Competition Prep Part 1: 18-Min Monday Flow for Fight Week

Ankles, knees and hips. Now step forward again with your hands, left hand down, right arm up, lifting your right leg back into side plank for three breaths. Hips forward, hips up, head back, chest up. Move into plank pose, inhale, exhale low push up.

Inhale cobra or up dog, lift your chest, lift your face. And down dog, take a big breath here. Set your left leg out, bend your knee, open your hips and take a full in and exhale here. And then roll your left knee to your face.

Inhale leg up, exhale left elbow. Inhale up, exhale right elbow. Exhale knee to face and hold here for one second. Foot between the hands, back knee down, flat foot, arms up.

Three breaths, squeeze your knees in towards the middle, lower your hips, lift your chest and breathe. Inhale look up, exhale fingertips down, lift your back leg straight and try to straighten the front leg as well. Take three here. Try to drop your chest and head down.

Inhale bend your left knee, exhale stretch. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Right arm down, left arm up, twist your spine, stretch your back leg.

So chest up, hips down. Drop your back knee, catch your foot, pull your heel into your butt, hips down, lift your right shoulder back. Left shoulder back, sorry. Release the foot, now without the hands in the ground, move from side to side, bend one knee and stretch the other.

Powerful legs, flexible hips. Right hand down, left arm up, twist again and then step back into side plank and try to lift your left side, try to make a bow through your body and so contract your right side and lift your left side and make it longer. Spread your fingers, lift your chest. Plank pose, inhale, exhale low push up.

Inhale, back bend and exhale down dog. Let's roll forward to plank again and do three slow controlled push ups, not all the way down, just half way down. Inhale, exhale half way down. Inhale, plank, exhale half way down.

Inhale and exhale. Hold here for one second and then back to down dog. Take a full breath here and let it out. Step your right foot forward on the outside of your right hand, lower your hips up and down five times.

Step back to plank, switching sides, left foot on the outside, not on the inside, on the outside, hips up and down five times. Now jump switch, let's go for less than a minute but jump as high as you can. Boom, boom, boom, keep going, keep breathing, never hold your breath. Just stay active, imagine you're passing guard here, going for the right side, going for the left side, never stopping, just continuing from side to side, breathing as you're moving.

Trying to stay one step ahead of your opponent, trying to save energy but at the same time pushing the pace as much as you can. Let's do a few more until your opponent is tired and when we finally get what we wanted, we pass the guard, then we stop with the right foot forward, left knee down, maybe come down on your elbows. Imagine you have side control here, squeezing the guy, putting pressure on him and breathing, trying to not breathe his oxygen, move your face away, make yourself heavy and try to relax those muscles that you worked really hard now, you got what you wanted, you have side control, three points. Take a few breaths here just to enjoy the victory of this skirmish, don't be sloppy here, be tight and put a lot of pressure on your opponent, make him work for it.

You should not be stressed out here, he should, so just be tight and strong and relax where you can relax. The guy was good so he escaped, we have to get straight back at it. Keep jumping from side to side, back to passing the guard, never mind what just happened, we're back in the present, we're passing guard again, right side, left side, right side, left side, keep going faster, keep breathing, even faster. We got it, left foot forward, side control, six points.

Just double check the scoreboard, time looks good, you're ahead, put a lot of pressure on the guy without exhausting yourself, figure out a plan, plan to mount him, do a neon belly, set up the arm bar or if he starts turtling, set up for the back take. This is the place to plan ahead. Listen to your coach, try to ignore all the yelling. Calm and focused.

Stepping back to down dog, right leg up, inhale, exhale right knee forward, foot between the hands circle up to warrior two, left arm back, right arm forward. This is the equivalent of tying the belt pause. Both guys lost their belts, the referee gives you the sign to tie your belt. This is the standing break where you get to reconnect with your breath, trying to remember your game plan or maybe just listen to your coach.

If your coach is screaming a lot, maybe you have to ignore him. This is the time to refocus and re-center yourself. Right elbow to right knee or hand to the ground, your choice, side angle pose, lean back, stretch your fingers, shoulders back, puff your chest up so breathing becomes easier. There is absolutely nothing to be nervous about.

Come back to warrior two, step back a little bit, move into half moon pose, finding your balance, your equilibrium. Form straight, legs straight, open your hips. Hands down for standing split, give it five handstands. One, two, three, four and five.

Vinyasa inhale, exhale low push up. Inhale back bend, exhale down low. Second side, lift your left leg, inhale, exhale left knee forward, come up into warrior two for another break. Stretch your arms, lower your shoulders, lean back and bend into your left knee.

If your forearms are exhausted, shake them out, stretch them a little bit. There is no such thing as a perfect fight. The opponent always has his game plan and he will always implement some of it and he is going to make you stressed out no matter how much better you are or who he is or she is. They are going to make you suffer in some ways.

So if they made your forearms exhausted, take this moment to stretch them out, relax them and try to get back as much power as you can in your forearms or your legs or your arms. Side angle, hand down or elbow to knee, spin your chest open, calm and centered. Can you analyze right now what your opponent did in the last two minutes? What was his goal and his objective?

And can you use that? Can you put him somewhere he doesn't want to be? And can you maybe remember that thing that worked so well in training that you have forgotten all about right now? If you are calm, relaxed and centered, it will pop into your mind automatically.

Back to warrior 2, into half moon pose, left hand down, right arm up, engage both arms and both legs, find your balance. Hands down, five handstands, one, two, three, four and five. Plank inhale, exhale low push up, inhale up dog and down to your belly, down to your interlaced fingers behind your back. Stretch your chest and your shoulders, lift your legs and push the feet together.

Lift higher, the guy has back mount and he's crunching your back backwards, try to breathe. Figure out an escape route. We made a mistake and we escape. Inhale plank and exhale down dog.

Take a breath in down dog. Sit on your knees, spine straight, hands in your laps. Close your eyes and breathe. Open your eyes.

Alright guys, this was the first day of your preparation for your tournament this weekend. When you reach Saturday or whenever you are competing, you will feel like you have an anchor. You can anchor yourself in your breath and into this sequence that we do. Of course you can pick and choose from what we did, but the standard warm up sequence, learn it by heart and do it so that when you don't know what to do, you automatically go into the habit of doing the warm up sequence.

Then you add in whatever you feel your body needs, if it's the hip, if it's the arms, if it's handstands so you can focus. This was the first day, we have two more tough days and then two stretching days.