Guard Maintenance Part 2: New Year Q&A & Knee Recovery

So I didn't realize, I think everyone has anger issues now. I get so many messages, none of us knew we had anger issues until we could stop training jujitsu. Then we're like, ah I didn't even know I had anger issues. And I'm like, well maybe that's just human nature because we're not training.

Maybe that's why we do it. So send me over any questions you have related to yoga, related to stretching, connecting jujitsu to yoga. Maybe send me over your favorite technique, your favorite position and I can help you with a stretch that would improve that position. Yes, improving stretches, improving jujitsu off the mat.

I actually have found that the stretching really did help me with that. So send anything over, jump on our website, see some of the challenges that we have. Some really, really great challenges. I know I'm going to be doing a few and I found that I'm like, why is it in the new year?

It's like, okay I'm going to start this. You know, it's like this new year is the same day as any other day but I think that people like to, like a challenge because it's like a fresh start. You know, the new year is like a fresh start to reach a goal, to work on something new, to improve themselves in some way. And it's really needed this year, especially with everything that happened in 2020.

I feel like a lot of us have, I don't want to say fallen off the bandwagon just because it's been a hard year. Everything has fallen off the bandwagon. So I feel like especially after 2020, it will be a really nice reset, a really nice start moving into 2021 to start the year right, to start it better. It's like, okay, what are my goals?

And maybe shoot some goals into, shoot some goals in the messages. Any advice on a broken rib? I'm 6 feet 159. Oh man, so you are training.

Broken ribs do take time. Like that, I feel bad for you, that sucks. I have broken ribs, it's really hard. They do take time and it happened on Wednesday and today in Canada is Saturday, yeah Saturday.

And I recommend, yeah you have given a little bit of time so it's probably feeling pretty sore because it takes a couple days to start like swelling up and really feeling it. Jump into our rehab program. So we have our rehab with Rosie and there is one with ribs in there. It might be a little bit too early with the broken rib.

Yeah, crushing injury during take down. Did they get the take down? No, I'm just kidding, that's a joke. Usually if someone is getting injured you're like, oh man, that hurts.

So jump into our rehab and see if that helps. I'm worried that you're, have you already seen like a doctor or something like that with, you know what, there's really not a lot you can do with the ribs. Like if you know it's only the rib that's cracked then it just it really needs time. And I also recommend jumping into our rehab section of the website.

See if you can do that with Rosie. If not, give it some more time before you do with Rosie but at least then you'll have an idea of what Rosie can work with you on. And the other thing is, so sound kind of crazy, but being injured to eat really healthy and yeah, doctor diagnosed us. Yeah.

So give it some time. How long do the doctors say? It's probably not even like just time off, right? Like the rehab with Rosie will be probably at the end of your time off to get you back on the mats.

And eat really healthy. Drink a lot of water and I know it sounds crazy because it's like I'm injured, I can eat crap and drink and all this, but when I had my, a couple surgeries from my hip and my knee, I actually started eating really healthy and people were like what are you doing? You know, because I'm like I can't train anyway might as well eat crap. No, I ate really healthy and of course what we put in our body helps us heal, helps us get better, helps us, so you know, yeah, see you got a takedown, he scrambled using weight to reverse line on my back.

Yeah, that, I'm sorry, that sucks. So it's really good you went to the doctor to get that diagnosed. That's the most important thing. So it's really good that you did that and your next step is just to eat a super healthy, drink a lot of water.

And I also recommend, maybe you can find some stuff you can do on your back with the yoga because there's things that are even like you wouldn't think so, but you can still do yoga. Like there's one of my favorite stretches, obviously when you hurt your rib even moving hurts, but what about like working, stretching the hamstrings, like just take a sit and just go here, like obviously anything you do moving the rib is going to hurt, but what about just staying here for five minutes? That obviously will stretch the hamstrings, but also it stretches the lower back and we actually carry a lot of tension in our lower back because that's what carries our entire core. So try this, like one leg forward and then the other leg, and obviously this even feels good as I'm doing it right now, and then the other leg.

So using this time to eat really healthy, drink a lot of water and find stretches that you can do. So I recommend that with the hamstrings. So when you do get back on the mats, you're like a secret beast. You're like a secret hidden beast.

Alright, I had another question here. So I hope you feel better soon and this maybe it's a blessing in disguise, it'll make you into a savage. You'll start eating healthy and work on all that. Okay, so I think it's Eddie, Edie.

Knee was rolled on by a bigger person when they got a sweep. Is it scissor sweep? I guess it's scissor sweep. I have a tight knee, so they were getting a sweep and your knee was rolled over.

I have a tight knee, I'm not able to straighten it. It feels like it's going to snap. I'm sure it won't. No, it probably won't.

A tight knee, so is it Eddie? I'm sorry if I'm saying your name wrong, Eddie or Edie? I think it's Edie. Is it that your knee is tight the inside of the knee or the outside of the knee, the front of the knee, the back of the knee?

