductor muscles and leg muscles
get a little bit of work with this.
And I just do this.
And this, as you can tell
by the tone of my voice... - Now, this is one too, Brad,
where you're kind of holding the pelvis down, right?
- Yeah. The ball actually kind of forces that lower...
- [Bob] Oh, I bet it does with your up,
so you won't have to worry about that.
- I'm a big fan of the ball, by the way,
if I haven't mentioned that.
Did I mention
that before, Bob? - Yes, you have.
- Yes, of course.
And you're gonna start with 10 of these or so.
I just started with someone, she's doing 10.
She got sore muscles.
I do 'em all the time, I usually do 50 to 60,
but it's been a while, of practice.
Now, the next step,
after you do your set of 10 to 50 of those,
we need to work the obliques.
Stay in the same position. Grab that ball.
Right elbow to left knee,
alternately with left elbow to right knee.
Start like this. Up like this.
And go here, and here, and here.
And after you get good at this,
it becomes a nice fluid motion.
And you can feel those abdominals working
and they start to burn for a little bit.
- [Bob] I can see that Brad.
- There.
- Really works the obliques. - Okay,
he's making me a fan of the ball too.
I've started working out on the ball too now.
- You better believe it.
- [Bob] Oh.
- Okay.
And then the next one,
we wanna work the opposite side of the back a little bit.
Use the ball here, hands down and bridge.
Okay. And you can vary this up too.
Once you get good at it,
if you're doing 10 of these and it's too easy,
you can lift one leg up and do it one legged,
much harder.
And, again.
- [Bob] There's no pain with these Brad, right?
- No, there should be no pain with your back.
These, the first ones I did,
really very little stress on the back.
This one puts a little more stress on the back, by the way.
So if it's painful, don't do it.
You should just feel fatigue going on.
- [Bob] I think you might be surprised,
people might even have stress with the first one, Brad.
- Oh yeah. - If you don't do it.
- Well, what I'm saying is compared to other sit-ups
and things like that. - Oh, sure, sure.
- Relatively speaking. - Oh, relatively speaking.
Yeah.
- Okay.
So, now we're gonna go to the other side of the back.
Now, this one you definitely wanna do on the floor.
- [Bob] Oh, watch your mic.
- Oh, my goodness gracious.
We got technical difficulty, Bob.
You're not gonna do this one on the bed
or anything like this.
I will, just because I'm silly.
But carpeted floor works good.
And this Bob, people out there,
you can just stretch like this and this can feel good.
Just stay like this for a little bit.
But that's not the exercise.
The single leg extension, that's what I like.
Up like this, not like this.
You're not bending the knee. Straight leg.
- [Bob] I do this one.
- Do you really, Bob?
- [Bob] I do it with the opposite arm, opposite leg.
- Okay.
- [Bob] Do you do that too or not?
- No, I don't.
That's pretty, that's a little more advanced
but I think it's a good one.
So Bob is talking about going like this.
- [Bob] Yep.
- Absolutely. Good idea, Bob.
- [Bob] Yeah.
- And then make sure you do both legs.
But one thing I do like to do to add to be complete,
is do the trunk extensions.
Okay.
- [Bob] Again, if you can tolerate it, and no pain.
- Right.
And you can see, I'm using the ball here.
As you get advanced, - - Sure.
- you can bring your arms up to here.
And I can't do this 'cause my legs come up.
I needed to be against the wall or do it like this,
much harder.
Okay. But I'm gonna do it here.
Now, the next thing you do, just like on the stomach, Bob,
people out there in YouTube world,
we wanna get the muscles that go across the back.
And that's what,
Bob had that good suggestion of opposite arm, opposite leg.
I like to add in, up and look over your back.
Up and look over your back.
- [Bob] Interesting.
- Up.
And with my Spondylolisthesis, this has been real helpful.
Feels very good. It feels good to do this.
No pain whatsoever. Just feel muscles working.
- [Bob] You're the only guy, by the way, Brad,
that has spondylolisthesis, that doesn't know how to say it.
(Bob chuckles)
- It's a tough one, Bob.
I gotta get a speech therapist in here.
All right.
- [Bob] All right.
- Oh, there's one more. - How you holding on?
- You go down like this. Put your head here.
Don't fall asleep though.
And do both legs at a time. - Wow.
I gotta try that one.
- Depending on where you put your body on the ball,
it can make a big difference.
You can make this really hard if you put your body.
- I can tell. - Here it's very easy.
- [Bob] I can tell you it's gonna be harder for me already
because I got long legs.
- But if you roll the ball closer to your thighs?
- [Bob] Sure, it's gonna be easier.
- Right. - Yep. Gotcha.
- And you go like this, it becomes
much, much harder. - Oh, really hard, I bet.
- [Bob] Yeah.
- Okay, Bob. We're not done yet.
- [Bob] All right. I'm glad we're not.
- And people out there in YouTube world,
we're not done yet.
Get your ball and now we're gonna go to the seated.
This is definitely a little more difficult,
a little more advanced,
so you need to feel more comfortable on the ball.
It's gonna help your balance.
But remember, at the end of the video,
I'm gonna show you a balance technique on the ball
that not very many 54 year olds can do.
- [Bob] I don't think there are any that can do it.
- I don't know, Bob.
All right. So.
I need you to come over here, Bob,
and put your feet so my feet don't slide out.
Usually, I go up against a wall,
so my feet don't slide out like this.
- [Bob] Yep.
- I'm gonna use Bob for my wall.
- [Bob] Okay.
- And he appreciates it. Okay.
And it's simply sit ups,
but the ball is really putting a lot of support
on my lumbar back,
and it feels much better.
I can feel these muscles doing the work.
My back is comfortably supported, okay?
And then of course I'm gonna go,
right elbow left knee, left elbow right knee,
to get the obliques,
just like I did in the supine position.
Okay. I'm getting warm, Bob.
I shouldn't have done this.
Yeah, don't do these exercises with a suit on.
(both chuckle)
Yeah, a long sleeved shirt and a tie on.
It's just not recommended.
Now, I know this is the moment you've been waiting for.
I gotta get the blue ball down.
- Blue one fits you better?
- No, it's got more air in it.
- [Bob] Oh.
- All right.
So, do not do this unless you're experienced.
- [Bob] This is like a trained seal
- Or you're not too smart.
- [Bob] I'm gonna give him a fish at the end if he does it.
- There you go.
Now, get me my cup of coffee, Bob.
When I'm 55, I'm gonna take a cup of hot coffee or tea,
and I'm gonna see if I can drink it
while balancing on the ball.
Yeah, this isn't the cup, this is a safety one.
Oop, I had one touch.
(Bob laughs and applauds)
I'm gonna have to practice on that, Bob.
- [Bob] All right. Good job.
- When I'm 55, it's my goal.
- Not bad.
- Oh, we got the floor wet, Bob.
- Thanks for watching.