Sebastian Brosche · 19 min · 1,777 words
A 19-minute slow stretch for tired, overtrained bodies. The perfect low-effort recovery session after hard BJJ weeks.
Our session for today is a really nice one to do if you're tired or let's be honest maybe a little bit unmotivated or if you've trained a lot this week or maybe you haven't trained at all this week and you're just feeling like you need to get moving a little bit. This is something that I do all the time. It's like uh it's like flossing. I think everyone should floss every day and this is something you could do almost every day.
It's like flossing for your muscles. Grab your jiu-jitsu belt and we'll be working through the hips, hamstrings, all that jazz. Start on your back, loop the belt around the ball of the right foot, reaching the right foot up. I like to loop my hands around the belt and gently bend and extend the leg a few times.
Taking the belt in the right hand, bring the leg out to the right side, stretching through the inside of the leg, those adductors. And really gently bring that leg back to center. Take the belt in the left hand and bring the leg over to the left side but not all the way. I only want you to go as far as to keep that left elbow on the ground.
Okay so not all the way over just till that left elbow is propped on the ground and that top leg can be bent. In fact it almost should be bent to allow a stretch through the outer right hip. Back to center, other side, loop the belt around the left foot, the ball of the left foot. I like to loop the belt around the hands, they don't have to grip so strongly.
Gently bending and extending the leg. And if it feels good go ahead and straighten the leg or if it doesn't feel good for the leg to be straight, don't totally straighten it. Today's just meant to be a mild class of movement, movement stretching. Go ahead and take the belt in the left hand, reach in the left leg all the way out, stretching through the inside that left leg, those adductors.
You may find one side feels tighter than the other side and that's okay. It's the way that she goes sometimes, we're not perfectly symmetrical on both sides in our movement or even in how the body is but the yoga helps balance out the left and right side. Stretching, moving, flowing on left and right side equally. Bring the left leg to center, take the belt in the right hand, bringing the belt over to the right side, elbow goes to the ground, right elbow goes to the ground so my left leg is not going all the way to the ground, it's going almost to the ground.
Allow the left leg to be bent and you should feel a nice stretch through that left side. Allow the left leg to be bent and you should feel a nice stretch through that left side. Coming back to center. You can get rid of the belt.
We're all done with that. Take the right outer ankle on the left quad and level one, step one is just to reach the arms through to grab the opposite leg, the left leg and stay here. This is enough for you. This feels really good.
Or if you'd like a bit more, go ahead and bring that will go all the way over to the left side so the foot goes all the way to the ground. Left hand grabs the shin, right hand reaches out to the opposite side. So a nice stretch, a nice stretch to the outside of the hip, a small spinal twist and maybe a small shoulder opener too. Coming back to center, switching sides.
So left outer ankle on the right quad, reach the arms through and grab behind the leg and either just go ahead and stay here if this feels really good, if it's enough of a stretch or if you'd like a bit more, go all the way down to that right side. Right hand grabs the ankle, left hand reaches out to the left side. Come back to center, roll to your favorite side, use the hands to push yourself up and come to a sit, stretch the right leg out, left foot can be anywhere on the inside of the right quad and for our first one, both hands, place both hands on either side of the knee and allow the chest to gently drop. It's okay if some of the right hip comes off the ground, it's not a big deal.
So as the chest drops over the knee, be aware of where you feel the stretch and it may be different for different people. it through my back, through my lower back. You can move down your elbows if you like or stay propped on the hands. Coming to center, lifting the torso up and moving the torso to face the foot, reaching for the foot.
Now if you can't reach for your foot, remember when I said you didn't need your belt anymore? I lied and you actually do need your belt. So you should probably grab your belt and loop it around the foot if you can't quite reach those toes. Releasing that.
For our last one, come to center in between the knee and the extended leg, hands in front and allow yourself to move forward just a little bit. It doesn't have to be a lot, it doesn't have to be intense, but just be aware of where you feel the stretch when you're in the center. And maybe this feels really good or maybe it's interesting if it doesn't, if the side stretch over the knee or foot felt a lot better and this just doesn't feel as good. Maybe it feels good.
So either stay forward folded with the back rounded or something that could be kind of fun is almost sitting up straightening the back and moving forward a bit. So this is just kind of having some fun and finding what feels good for you. Other side, extending the left leg out, right leg in, both hands on either side of the right knee and allow the torso to drop over the right knee. And you may find again, one side is more flexible than the other side and that's okay.
So either stay posted on the hands or move to one elbow or two elbows. In each pose now for only a minute. Reaching on the hands to come up, trimming the torso to the foot and reaching for the foot. And again, if you need your belt, go ahead and grab your belt.
Releasing that next one to the center, placing the hands on the ground and you can go ahead and try just allowing the back to round. Maybe that feels good or maybe it feels better to keep the spine a little more straight and moving forward, just find what feels good. And sometimes it might be nice to sit on something really small like on a half folded blanket, just to tilt the pelvis forward a little more. So that might feel better here for you.
I know I did that for a really long time in this pose. Releasing that, cross the right leg in front of the left leg and just a really loose crossing doesn't have to be tight. And place both hands in front of the right knee and allow the chest to drop. Being aware of where you feel this.
May feel in the back, you may feel in the outer hip. And you can move a little bit if that feels good. or you can just stay static. Coming to center, placing the left hand on the ground, reach the right arm up and over allowing a really nice side stretch.
Coming to center. Last one of this set, place the right hand on the left knee, use the left hand to post on the ground to reach the torso up and a really gentle twist. And back. Left leg in front of the right knee.
So nice loose crossing. Face that left leg. Reach hand on either side of the knee and allow the torso to drop. Coming to center.
Right hand on the ground, left arm up, reach it over to the right side. Back to center, left hand on the right knee, the right hand post to sit tall. Inhale to lift, exhale, rotate towards the right. Not a crazy amount over, just enough to get a really, really gentle spinal twist.
Back to center. And for our last one, find your way onto your back, both knees in to start gently rocking side to side. Bring the legs all the way over the left side, reaching the right arm out to the right side for spinal twist. So this can be nice for some people to stretch on the outer hip and then for other people to feel the shoulder more and then for others they may even feel the spinal twist a bit more or for me today I feel everything and it feels really good.
Like I said, it's like flossing. You're just getting everything moving, stretching everything out, giving everything some TLC. Come to center, feet on the ground, stay here for just a moment, allowing the spine to be neutral. Knees above the hips and drop them over to the right.
Left hand goes behind you for your shoulder opener. Releasing that, come to center, both feet on the ground. Walk the feet out further than the hips, knees together, hands can either be on the belly or the hands out, whatever feels good. Close the eyes and take just two or three breaths, just recognizing how good it feels to get everything moving and stretching even if it's, I call it like a gentle strong stretch because we did do some pretty strong stretches, we did them in a gentle way and allowing all the work we did to marinate and to sink in because that can be just as important as the actual work that we did.
Yes, I did make that up but I feel like it's true in somewhere in the world that someone said. All right, and if you have more time, go ahead and stay here or if you're working within this time frame, roll to your favorite side, sitting up and there we are. Thank you for joining me everyone today.
This is the transcript. Become a member to watch the video.
Watch now →.avif)