Sebastian Brosche · 12 min · 1,595 words
Previously titled: 10 for 30 Cooldown Video 30 - Hamstrings
Hey everyone, welcome back. Let's cool down stretching our hamstrings. Make sure you slow your breath down, make sure you grab your belt, just so we can help stretch the hamstrings to begin with. And let's get straight to it.
So lay down on your back, right foot up in the air and then just loop your belt around the ball of your right foot. Start off with a little bend in your leg, especially if you've just been sat down a lot or driving back from training. And just start to slow your breath down. And everything else, let that sink into the mat.
So if you've reached out to grab your belt and you're hanging off it, just let your head, let the backs of your shoulders just rest in the mat. And even if you want to rest your grip, you can just wrap the belt around your hands so you don't have to do much. Good, keep breathing here. And just notice how you feel cooling down now from the first session you did and how these classes have helped you make yourself more flexible or you've increased some ability for your jiu-jitsu or you feel a bit better at work.
Whatever it is, just appreciate that and just keep noticing that's from your hard work and your ability to get up, put the website or app on and just stretch. Just taking a few minutes a day or a week to work on yourself is going to pay off and you need to recognise that so that you can keep going. Good, take two more breaths here. And the more you recognise that, the more you'll appreciate it and the more you'll add it to your life and make it a habit.
Drive the left foot away a little more, straighten it a bit more. So fire up the left quads just to feel a nice stretch in your hip as well. Two breaths. Good, ease off all of that and now left side.
So left foot replaces the right. Slowly drag your right foot away. It's going to feel quite tight to begin with compared to the other side. And breathe.
I love stretching my hamstrings, I love working on my flexibility but I think the times I notice I need yoga the most is when I haven't been doing it. So if you stop now, if you think, I've done the programme, whatever, then in a couple of weeks you'll probably realise if you carried on you'd keep progressing. So try and, I recommend to do it, it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing.
I think it's a good thing. I think you're progressing. So try and, I recommend doing this programme again. You can really feel each class again.
You'll remember things, you'll remember what's next or little things that you've picked up along the way and that's going to help you progress. Keep breathing here, drive the right foot away. So don't just think I've completed a programme, I'm done now. Do each programme you do a few times just to see how you feel.
It's like an armbar, you wouldn't just drill an armbar in one class and go ah I can do it now, easy. I mean if you've done that and you're doing well with armbars then well done. But most of us need a lot of reps, a lot of time, practising it and it's the same with this. It's how you better yourself, it's just consistency over time.
Good, okay. Let go of the belt now. Just put that next to you, wherever, on the side and sit yourself up. Okay, drive the right foot out in front of you and let the left knee open out to the side.
Okay, if for this stretch, if you need to start off with your knee bent a little bit that's fine. Okay, so whatever a stretch is for you here, find that hamstring stretch and we'll just face that foot and now hinge at the hips towards that. And wherever you get to, where you like, that's enough for the hamstring. Then let yourself come down and just feel a nice stretch here.
Okay, I'm going to keep my head up just so that I'm not screaming into the microphone but if you drop the top of your head down as well, that's just going to feel like even more of a stretch and that's going to really just help you cool down and rest. Okay, so we're just resting into the stretch. What we're not doing is this big pull into it and getting everything fired up again. This is just like a nice chill.
And see how your hamstrings feel here. So is this how they felt on day one or do they feel a bit more open or are you a bit more comfortable or confident in these stretches? It's so important to just look at that and just notice something that you've picked up along the way and be like, that's because I've been doing this class, you know, no one else. All right, that's because I've been doing this class, you know, no one else.
All right, that's because you're taking the time to just say to yourself, you know, I've been doing these classes and this is why I've improved. No one else. Good. Okay, let's go left side with that now.
So sit up, left foot away, bend the right knee, bring it down. And now, so facing that, hinge at the hips. Then when you feel that stretch, everything else can come down and again, drop your heads if you're happy. And just see how that feels for a few breaths.
Good. Okay, see yourself back up now. So we're going to go right side again, but we're going to go super shallow this time and see how that feels. Okay, so left knee bend in, doesn't matter too much how much you bend that in, or you can have that away from you, whatever you're comfortable with.
Okay, the main thing is you're bending the right knee here and you're bringing your chest and your ribs and everything onto that top of your leg. Okay, and now start to drive your heel away. Okay, and wherever you get to here, when your body starts to come away from your leg, just reverse a little bit and just feel that stretch coming on a different way. So it might be a bit more lower back or a bit more on your chest, but try and keep your body on top of your leg the whole way down.
All right, wherever you are, even if you've moved an inch from where we started, just feel that and feel that stretch. So it's not all going to be hamstrings, it'll probably be a little bit of lower back as well. But that all helps us when we work on inverting and when people stack us and things. It is lower back as well, so we do need to stretch that out.
And you can rest your head down as well and just see where you get to here. Good, one more inhale, exhale, bring yourself back up. Okay, let's go left side now. Okay, so bend the right knee out or have the right leg out, the main thing is we're stretching this side.
Okay, so bend the left up and then feel your ribs, your chest and everything on here and then either hold your shin or your foot and just start to stretch the left heel away from you. But keep down the front side on the top of your leg here. Good, breathe here, breathe into this. Remember we're cooling down.
Okay, one more inhale, last exhale. Now bring yourself back up now. Okay, we've just done a lot of forward folding, so we'll just do a quick couple of pigeon poses or 1990. So either choose what you're more comfortable with, so either 1990 with the right leg forwards or come back to pigeon.
Just open out the hip on the left side or the front of the hip on the left side in this pigeon pose. Good, now go left side. Okay, so again we're doing either 1990 if you're comfortable in that or pigeon just to open out the hip on the right. Good, slowly ease off that.
Okay, and now we'll go for both legs. So just bend your knees, hinge at the hips forwards and then just into a forward fold here, whatever you're comfortable with here. Okay, just folding forwards, feel that hamstring stretch, feel that lower back stretch. If you're like this, okay, just folding here or upright as long as you can feel that stretch.
That is what we're going for as I've said. Just fold forwards, try and relax here. We'll take five deep breaths here. Last inhale.
Okay, so come back up. Good. Sit yourself cross-legged and that is it for today's class, okay. So you've got to the end, massive well done and thank you for giving this programme and me your time to try something, something new, a bit of a challenge.
I really appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed it. I'll see you next time. Good.
And you can just carry on with whatever you're going to do now. Okay, thanks for watching guys and I will see you on the website and in the next video.
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