Back Body Program Day 1: 35-Min Hamstring & Back Stretch

When you inhale, you should feel yourself lifting up from the floor. And when you exhale, you kind of melt down on the floor. Switch legs again. Right leg up.

Squeeze your right hamstring. Pull it in. Exhale. Exhale.

Exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale.

Pull both knees in. Rock up and down. In geek language, we're working the posterior chain. Posterior means in the back.

So the back chain of muscles. And my philosophy is not that we should try to isolate as much as possible, but we work a little bit of everything in every session with just a little bit of extra focus on the hamstrings today. Rock all the way up to squat. And cross your arms and stretch your butt up and your head down.

So a standing forward fold, I like to call it a dingle dangle position. Please keep your feet wider than your hips so that your belly and chest can fit between your thighs. It actually helps to have a big fat belly here because that way you get a nice and firm squeeze between your thighs. If you're skinny, no problem.

Just bend your knees and get your chest between your knees instead. If you have the issue of tight Achilles tendon, then just roll your mat or place an object under your heels so that you can relax and lean forward instead of leaning back. All right, hands down, all force. Stretch your right leg back and don't let your toes point out to the side.

Point your right toe straight down, stretch your leg completely straight. And I mean completely straight. Don't keep a micro bend in the knee. Stretch the leg out and then pull it up and down 10 times, just up and down.

We want to learn to work the hamstring and the butt together. So karate kick your leg back and pull three, two, one and down. Second side. Left leg out, super straight left leg.

Stretch it all the way out and without pointing your toes out to the side, 10 pulses up and down. Use your butt, use your hamstring to lift the leg. Three, two, one and down. All right, grab your mat or just hands on the floor.

Stretch back to a down dog, walk from side to side. So bend the right, stretch the left and vice versa. Stretching the calf, stretching the hamstrings. If you've been training at Yoga for BJJ for a while now, you probably have done a few thousand sun salutation A's.

And if you do it correctly, if you do it properly, that's one of the best sequences to loosen up the hamstrings. So we'll do five rounds of sun salutation A today. Walk the feet forward to your hands. Grab your ankles, stretch your arms and legs completely straight.

Inhale, exhale, bend your knees, grab your calves and pull your head down. Three more, inhale up, exhale, fold and pull yourself down with bent knees. Two more. Inhale up and exhale down.

Last round, inhale. Exhale. Look up, arms up, inhale arms all the way up. Exhale, hands down.

Arms up, inhale. Stretch your arms forward, lean forward, stop in the halfway down. Use your hamstrings to keep yourself upright and then fold forward. Inhale on your fingertips.

Step back to plank, take an inhale in plank. Exhale all the way down. Little back bend, inhale, cobra and exhale down dog. In this down dog, walk your feet wider and push your head back so you can stretch your shoulders as well here.

So we're not just working one muscle out of the several hundred muscles in our body. We're trying to incorporate both the upper and lower body at the same time. So stretch your chest and shoulders and push your butt backwards so that you're imagining you want to go into a forward fold with your chest to your knees. If your sticky mat is not so sticky, just grab the mat, push back more.

Walk forward, hands to feet, feet to hands. Inhale halfway up and exhale. Pull yourself down and lean into your toes so that your heels are lifting. Heels down, inhale all the way up.

Exhale hands down. Interlace your fingers behind your back. Inhale, keep your hands where they are but exhale fold forward. Hands down, inhale.

Stepping back on an exhale plank pose. Inhale, stretch your legs and arms. Exhale, lower down. Inhale, cobra.

Elbows squeeze in. Exhale, back to down dog. This time windshield wipers from side to side. So keep pushing your butt back.

Don't do this from plank. I want your head to go back so you're kind of staying in the down dog shape. It's just the heels that are moving from side to side. Keep pushing your arms straight.

Keep pushing your butt back and stretch both the back and side of your legs. Back to center, bend your knees. Inhale, exhale step forward. Hands to shins, inhale.

Exhale, pull your head down as far as you can go. Inhale all the way up. Exhale hands down. Arms up, inhale.

Lean forward, stick your butt back but still lean into the toes. Stop halfway down. And on the next exhale hands down. On your fingertips, inhale.

Step back to plank on exhale. Inhale, spread your fingers and toes. Exhale, lower down slowly. Inhale, cobra or if you want straighten your legs for up dog.

Back to down dog. Stretch your right leg up. Take three breaths here. Really stretch your back leg and then turn your toes down again so that your hips are neutral.

So if your right butt is higher than the left butt, your hips are open. If you neutralize or close your hips or square off your hips, your toes on your right leg is pointing down. This means your leg will not go as high but this way you make sure you really stretch the back of the left leg. Switching sides, left leg up.

You can start with slightly open hips just to feel the difference. And then square off your hips so your left and right side are equal height above the floor. The left leg should be perfectly straight. Your bottom leg can bend because the difference between a bent and a straight leg might be small.

