Hip Mobility Fun Flow for BJJ: 29-Min Drills

Ok if you're ready you can lift your hands off the floor and just try and sit up nice and straight. I'm going to bring my hands together either in a prayer shape or just palm to palm and just push my elbows so that my knees are opening out. I'm trying to sit with a straight back here just even deeper into that squat. And this is always nice when I'm stretching my hips or even before jujitsu just sitting in a squat for a minute or two always feels good whenever you do it and the more you do it the better it's going to feel as well.

Such a natural pose that we rarely sit in these days. Good well done. Ok if you're not on your hands come down to your hands and then just cross your shins and sit down on your bum here. Ok maybe wiggle about move the chest and shoulders around a little bit just some natural movements.

Ok now bring the feet together and open the knees out. Alright start off with your feet far away and just relax the knees just see how that is and then slowly drag your feet in. Hold your feet again sitting up nice and proud nice and straight and let the knees open out here. So obviously mobility works always good moving around and things but you just need to check in sometimes give everything a couple of minutes to stretch particularly if you've been sat down all day or sat down for an hour or so in the car or maybe you've been asleep and you've just been laying there all night.

It's just good to get on the mat and as I said at the start explore a bit. Ok bring the heels in a bit more if you're comfortable there sitting up nice and straight and now I'm just going to make my left knee heavy and my right knee I'm lifting up. So you'll feel a little pinch just like actually just activating the hip to lift that up that's fine. Now drop the right knee lift the left and just breathe in with this just alternating sides.

If you start to feel your hips open you can bring your heels a little closer as well and just play around here and I'm still trying to sit up straight I'm not kind of hunching forwards here doing this. Nice and proud chest shoulders back. Ok just let both knees drop now just let go of them let them relax open if you need to drag your feet away that's fine and now we'll do the same with the shoulders so I'm just going to drop my left shoulder lift my right just make a bit of space on the right side now same with my right shoulder so drop the right shoulder lift the left shoulder and from side to side and this can be as slow or as quick as you want it you don't have to mirror me. Now we'll do the same with the chest so I'm just opening my chest forward shoulders back looking up then I'm going to look down my chest is going to go through my back I'm just going to fold forwards like this and back up and fold just do that a few times.

Now I'm going to do the same with the other side I'm going to do the just really relaxing the knees letting everything open out. Good. Now let's come back up to that squat and all we want to do from this squat is bring our weight forwards into our hands again and now I'm going to step to the left side of my mat calm down onto this knee but weight in my hands and I'm just going to extend my right foot out. Keeping the leg bent for now because we've not really done much on the hamstrings yet all I'm going to do is with some weight in my hands again just slowly start to straighten that leg a little more and then bend and then straighten and bend.

If you're back here doing this that's fine it's just enough to get a bit of a hamstring stretch whatever that is for you. Just do about ten as you move maybe go a little heavier on that left heel just sitting back a little more maybe. Just a little bit more. Now I'm going to do the same with the other side.

Straighten both legs come up and then send the right knee over to the right come down again you can bring that left heel in a bit if you're feeling tight and just bend and straighten a little bit or if you want to straighten out even more again we'll bend and straighten. You can start to sit that weight back into the right heel as well if that feels right or if you're up here that's good too. Just work within your range not what you think you should be doing today as long as you can feel a stretch in the left hamstring you're doing it. A couple more keep that breath nice and slow nice and controlled okay straighten both legs a bit of weight in your hands walk your hands over to the left and now we'll focus on sitting back into that left heel.

Okay again if the leg's bent keep it bent or if you want to straighten it a little bit go for it. All I'm doing is I'm either moving my hands forward and then leaning back a bit just to counter that weight or you can sit up and start to sit back a little but my goal here is to get my left heel down towards the mat and just sitting comfortably here. Alright if you want to lift your hands up and try and balance there you can do that or if you're here just feeling that stretch you're doing it too. Okay so I'm going to do the same thing again.

I'm just going to do a couple of deep breaths here just kind of getting used to this and just giving your body a second or two to just feel this pose. Okay weight forwards now into your hands bring yourself up walk yourself over to the right and again sitting down nice and slow see how this feels wherever you are. Keep some weight in your hands maybe walk your hands forwards and start to sit back whatever feels good whatever brings a stretch on and just try and imagine that right heel just setting itself down on the mat. Try and keep some balance here and just keep that right knee going out to the right for now.

As long as you can breathe comfortably in the pose as long as your knee is okay it should be good. Okay weight back in your hands so lean forwards a little bit. Let's come up. Okay and now my hands are in the middle here my legs are nice and straight maybe a bit bent if you need to and then just kind of wiggle about a bit see how everything feels just some natural movements maybe move the back around a bit shoulders okay just check in.

