Full-Body & Back Strength for BJJ: 18-Min Yoga

Good okay now we'll just go from side to side so stay on all fours and I'm just going to send my ribs out to the left as I crunch the right side out to the right as I crunch the left side. Good and do it super slow and inhale as your back comes straight again exhale crunch whatever side inhale in exhale crunch nice. So we're just getting everything nice and ready here. Now put the two together okay it's almost like your kind of mid sections in the tumble dryer or like a tumble dryer drum so we'll start off looking up tilting hips back now go round to the right lift up and round good.

Remember breathing as you move just like you would at jujitsu. Okay whatever way you've been going go the other way. Open out any tight areas here. Now if you've found some tight areas just a couple of breaths either cat cow or sideways whatever's comfortable just a bit of a freestyle here just checking.

Good okay let's come to a standing position now straight into it okay and from this standing position we'll just hinge at the hips and fold forwards okay so it's almost like we've put our arms up and then we fold it forwards and from this forward we're going to go down. Forward fold let your head dangles there's no tension in the back of your neck and now I want you to put your hands just under your knees on the top of your shins okay and bend your knees a little more. We're going to go for this half lift on the inhale so your next inhale go for a half lift and what you want with this half lift is it's almost like you're trying to lengthen the top of your head away from you so I'm not half lifting from a fold to like this or like this. And I'm not doming my back how I was in those cat cows it's almost the opposite okay you feel your back activate almost to the point where you can lift your hands to your chest and hold it there okay so just keep breathing here for a second get used to this.

Next exhale fold take a breath in a forward fold. And then next inhale hands on your shins try that lift again really long spine here back parallel with the mat exhale fold. Good now we'll do one more but try and not use your hands to enhance your chest inhale up. Using the muscles in the back to keep you up exhale down.

Nice one more of them. Using those muscles in the back using the core and everything around exhale fold. Good just breathe here. Now hands on your shins we'll do one more that way so activate the back inhale.

Good exhale hands come down step back to a plank and just take a breath in plank here. Good next exhale drop your knees drop your front down to the mat. Nice I want you to do the same thing from this position we're in now so keep breathing but wherever your hands were when you came down keep them there. Keep that breath going shrug your shoulders back so you're pinching your shoulder blades together.

Keep your ears shrugging them up like someone's asked you a question you don't know. Now back even further back towards your feet and activate your back to lift your chest up. It's not just a push off the mat a passive thing with everything else you're using the muscles in your back you're bridging into the mat. Nice and strong glutes here tensing your glutes lift up and down.

Okay let's inhale lift up. Exhale down one more inhale up. Exhale down nice now on the next breath in just push yourself up to all fours and sit your heels sorry your hips back onto your heels. Feel your lower back sort of stretch out here as our hips go the other way so similar to cacti you're like this a bit back bendy and then you sit back and your lower back stretches out here.

So just hands above your head take a couple of breaths. And then just come up to all fours tuck your toes come back to a down dog and just one at a time paddle out your heels see how they're feeling your calves your hamstrings and everything. Good now we'll just take little steps forwards with our feet maybe bending the knees on the way just step back into a forward fold whatever that feels like or looks like for you if you need to keep your knees bent forward fold that's fine just draping forwards top of the head down. Good okay have some weight in your hands on the mat widen your feet out a bit just sit down in a squat.

Okay same thing with this squat not like this try and get a nice straight back. Good just see how your knees are here maybe keep some weight in your hands if your knees are feeling the recent jiu jitsu tear ups you've had. Keep breathing nice now take an inhale and squat. Exhale lift your hips drop your head into a fold.

Take a breath and fold. Must I talk for a second okay we're going to do that half lift shortly but I want you to really. You know bring bring your stomach in a bit activate your core that little bit and use your back don't just push off your shins and dome the back. Okay I want you to use the back.

So next inhale come up maybe hands on your chest. And fold forwards. Let's do that again. And fold.

And if you need to bend your knees more when you're here in that fold and that half lift that's fine but just see what works for you here. Nice do one more. Nice and long spine here okay I'm not folding like this I'm up I'm using my back. Hands down as you exhale step back to plank take a breath in plank.

And down your knees on the exhale onto your front. Okay keep your hands where they are and take a breath here. Good then next inhale shrug those shoulders up lifting the chest bridging into the mat. Down maybe without your hands this time bridging to the mat.

Lift the chest up. Down maybe lift your feet this time as well bridging to the mat. Everything comes up and down. Take a breath where you are.