But we're all different so we have to figure out when to keep the leg super straight and when to bend the knee slightly. It will be different in every pose. Both knees feet down, bend your knees. Inhale, exhale walk or jump forward.

Inhale halfway up, exhale pull your head down. Last sun salutation, inhale. Exhale interlace your fingers behind your back. Inhale puff your chest.

Exhale fold forward. Hands down, inhale. Step back to plank again on exhale. Inhale straight arms, look forward.

Exhale lower through a low push up. Back bend of choice, elbows always squeeze in. Back to down dog. Okay let's start flowing right leg up, inhale.

Keep the bottom leg straight the left leg. And then squeeze your knee forward but don't go all the way forward. Just stop with your head above your hands but straighten the bottom leg. Let's do three more.

Inhale up, exhale halfway forward. Inhale up, stretch your leg up. Exhale halfway forward. One last, inhale up.

Knee all the way forward, step your foot between your hands or help the foot forward. Left knee down. On your fingertips move your hips and chest forward. Inhale.

Exhale straighten your front leg. Flex your right foot so your toes and the right foot point straight up. Walk forward, inhale. Exhale walk back.

This time try to fold your head forward, it should feel really intense. Hips forward, inhale. Hips back, exhale flex your foot, straighten the leg. One more round, inhale.

Exhale back, stay here for three. Two. One. Move all the way forward again.

And come into a standing split so your left leg lifts. Let's do ten Uchimata pumps. Uchimata is a judo throw that requires cunning in the seat but also a lot of flexibility. So pump your left leg up ten times.

And every time your foot goes up your head kind of lowers down. Don't use speed, just use rhythm. And step all the way back to a three legged dog so your right leg moves up. And then feet down, plank, inhale.

Exhale, stop halfway down, low push up. Cobra or upward facing dog, elbows squeeze in. Back to down dog, left leg up. So inhale here.

Exhale knee halfway forward. Inhale up. Exhale squeeze the knee but don't move all the way forward. Inhale.

Exhale. Inhale. Exhale this time the footsteps between the hands. If you can't, on your fingertips, foot forward.

Right knee down, hips forward, chest up, inhale. Exhale straighten your left leg as good as you can. Toes point up, head looks down. Inhale hips forward.

Exhale hips back, head down, head down, head down. Again hips forward, inhale look up. Exhale back and down, back and down, back and down. One more round inhale.

Exhale flex your toes and hold for three. Two. One. Hips forward again.

Move into a standing split so your right leg lifts. Every time your foot lifts your head goes down. Do ten. And three, two, one and step back to a three legged dog.

Move forward into plank, inhale when you come there. And exhale halfway down, elbows in, chest forward. Vinyasa, up dog or cobra. Back to a down dog.

Look forward bend your knees, inhale. Exhale jump forward. Inhale halfway up. Inhale halfway up.

Exhale fold forward. All the way up, inhale. Exhale hands down. Find a wide straddle so your feet are wider than one hip leg.

So if your legs are one meter you are more than one meter between your feet. So as wide as you can go but not so wide that you feel it on the inside of the knees. So you should still be able to squeeze the feet together. Hands on hips, push the hips forward.

So you tense up the back body first. Like you use the front body to tense up the back body. Take an inhale here. And on an exhale lean forward 45 degrees.

Lift your toes and squeeze your feet together. Breathe, you are going to need it. Lean forward slightly more without rounding your lower back. So keep back bending your lower back.

Lean forward. Don't hurt your inner knees. Try placing either your fingertips on the floor, your hands on your thighs or under your knees. So you are still higher than halfway down.

So your head is above your hips. If you can't do this either walk the feet slightly apart or place some objects under your hands. Let's stay here for five. Four.

Three. Two. One. Bend your knees slightly and point your toes out.

So you are in a super duper wide squat. And move the hips from side to side. So when your toes point up you are going to feel it in the hamstrings and all the lower back. All the back of the legs sorry.

When you point the toes forward you are going to feel it more on the inside. And funny thing about the adductors, the inner thighs and the hamstrings. They more or less connect all to the same place. So if you stretch your inner thighs a lot it will help your hamstring flexibility.

So if your groins are tight, if your inner thighs are super tight. That will restrict your hamstring mobility as well. So work them together. Stretch the back and the inside together.

And you are going to feel a big difference. Keep moving from side to side. And this exercise I call Kung Fu stretching. It should be a part of every single Jiu Jitsu warm up.

If you do Jiu Jitsu without 5-10 repetitions of this. You are limiting yourself. One more from side to side. And then you are going to feel the hamstrings.

And move the hands forward again. Step back to plank. Inhale. Exhale lower down.

Back bend. Inhale. Exhale back to down dog. Let's do a standing sequence.

