Guard Maintenance with Belt: Hip & Hamstring Stretches

If you want a back bend, a bit of a back bend you can prop up on the hands but I want you to find where you're comfortable. There's so many ways to do this pose I want you to find the way that works for you. I'm going to be on my elbows and you can even grab a blanket, your pillow, or your hands. Use your hands to prop your head down use your hands to prop your head down stretching the outside of the hip and if you think of the the guard the inside of the hips are the adductors and they are it's a nice little set of pretty strong muscles so they do they do get tight but there's there's a lot of muscles that can do a lot of work however the outside of the hip does not have a ton of muscles that pull the hip open there's not a ton of muscles there and there's the the tfl and some of the other it's more connective the connective it's not a muscle but it runs on the outside so those get tight when especially when the the muscles on the outside of the leg get tight the muscles on the side of the leg get tight because there isn't a ton of them and we demand a lot from them in jiu-jitsu.

Last time you had your knee shield I'm on my back in jiu-jitsu I have my knee shield up it's outside of the hip that's pulling the hip open to keep them from collapsing my knee shield so it's asking them to do a lot and think of other positions where you're lifting that leg and you're using it in the guard that's actually how I do my scissor sweep is I'll do it almost from the knee shield to keep them from collapsing me I don't bring the shin across the hips with scissor sweep I keep it up so that I can also use as a knee shield and I'll push them over so there's a ton of work that happens with outside of those hips and those little guys are doing a lot of work so today's main focus is stretching outside of the hips for that guard there's so much to the guard but today's main focus is stretching that along with obviously the hamstrings are used in the guard too we'll talk about those next we'll talk about those hamstrings next when they're there in relation to the guard just take 30 seconds and bring the awareness to how the outside of that hip feels it's okay if you're losing circulation a little bit that happens sometimes in the in the slower poses if your foot's completely numb then you need to move it then we got some issues post on the hands to make sure your belt is if it is close by great if not we'll grab it in a second but post on the hands and we just stretched our right leg so swing that right leg straight there we go the left leg can be anywhere on the inside of the the knee maybe on the inside of the quad and it's nice to have your belt but if you don't it's not it's not the end of the world you'll still be okay but it's nice to have it loop the belt around the ball of the foot and stay in here for three minutes again so the the belt's around the ball of the foot and i like the ball of the foot instead of the middle of the foot because when i do the ball of the foot it actually stretches the calf a little bit too you don't want to leave that calf out it gets upset so get comfortable and once you are find a comfortable relaxed grip with the hands allow the back to round allow the back to round forward because we are doing a few things here obviously stretching the hamstrings and releasing the lower back then we have a small hip opener on this side too there's a lot going on and stretching is not like jujitsu in the like in jujitsu like you got to be moving you got to be moving you got to be doing stuff it has to be intense to feel accomplished that's that's kind of what i feel like but in yoga even if it is even if it's kind of intense or if you feel like you're not doing a ton maybe we're at 50 60 percent right now in this pose and that is enough because we are using time to release i never thought that i could be lazy and allow never thought i could be lazy and it would still be doing something we're pretty lazy here just chilling so stretching we're stretching three things you know probably more too but the hamstrings the legs are bent while i have someone in my guard close guard open guard legs are bent need to counter that by stretching the hamstring by straightening it so last minute i want you to close your eyes and like the traditional yogis say melt into the floor don't do that that's impossible but just relax the back relax the back relax the legs just be aware of where you are feeling the stretch release it's okay if it's not intense not everything in life has to be intense i thought everything had to be intense to get results but it doesn't it's there's wisdom of 2020 taking your belt put it to the side and place the hands behind you to almost straighten the torso straighten the torso small small just gentle back bend before i move to the other side all right this time the left leg comes forward and the left leg needs to be the left knee needs to be pretty much in the center of the chest somewhere there kind of falling to the left side not all the way over obviously but kind of falling to the left side elbows are on the ground and your back foot you can have it bent or if you want to walk it out more so it's straight for more intensity you can do that too i'm going to have it a little bit bent taking three minutes here sometimes you need to fidget just a little bit to to find the comfortable spot in the pose and take your pillow which are your hands or whatever you have around and these poses you can definitely even hold for for five minutes if you feel like you don't like people and just want to be all alone and it's maybe in the morning or before you go to bed or you're just tired you can jump on the mat and do each of these poses for three minutes like we are or maybe even five in our next two minutes bring awareness to where you feel the stretch bring awareness to where you feel the stretch outside of the hip maybe the back leg feels it if your back leg is bent it is a small hip opener so maybe you feel that the back leg is straight you will be stretching the front of the hip so just be aware of where you feel it and consciously try to become heavier never thought we'd hear that we're always trying to lose weight and get more fit most of us anyway some people are naturally skinny because they have high metabolism i'm very jealous of them so just be aware of where you feel the stretch and try to get heavier one more minute so so taking your last your last breath take your deepest breath posting on the hands gently gently coming up making sure your belt is close by we just stretched the left leg so bring the left leg forward and the right leg the right foot can be anywhere on the inside of the left leg and taking your jitsu belt loop it around the ball of the left foot and settle in so grabbing the belt allow the back to round and the intensity should honestly be like 70 just even 70 i don't want it to be 100 if you don't have a belt that's okay you'll just you'll just chill hands here still gravity will still do the work for you three minutes so if you start thinking of a million other things like i always do bring the awareness back to the stretch and where you feel it in your body and how take a deep breath in how when you exhale you can release just a little bit more i think the rest of life can wait just a few more minutes while we focus on the mat so it's not very often that so i really like about about these slower stretches not very often where i consciously connect to what's going on in my body and sometimes i realize damn i sure beat it up in jitsu other times in quarantine i'm like damn i sure didn't do anything today i'm really stiff but either way it allows me to do a check-in and i'm really stiff but either way it allows me to do a check-in which is crazy don't do it very often because we live in our body but it's just life gets life is crazy in the last minute take that check-in you Last deep breath. The belt to the side, we do not need it anymore. Plant the hands behind you. Both feet on the ground, windshield wipe left and right.

And for our last one, all the way on your back, only about a minute on each side. Knees over the hips. Bring the knees to the left side and reach the right arm up. Pull it behind you.

If it feels better to have some movement, a little bit of movement in the right arm, and go right ahead. This is a nice opener for the chest because again in the guard, when we have someone in our guard, the shoulders are forward, we're hunched in in a permanent crunch. So we need to counter that. One more breath.

Knees to center. I like to bring the knees over the hips and drop them. So this time to the right side or the other side, left arm up, pull it behind you. And if it feels good to have just some movement to find a spot that feels good to hold it there, go ahead and do that.

I'm a little bit tighter here and I had to move to find that. So keep it there. Take in your last three breaths really deep. Deep inhale, exhale, have everything out.

Inhale. Last one. Feet on the ground. Bring the hips back to a normal position.

Walk the feet further than the hips. Bring the knees in and closing the eyes. Take a few just a few seconds to recognize how good the hips feel, how good the legs feel after stretching the outside, stretching the hamstrings and a small stretch to open those shoulders and torso. Doing the work is recognizing the work we did.

It's almost as important as doing the work, allowing it to sit in the body just for a second before we go about our day. Go ahead and stay here if this feels good. If you're working within those 20 minutes, roll to your favorite side, push off the ground, sit up, and thank you for joining me for class today.