Good so your back's probably feeling it more than usual because we're just focusing on that today just for a few minutes just so you can really feel those benefits. And if you haven't lifted the heels here as well we'll do that but almost try and lift your knees off the mat as well and your heels come up as you go back. Okay so hands back where they were. Take a breath in where you are.

Slide that out. At the end of that slide bridge into the mat first. Inhale up maybe lift your heels. Exhale down.

Inhale up. Exhale down. Last one here. And down.

And the next inhale push yourself up to all fours. And sit back. And take a breath. And sit back and just let your lower back open out here.

So you've done a lot of kind of lifting up with our back. It might feel a bit strange at first. But if you're doing it right it's going to help okay. You think of core you just think of like those abs.

When you win a competition you rip your ghee open and you've got those abs. That's not the only part of core okay. There's a lot in it and you know you strengthen those muscles in your back. You strengthen everything.

It's really going to help. It's going to help kind of all areas of your jiu jitsu as well. Not to mention you know if we're coming up with this kind of bad posture half lift. And we get used to this.

What happens when you pass guard and you've got bad posture as well okay. So you get used to coming up here. I know when we pass we want to be up nice and strong. Hips forwards and things.

You need to get used to lifting up and down. Okay so just focus on that the next few times. You're doing one of our flows and there's a bit of a kind of vinyasa sequence in it. Just think of those little details.

Good okay. Bring yourself up to your knees now. Bring your right foot in front of you and just bend the left knee. Now we'll just take a breath in here.

Take a breath out. Sit up straight. And just push your left foot into that side of your right leg. Wherever it is is fine.

Now we'll take one more inhale. Exhale fold hinge at the hips. Okay. Keep breathing here.

Another inhale. And exhale. And exhale. Let everything else fold down with it.

And keep breathing. Okay you can grab your shin, your knee, your toes, your heel. Wherever you're comfortable here. Okay wherever this forward fold has taken you.

If your knee's bent because your hamstrings are lower back tight. That's fine. Stay here. Just spend a few breaths just feeling whatever that stretch is for you today.

Don't worry about where you want to be. Or where your goals are. Worry about where you are today compared to last time you were here. And any small improvements just try and appreciate them.

Good. Just come out of that side. Sit yourself up. Switch the legs.

Same again. Press that right foot into the side of your leg. Sitting up straight. One more breath here.

Exhale. Folding forwards. Hinging at the hips first. Keep breathing.

And you get to that point where it feels like just enough. Just let everything else come down. And again feet on the hands. Feet on the hands?

Hands on the shin. Hands on the knee. Over the toes. Over the heel.

Whatever this forward fold has taken you. Whatever this fold is for you. Maybe it's different this side compared to the other side. That's fine.

We're all stronger on one side than others with Jiu Jitsu. We all pass one way stronger than the other. One of my training partners actually focused on his game the weird way. On purpose.

Because everyone passes one way he started focusing on it the other way. And he gets mad success with that. Because people don't expect it. I think he heard that from Craig Jones.

To kind of learn part of your game the opposite way. To throw people off. It's quite interesting. Good.

Bring yourself up. Sitting up straight. Now just scoot your hips forwards. Learn your back.

And then from here we'll just open up the legs. And then from here we'll just open the front out a little bit. We just folded a bit. So just bridge your hips up.

Tension your glutes. Bridge your hips up a little higher. Breathe in here. Now interlace your fingers.

Behind your hips. Drive your hands through that hole between your feet. Tuck your shoulders under your chest here. And take a few deep breaths.

Good. Last inhale here. Maybe bring your hips a little higher for a second. Last exhale.

Let go of your hands. Drop your hips. Let your chest come down. Just rest the insides of your knees together.

Just keep breathing. So as I said just focus on that half lift next time. A little more. Just activate in the back.

And then we'll just open up the legs. Same as when we're laying on the mat. We just lift our shoulders up. Really activate that back.

You're not just pushing off your shins on the mat. You're getting everything nice and activated. Good. Sit yourself up now.

And then from here we'll just do some little circles. We've kind of used the back quite a bit. So we'll just fold over to the left side. Over the left knee.

Into the middle. Over the right knee and up. Good inhale here. Exhale to the left.

To the right. Inhale up. One more this side. Good.

Now the other way. So inhale up here. Exhale over the right knee. Inhale up.

Right knee. Back up. Last one. And up.

Nice one guys. As I said, just a quick class today. Just to focus on a few little details that sometimes might get overlooked. Or we might kind of not focus on.

So I hope you guys enjoyed it. Let me know if you did in the comments. And I'll see you in my next video.