Right leg up. Inhale. Exhale knee forward. If you can't get your foot forward on your fingertips.

Right foot forward. Step up to a crescent pose. Hands on hips. And your goal is to get your chest over your hips.

Start by straightening both legs. And tense up the back leg a lot. Make it super duper straight. And then when you feel engagement in the back.

Then you bend your front knee. So you should feel 70% of the work in the back leg. And just 30% in the front leg. Hands on hips.

Squeeze your shoulders back. From here straighten your arms up. Take a full cycle of breath here. And then lean forward.

So that you get a straight line from your hands to your left. Place your hand on your right thigh. Lean forward. Straighten your left foot back.

And flex the foot. Point the toes down. And do the 10 pulses we did in the beginning. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Arms up. Left leg up. Stay straight. Straighten your bottom leg.

Straighten your top leg. Straighten your arms. And breathe. Keep this form.

But place your hands down into the ground. Alright. So standing split again. This time we're going to use a little bit of momentum to go up and down.

You lower the left leg. And when you lift it, you jump. But try to do it like a split. So you're not lifting both legs.

You try to keep the right leg down while you lift the top one. So you're kind of splitting and jumping. Splitting and jumping. And 3, 2, 1.

And place your left leg back. Walk your right foot forward. Let's try to move into a super wide low lunge. So you're inching your right foot forward.

So we're almost doing a full split here. Stay here for 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Stepping back to dog. Inhale.

Roll forward to plank on an exhale. Inhale, plank. Exhale, push up. Back bend.

Inhale. Down dog. Exhale. Straighten your left leg up.

Roll the knee forward. Get your foot between your hands. Come up to crescent pose and straighten both legs. So right leg is straight, left leg is straight.

Tense up the back leg enormously so you can feel your shaking in the right leg. And when you feel engagement there, bend your front knee and get your chest over your hips, not chest over knee. When you feel centered and balanced, arms up. Use your core, lean forward 45 degrees.

Squeeze your left butt in because it want to sag out. So try to squeeze it in. Hands on thigh. Hands on thigh.

Hands on thigh. Lean forward warrior 3. Straighten the back leg, I mean it. 10 pulses.

Up and down. Up and down. And up, up, up, up, up, up, up. Karate kid.

Right foot forward, arms up. Stay. Breathe. Stay in this shape, but place your hands down in front of your foot.

Jump up and down without lifting both legs. Try to split and jump. Split and jump. Split and jump.

And the three. And the two. And the one. And back to low lunge.

Inch the left foot forward as far as you can go, but stay on your fingertips. And five. Four. Three.

Two. And one down dog. Inhale plank. Exhale lower down.

Inhale back bend. And exhale turtle position. Five breaths. Sit on your butt.

Straighten your legs out. We're not going to do a seated forward fold. We're going to wait with that. We're going to lay down on our back.

Straighten the left leg up again. This time climb up to your calf. If your arms are long, you might even be able to grab your ankle. And then we're going to do a seated forward fold.

And then we're going to do a seated forward fold. And then we're going to do a seated forward fold. Don't grab the foot. That will be later this week.

So start by grabbing the calf or the ankle and then flex your foot. Don't try to straighten the leg. Just flex the foot. You will feel the difference between the lacy foot and the active foot.

So flex the foot but keep your knee bent and then use the weight of your shoulders to pull the knee closer to your chest. So bent knee, flexed foot, pull it close. Ten breaths. The other leg, the right leg, straighten it.

Searching sides, left leg down, right leg up. Flex the foot, bend knee, grab ankle or calf, straighten the other leg, the left leg. Ten breaths. Never mind the shaking, try to move away your focus from the stretch and try finding your breath instead.

So all curiosity, all anxiety, every kind of emotional state or state of mind, try to center it around your breathing. Nice, place your feet close to your butt, twist your knees over to the left, try to keep your spine straight so you can move your hips forward or back until you find a straight line. Then just straighten your arm out to the side or place your hand behind your head. And don't force the twist, relax into the twist for five breaths.

Ten breaths. Switching sides. One of the pillars of yoga philosophy is non-attachment, not being attached to the outcome. And the shortcut to reach that state is center your emotions and thoughts around your breath and don't think of anything else.

It's important to have goals, it's very important to have purpose in what you do, but being attached to the outcome is always stopping you instead of helping you. Come back to center, lean your knees towards each other, left hand on your chest, right hand on your belly. Let's take a quiet minute. Breathe in.

Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in.

Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in.

Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in.

Breathe out. Breathe in. Take a deep breath. Find a seated, crossed-legged position.

Palms in front of your chest, close your eyes. Lift your shoulders, inhale. And exhale, sigh it out. Thank you for practicing with me.

See you in the next video. Tomorrow we will focus more on the calves, but we will keep the hamstring theme throughout the week. Take care guys, see you next time.