Competition Prep Week: 21-Min Belt Stretch Flow (Day 4)

Last one. Lift your right leg right arm up twist your lower back twist your chest hug your shoulders back and spread your fingers and arms away from each other. Look up towards your right hand if that hurts your neck look straight to the right but keep twisting your torso stretch the back leg and bend your right knee and lift the toes your right foot. Drop your back knee catch your foot hug the foot in if you can't reach the foot then find a way to use your belt to grab onto the foot and pull the foot in and lean weight into your right foot so both hips should feel this.

The front of your left the outside of your right. Release the foot and walk your hands back towards your left foot slow motion kung fu stretching from side to side. Weight into the hands front and back up and down. One more left and right.

Left hand down right arm up stepping back to side plank pose let's stay here for six five lift up. Four three two and one turning back to plank inhale exhale halfway down. Up dog or cobra take two breaths here. Rolling back to down dog second side lift the left leg open your hips for six breaths Lift your left knee and push your hands down head back chest back breathe.

your bottom quad so stretch your right leg straight. Lift your heel inhale exhale knee to chest. Exhale left elbow two seconds. Inhale exhale right elbow two seconds.

Inhale knee to nose low lunge arms up. Knee down foot flat lift hug and squeeze everything works towards the midline. Lift your gaze spread your fingers and breathe. Fingertips down extended pyramid lift your back heel lift your front toes square off your hips and fold over your left knee you can bend the knee if you need to keep legs and arms engaged to relax your back.

Inhale look forward bend the left knee exhale lean back five more on your own with your breath all the time. Last round left arm up for twist bend the left knee thigh should be parallel to the floor back thigh should be parallel to the floor twist your spine not your hips you can twist your neck but only to the point where you feel comfortable. Chest and breathe. Drop your back knee catch your foot dump the weight into the left foot stretch both hips.

Release the foot kung fu stretching from side to side if you want to put your knee down and do that variation can feel good so kung fu stretching dipping your knee down to the floor. Work your knees ankles and hips. One more from side to side. Step forward with your hands left arm up side plank pose sixth breath six breaths six five four three two and one plank pose inhale exhale low push up cobra or up dog two breaths.

And back to down dog. Place your knees down and grab your belt. Stretch your belt overhead open your chest and cactus your arms so bend your elbows lean your head back and twist from side to side. If you have a muscular upper back you're going to feel this in your chest but don't let your your chin move forward pull your hug your head back really lean your head back.

And then stretch your arms overhead side stretching one or two breaths on each side. Nice all the way back with the belt touching your butt or your feet with the belt all the way up without doing one side first and then the other try to do them the exact same time same speed also so same speed back same speed up no cheating. If it hurts wider grip. One more.

Lay down on your back these belt stretches that we're doing is the first thing you should do in the morning when you wake up before the competition so start your day with some really gentle stretches place your foot in the right foot in the belt just do some nice belt stretching this one you can do in your hotel room in your bed just grab your belt slip with your belt on. That's always good before a competition and then open up your belt and do this stretch is the first thing you do in the morning let's stay here for a minute. The most important thing in a competition is to not get injured because when you get injured you can't compete and you can't train for a while and that sucks so morning stretching and the warm-up routine that we have learned is the main focus of it the main reason we do it is to not get injured there are plenty of other benefits both physical and mental but injury prevention is our number one priority when doing this. So close your eyes relax your face and don't bite your teeth.

Switching legs. So close your eyes and try to quickly go through the warm-up routine that we've been doing from down dog stretch the right leg up three breaths opening the hips rolling the knee to chest elbow elbow low lunge knee down arms up three breaths hands down extended pyramid head down square hips flex the front foot move forward and back three times with the breath right arm up twist twist grab the back foot knee down kung fu stretching from side to side a few four five six times side plank vinyasa second side that's it try to remember it really remember it because you don't want to distract yourself by using your phone on competition day so you should know the warm-up sequence by heart. Both legs up happy baby pose with the belt you can wrap the belt around your wrists let your elbows pull in your feet maybe grab the belt from two directions last posefish open Release the belt, rock up to seated, cross your ankles, spine straight, head back, shoulders back, close your eyes and relax. Butterflies are good but you have nothing to be nervous about.

If you go to competition and you win your fights, you're the best that day. But then as soon as the competition is finished, it doesn't count anymore. It's back to training and the next competition you're probably going to lose. If you win it, very good, you're going to lose the next one.

So don't be nervous about your performance. Focus instead entirely on your effort. Effort on all the small things like where's your water bottle? Did you bring enough snacks?

Is your neck warm? What manner are you fighting on? Is anyone coaching you? Are your knees warm?

Do you have a game plan? If not, what are you going to do? How are you going to improvise? What positions do you want to avoid?

What positions are you happy to end up in? As soon as you think a thought, think it through and then let it go. A competition is a great place to grow. But in order to grow, you can't keep hanging on to thoughts.

So learn to think the thought from beginning to end and then finish it, let it go and let the next one come. Open your eyes. See you guys tomorrow for the last class. Friday tomorrow.

Thank you for today. Us!