Okay now we'll go from left to right a little bit and then we'll add to that as we go. Okay so walk the hands over to the left let's come down maybe bend the knee maybe straighten the leg whatever you're comfortable with sit back onto that left heel good let's come forwards back up into the middle over to the right sit down sit back onto the heel okay. Let's keep going with that at your own speed again looking after everything on the way and not rushing it. I'd rather you be up here and just testing what your body can do then forcing into something and hurting your knees and potentially taking time off jujitsu we're obviously doing this to improve ourselves and get better so just look after yourself.

If this is your first time just use this as a guide instead of forcing into things. Good so the goal is as you get a bit deeper maybe have a little less weight in your hands as you're going forwards and back and up and over just you're just lightly touching the mat and sitting back then coming back up and over. So even if you're not confident with that yet you can come up just a little bit of weight see how that is slowly down see what happens maybe hand back cool back up over slowly down maybe you don't want to fall back so hand behind you okay just see what works for you and just use this drill to really open out the hips and move. One more each side and then we'll add to that see how we get on.

Okay I'm going to finish on the left side now okay from that position I'm going to finish on the left side and then see how I get on with just some rotation so what I'm doing here is I'm going to sit back okay and if you want to bend your knee and sit back that's fine or if you want a nice straight leg and still sit on that foot that's fine too. So all I'm going to do from here is my right hand so it's my right leg out on my right hand back and then I'm just going to turn to face my right foot and see how low I can get this knee okay if we get to here and the knee starts hurting this isn't for you just stay where you are or see if you can just touch that knee down on the floor looking towards that foot maybe for the stretch in the hip bit of a hip opener and lift that knee up okay then let's go back forwards up and over to the other side okay again maybe you're up like this bent and you're just sitting back and then leaning back see if you can touch that knee on the floor again if your knee starts to hurt with this that's fine you just need a few hip openers and then you can come back to this okay if that hurts just stay where you were the pose before and then catch up when you're ready and your knee isn't going to kind of give you any jit for doing this. Good so let's see how we get on moving from side to side maybe drop the knee using the hands if you need to come back up over to the other side sitting back good drop that knee maybe touch the mat come back up see if you can lean yourself forwards pushing up and over really good okay sitting down just keep looking after everything here and not pushing too much okay it's a mobility drill it's not something we're forcing good let's come up back up into the middle and again just shake off and check in okay sit down now again back with cross legs okay next drill we're going to just do some windshield wipers and we're going to keep adding to that all right so start off sitting back with your hands behind you bring your heels in and then see if you can go from this hands behind you to sitting forwards obviously this is much harder a bit more core a bit more balance if you need to keep your hands behind you again that's fine but try and sit yourselves up all right so hands forward and then bring your heels in and then sit back up and then come back up and then come back down and then sit back up and then come back down and then come back down and then come back down and see if you can keep your balance here going from side to side if you come up and you go over and this knee so if I'm facing the right and my left knee isn't touching the floor that's fine but maybe just imagine if you're up here imagine you're just trying to tap the floor and come back up then over imagine you're trying to tap the floor that's your goal for now just get a little more of that internal rotation keep going with that if it's much easier to sit back and have your hands behind you and just relax into it go back there for a little while and keep working it okay let's add to this next time you go over so I'm turning to the left I'm going to tense my glutes and send my hips over a nice little twist here open my right shoulder a bit as well and then come back up and over and if we're off the hands it's the same thing you can use your hands to dance about and keep your balance as well which I tend to do sending the hips over each time okay so we're going to add to that now so I'm coming up and over to the left so if you do the same now my hips are going to travel forwards if the first time you're doing this yeah this is the first time you're doing this use your hands to begin with so just put your hands on the mat my hands again in front my weights coming up I'm sending my hips forwards then back down you can use your hands again then over to the other side good same thing push yourself up and now I'm going slow on the way down and you'll really feel this on your outer hip so slowly on the way down use your hands back over let's go up hips forwards feel that stretch in the front of the right hip as well now super slow down back up and over again this can be as slow as you need it to be really good for jiu-jitsu obviously this hip mobility stuff and if you're still using your hands on the mat or if you're still doing whatever we were doing before before we added this just keep going keep moving those hips and just working within your range good okay let's finish in the middle here so sat up right now I'm going to bring my feet in a little closer my hands are going to come forwards and then down into the mat I'm just trying to fold between my knees for a second and think here chest forwards and up and try and get your belly down to the mat so we're really folding straighten the left leg out hug the right knee in sitting up nice and straight if you need the left hand behind you put that there that's fine switch legs good let's come back up and we'll do some more wipers so from left to right if you're there if your hands are behind you still good