Hamstring Stretches: 11-Min Lizard Lunge Flow for BJJ (No Time)

So if you have back pain, it could be a lot of elements, but it could be hamstrings. It might even be weak, but I have different videos for hamstring exercises strengthen. But also it can affect the knees because it can start to pull. So if you have knee pain, who knows?

And I'm not a doctor, I'm a black belt in yoga, but a black belt in yoga, black belt in jitsu and I teach yoga. But those are just some things to think about. Other side, so right foot on the ground, left leg. Bend and extend that leg a few times, checking in.

What this also does is taps into the nervous system, allowing the nervous system to know that it's okay to release because actually Bernie Clark is a really good author for yoga books. He has a Yen yoga book, which is good. He has a really good one on the spine. He has a lot of good books.

So this is a concept from him of what holds me back. And it can be compression. So it could be now go ahead and straighten the leg or almost straighten it if there's more tension there. What holds me back?

It could be bones, bone on bone stretch that could hold you back. It could be compression. So muscle on muscle or tissue on tissue. But another thing, and I won't go into all the details of that, maybe one day, but another thing will hold you back is the nervous system.

If the nervous system is tense, it can be an element that holds you back. So part of the reason why I'm doing this is to allow the nervous system to release. It's actually really interesting. So I've got lots of little secrets in here.

There's a reason why I do everything. I do, because I like to be efficient and you're doing a 10 minute video, so you like to be efficient too. And I respect that. So I'm gonna make the video efficient.

Having said that, we're all done with the hamstring stretch. So put the belt to the side. And then you're gonna do the same thing. Put the belt to the side.

Find your way to low lunge. So not low lunge, sorry, lizard lunge. So hands on the ground. Lift the back knee.

You've probably seen this a few times in this series. This one never gets old. You'll probably be doing that the rest of your life. It's like flossing in our teeth.

Now lower the back knee. Walk the hands towards the hips to straighten. And you know what? I say straighten or almost straighten that front leg because sometimes there's so much tension in the hamstrings.

You can't straighten the front leg and that's okay. Stay here, but I wanna offer you the option. If you have blocks kicking around, usually they're black, but especially if orange ones, I have orange ones so you can see even better. Blocks can be nice because they'll bring the ground to you.

So if you have a pair of these kicking around or if you see them on sale or something like that, you know, you can get them. I use them in a lot of my videos, especially my foundational flows. So I like with the blocks up, it allows the spine to be a bit more straight and then that will affect the hamstring in a different way. You don't need it.

It's just nice if you wanna have it. So from here, I know that you can always, I actually recommend it if you want. You can always press pause on the video and move through the lizard to hamstring stretch a few times. So we're stretching the front of the hip and the lizard and the back of the hip and the hamstring to work on both sides because that'll affect both sides of the pelvis, which all affects the hips, which affects the hamstrings, all connected.

Now from here, left foot to the outside of the left leg, tuck the back toes to lift that back knee and engage the back quad. So engaging the back quad allows the hip to lower so you get more of a stretch of the hip instead of just allowing the knee to lower. You can try, you can try it, right? Try lowering the knee, engage the quad to lower the hip.

Notice the difference. And from here, lower the back knee, walk the hands back. And I'm gonna use my really fluorescent blocks. Know that you can, but you don't have to.

You have a high level on the blocks, which is nice, a lower level and a lowest level, but it's just an extension of the arms. So you see how I have a frame of my wrist, my elbow, my shoulder, it's a structure. You don't wanna be having the block out here. Sometimes you'll see that I'm teaching you to get the studio and I'm like, that's as uncomfortable as it looks.

So that can be enough or you can press pause for just a moment and move between your lizard and your hamstring. So I offer you that option, but again, if you only have 10 minutes today, then follow me along. Don't press pause. On your hands and knees, come all the way to the ground, elbows under the shoulders for Sphinx.

And if this is too much, walk the arms out, forward a little bit. Yeah, so I've offered a really nice gentle back bend because again, that's connected to the hips, connected to the hamstrings. And this is a really nice counter to the jiu-jitsu because I want to, in each session, make your entire body feel really good, not just that one body part. It's experience of knowing what to do with the bigger picture too with the rest of the body.

So from here, using only your hands, find your turtle. Okay, here we go. Next set, this is really cool. Right foot forward for your low lunge, tuck the back toes, come all the way up to a stand.

Front leg is straight, step the back forward, foot forward until the entire foot's on the ground. So both feet are straight and they're shoulder width apart. They're not in a line. If they're in a line, you'll fall over and you'll know because you'll be off balance.

Lift the arms up, create length through the spine. Now with that long spine, reach towards the front of your mat, the front of the broom. And we can't reach anymore, come all the way down. You'll probably need to bend that front knee until the hands go to the ground.

And I want to offer you again, the option of the blocks can be nice because I can put my hands on the blocks if I can't quite reach down and it's just more comfortable. So I'm just giving you a tool. You don't need it and you can use anything. If you have books, you can use two books, why not?

Same shape as this, use a pot from the kitchen and then go make your lunch after. Whatever you like, just get creative. Blankets are okay, they have some compression, but just get creative. There's no rule you have to use foam blocks.

I actually have pieces of wood that I use at home that I really like. Okay, so that's enough of that. Bend that front knee, come all the way down. Left knee on the ground, come up.

Other side. So left foot forward, all the way to a stand. Bring the back foot forward just enough to tire the foot on the ground. Feet shoulder width apart.

Create length with the torso. Make yourself as tall as possible and reach towards the front of the room or the front of the mat, whatever you wanna call it. Down we go. Front knee will probably need to bend so hands can be on the ground or blocks or the front leg can be bent to the ground.

All I'm looking for is a stretch through the back of that front leg. Now having said this, I wanted you to try this, but if you absolutely hate this, if it's too much for you, if it's uncomfortable, that's okay, there's always a different way to do things. So you can go back to the stretch we did before. So stay where you are, I just wanna give you options.

You can go back to this stretch that we did before. There's nothing wrong with that, that's just different. So I just wanna offer you different tools that you could use to find what you like. And that's where different styles of yoga come from, right?

And that's where you find instructor you resonate with, oh, I like what they do, because I resonate with that. That feels good in my body. And I teach this because it feels really good in my body, but it feels really intense. So bend that front knee, back down.

Come down to a sit, there we are. So sit on the ground, actually sit on the ground, hands behind you and shake those legs out a little bit. Notice how good that feels, eh? Eh, my Canadian, Canadian talk.

Thank you for joining me, thank you for putting the work in, your hamstrings, all, you actually have six hamstrings, each in groups of three, they all say thank you. All right, we'll see you next time.