Like where is it tight on the knee? And I'd also like to know what type of sweep it was. So then we can dig a little bit deeper into it. It's almost like Sherlock Holmes.

It sounds like everybody getting back on the mat from these messages is like, so ready to go. You know, I have some of the broken ribs from a takedown, some of them sweep. It's on the inside of the knee. So the center inside, and which sweep was it?

I'm so curious. I'm like, what's going on in the outside world, outside of this filming studio? Oh, it's quite attached to yoga. All right, so yeah, keep sending the questions over.

We have a couple more minutes. I am really, really excited about my class coming up in just a few minutes. And I'll tell you guys a secret, only today, only this class, only one time it's free. So you can jump on the website, Yoga4Jujitsu.net and this one class is free.

It is meant for people that are power houses, people that are really big, you know, like really big guys or really big girls that are just really strong power houses but not flexible. And even people that are just strong, like you know, people that do a lot of weights are just strong, or simply if you've never done a day of yoga in your life. So it is a very simple class. It is a really simple, strong, nice class, only 20 minutes long.

And the neat thing, the focus point of this class is it moves through the spine. So we, with the spine, I'll put you down here, I'll put all my friends down, there we go. So with the spine, it has different movements, it has different movements. Quite often we're rounded forward and this isn't bad, it's just our life.

It's just our life, right? Where, let me read this comment, oh yeah, it's just our life. Our eyes are forward, so we're looking forward in everything we do. And even the way the spine is created, it's rounded forward.

And that's like, it's designed to be forward. So that's not wrong, it's just our life. But an excessive amount of rounding forward obviously isn't good. We need to balance that because the spine is meant to move, obviously.

We can move in these ranges of motion so it's meant to move. Today's class, coming up in just a few minutes, is we actually do start ironically enough with a forward round here and then straightening the spine. Maybe rounding it back, a small arch, like that just feels so good. So flexion of the spine, extension, we go through twists, we go through circles here with the upper body.

Another one that's really, really interesting is this is my new favorite stretch. Sitting cross-legged, you can even do it standing, you can do it on your back. This is my new favorite stretch. Taking your favorite hand, usually the right hand, reaching it up and over.

And it seems insignificant, but why does it feel so good? And the reason is, it's obviously stretching through the side body and so often we're here with our elbows beside us. You know, most of the time, depending on what you do for work and stuff. But reaching up and over, not only is this good for the side body, stretching through the side, the lats, all here, it's also really good for the lower back, the lower back on the right side.

You re-associate lower back pain so much with maybe the front of the body being tight, maybe the pelvis, but this is also the lower back on the right side, which I find fascinating. So that's why this feels so good, one of the reasons. Then, what is my spine doing? Instead of being just rounded forward, this is also side bending one of the movements of the spine.

I feel like I need to do the other side to balance myself out. But even if you're just sitting, such a simple thing is doing such great stuff. And if we think of jujitsu, the question is, I was going to say, what are we doing in jujitsu? It's like we're doing everything with jujitsu.

We're moving, we're moving with the twisting, we're side bending, we're arching forward in our bridges and our bumps, we're rounding forward, cross passing guard or holding guard, we're side bending, reaching for stuff. It's just a hurricane, it's just crazy in jujitsu. So why wouldn't I take care of my spine better outside of jujitsu to make me better on the mats? So it's some really, really cool stuff.

And that's our class for today. I am moving through a really simple, I call it a simple strong class, 20 minutes of some nice gentle stretches for the spine. Or simply if you just want to get moving, then you can do that. So I call it the yoga for boulders as a joke.

Like Sebastian made the most incredible series, the yoga for rocks, just an incredible series. That's actually the first one I moved through when I started yoga for jujitsu. And this one is for people that are even more stiff. It was actually inspired by one of my teacher trainings.

He's just graduating tomorrow. Scott, and he's a big guy, he's a black belt in jujitsu, he owns an academy, and he's just a powerhouse. And he's like, you know, he loves yoga, but he's like it'd be so cool to have a class where I can do like everything. And I'm like yeah.

I'm talking about my other friends. He's one of my training partners. And he's like yeah, but he does a lot of weights, like almost not crossfit, but gives you an idea of how much weights he does. And he's like it'd be cool to have something where I'm just stiff as hell and be able just to move and breathe and feel good.

So that's our class today that will be up in just a few moments on yogaforbjj.net. So we have about two more minutes before I need to set up for my live class. Send me any questions or a few more waves. Waves are the best.

They make me feel excited. So send any more questions or waves. Oh yeah, Eddie didn't answer me, that's okay. Otherwise, I look forward to moving through a class with you and it's on yogaforbjj.net.

That's where it is. Jump on there. Jump on today's date, January 2nd and you'll see the yoga for boulders spine. Alright everybody, super fun hanging out with you and I will see you in my live class.

Yeah, thank you. We'll talk to you soon.