for you okay let's add to that so coming up super slow down we don't want to thud we just want to control that way down over to the other side back up forwards control that way down okay look after your knees look after everything here one more let's go up and down good into the middle with the knees again now straighten out the left leg hug the right knee in now that that's in just turn your right foot over the opposite hip and just hug that okay and just go from side to side just try and make no tension in your hip here you're holding all the weight in your hands just go from side to side feel that open out not pulling the foot up here and trying to do damage to my knee just relaxing okay switch bend turn the foot over the hip then grab relax that hip and just rock the hip okay bend the knees let's go to the left either stay here or come up super slow down over to the other side let's go up and up super slow down okay feet back into the middle straighten the left leg out bring the right leg in start rocking okay got a new option for you now take the right foot in the let's take the left hand grab the right foot now take your right arm bring that inside the right leg and then bring the elbow under the crook of the knee alright if you're happy here stay here keep rocking if you want a little more try and punch that calf or shoulder under the calf so that your leg rests on top of your right shoulder here good let's go from side to side if you're happy here stay here if you want a bit more of a challenge try and straighten that right foot out straighten the left leg okay really tuck your shoulder under now my right hand is going to come back directly under my arm keeping that foot kicking forwards take the other hand in line try and push yourself up see if you can come up for a little balance calm down undo whatever pose you just did back to rocking the hip okay let's go left side now so bend the left knee bring it in rock in there see how that is now right hand grabs the left foot right arm comes in if you're comfortable here just keep rocking if you want a bit more grab the calf stuff your shoulder under the calf maybe a bit more just rock from side to side if you want a bit more keep the knee clamping down feet pointing forwards that hand comes back and under to really stuff that in over the shoulder drive your feet forwards push yourself up balance good now come back down undo whatever you did rocking from side to side really good okay let's do some windshield wipers just a couple from side to side let's do one over to the left and we'll come up nice and calmly nice and slow super slow down if you're tired use your hands over to the right let's go up super slow down go back into the middle okay one more little challenge that's nice and fun again we'll ramp this up so bring your heels in nice and close hands are going to come in the middle push yourself away then elbows under your knees here just try and fold a little bit if we're here that's fine if we just got our knees up and we're folding that's fine too okay if you feel a little more space and you want to try something even more fun we're going to do a similar pose to the one we just did either side but on both sides okay it's really fun to try this so I'll turn to my side here good so I'm folding here next one's here and keep going with that all right if you feel even more space you can start to walk your feet in and your hands are going to creep as close to your bum as you can get them okay good so really tuck in under those shoulders hands come under and lift your feet from here start to straighten your legs and kick your weight forwards okay just like crow you have to lean your weight forwards to come up start to straighten your legs see how you get on and a little wobbly here that's fine straighten the legs maybe straighten the arms a bit more balance good start to bend the knees sit yourself down then just reverse or stay where you are good start to come out sit yourself back up now bring your feet together open the knees and again just from side to side make one knee heavy lift the other make one knee heavy lift the other good so bit of fun and obviously if you can't do one of the variations we've done just go back just go back a step and just next time you're here keep trying it and just keep following the video and see how you do you're only going to improve the more you do it the more you try it and you've got some weird and wonderful arm balances to try as well along the way so we just worked up to firefly pose which is super fun there's other ways of getting there but that's probably the safest even if you just get to the point where you're here sitting forwards creeping back that's still a bit of fun and something to try when you're on the mats as you do it as well okay let's lay on our backs now and we'll just bridge okay so we've done a lot of sitting with our sort of in a fold so just lift your hips nice bridge and open the front of your hips out here take a couple of breaths in bridge okay sit yourself up again get hands behind you this time we'll just winch your wiper over to the left now this time use your hands so come forwards on your hands let the back knee so your right knee just trail back and then just fold into pigeon just let your hips open here and we're not pushing into anything just relaxing if pigeon feels too intense for you as well you can go to that 1990 it's just basically bent if this is too intense you can undo it and just sit up okay knees up or undo pigeon come back to the windshield wipers over to your right and again walk forwards or stay where you are left knee goes back and then just relax into whatever pose you want to do here just to kind of finish up okay start to undo or come out of whatever pose you're in and we'll just finish off with our feet together knees open good sit yourself up nice and straight take a breath and then just relax everything we'll just take three deep breaths here super slow on the exhale two more deep breaths last inhale and out and just come out of that and just sit however you're comfortable thank you very much for getting involved in this fun flow I'm going to do more of these with some more adaptations and some more fun this is the hip one I'll do shoulders next and we'll just see where we go with it so if you've got any questions or anything that you're unsure of give me a shout and I'll answer in the comments cheers guys