Hamstring Strain Rehab for BJJ | Part 1 (12 min)

I can make that step as small or as large as I need to based on how severe the injury is. I'm going to switch legs. So I'm going to do this on both sides. And I'm going to go back to balancing on that right leg.

So with all of these, I'm aiming for a point where it's maybe a little bit uncomfortable, but it's not really painful. I also want to use these exercises in conjunction with ice and elevation. So to help with any inflammation in the area. So once I've finished this program, I can go and lie down, put my foot on a chair to elevate it and apply an ice pack.

And then final time, just going to balance on that leg again. If this starts to become easy, I can think of various ways to make it harder. I can move this other leg around or I can stand on a pillow or something. But let's say I'm having to work harder to keep that balance.

But for most people in the very early stages, this is enough. I'm just going to step forwards, backwards. So if I can, I can start making those steps a little bit bigger, but I'm not going to push it beyond what's comfortable at this stage. I'm going to grab my jujitsu belt and I'm going to lie down.

So what I want to do here is I want to loop the belt behind my knee. So again, I want to point, there's not too painful. So I'm not pressing into the painful spot. If there's some tender areas, I'm just going to hold my knee there and I want to push into the belt.

So I'm just engaging the hamstring muscles. Again, I only push up to the point where it starts to become a little bit uncomfortable. I'm just going to hold that. Again, if you find that it starts getting more uncomfortable as you hold it, feel free to cut the set short.

So if the pain starts to increase, then stop there, have a rest and we'll do another set in a minute. All right. Just go back to it. So again, just gently pushing into that belt.

You can push as hard as you can comfortably, but no more. And just rest there. Just bending and straightening the leg a few times. And then one more.

And rest there. So as I said before, those are good exercises to repeat several times a day in the early stages. From there, I drop the belt to one side and roll onto my stomach. And then I'm going to keep my hips down and I'm just going to bend and straighten that leg.

So nice and slowly, just take it as far as I can comfortably and back. And back. As I said before, a little bit of mild discomfort is okay, but you don't really want it to be more than that. So if it's really painful, you can make the movement smaller.

You may even just, you know, just engaging the hamstrings, just keeping it really small. That's fine if you need to. And just rest there. Come up onto all fours.

We're going to do the bird dog exercise. So I'm just going to straighten the leg from the hip and bring it back in. So I'm only taking it as far as I can comfortably. I'm going to do this one on both sides.

So if I can't get the leg all the way straight, that's absolutely fine. If I can, I'll take it all the way out to here. If I can, I'll take it all the way out to here, but I don't want that to be particularly painful. And we're going to lie down.

We're going to do the same bending and straightening. If this feels really easy, you can add an ankle weight to make it a little bit harder. I wouldn't advise that in the early stages after an injury, but it's something that you can do as things start to feel stronger. And then coming up onto all fours.

And once again, remember that you can make that movement as small as you need to. So if that's as far as you can get before it gets painful, that's fine. And rest there. That's as much as we're going to do today.

As I said before, I recommend coming back to this and doing a set of those exercises a couple of times a day in those early stages as things start to settle down. Do use that in conjunction with ice and with general movement. And then we'll see you back here once things have started to settle for day two and we're going to get more advanced.