Hip Mobility Program for BJJ: 30-Min Opening Routine

Our backs and our hips are really sophisticated, but our knees are not really built for the things we especially the things we try to do in Jiu Jitsu. So we have to be sensible about our knees. But if the knees are strong and you can feel the stretch just in the hip, then you can move the left foot forward a little bit and you can feel the stretch changes. So the angle of the of the left ankle here has a lot to say about how the stretch is, how the stretch feels.

If you want to slide back more and come all the way down to your belly, you can do that. But I like having a little bit support in the upper body so that actually the more you press down in the upper body, the more you're going to feel the stretch. So if you just relax forward here and flop forward, you might miss a little bit of the juicy part. We're going to stay here for a minute.

We're going to take we have plenty of time today. We're just going to do six poses. Personally, I'm on the I'm a firm believer that the last breaths of the pose are the most valuable. The first ones are just to get into it and fiddle around and figure things out.

But when you've been here for a while, I think that the most quality you can get is from the last few breaths of the pose. Make sure your shoulders and your head is relaxed. Take two more breaths there. Now sit back up and stretch both legs forward and shake him out a little bit.

And then back to plank. Let's start over second side. So plank, right knee down. Start by powering up your back leg and your arms.

So even if you have an acute knee injury, this shouldn't feel you shouldn't feel any pain at all here because there is no weight in the right leg. So if the knee is too far back, your upper body is going to move too far forward and don't try to place the knee all the way in front. Try to just place the leg down naturally and then lower your back knee. Always take a breath here and just to figure out if this is enough for today because your body is never going to be identical to yesterday.

You always have to use the sensibility and the presence to figure out what exactly you should be doing today. You're watching a video right now and you can regard the video as just rough guidelines. It doesn't really matter what I say. What matters is how you feel being present in your body right now.

If you need more, slide the back knee back or sit to the side and move the front leg forward. But this is only recommended if you feel that you are really flexible and want even more flexibility. If you don't have so much flexibility, just move the back knee back and come down to your elbows. If you have something, I have a yoga block, but if you have something to place your head on that might help your neck and your shoulders to relax and that can make the pose feel so much nicer.

But you can also just place the forehead on your knuckles, your fists or the back of your hands. Let's take a minute here. Just enjoy the moment. Take two more breaths.

And come back to all fours. Stretch it out in a down dog. Just stretch through calves and your hamstrings for a couple of seconds. Next pose is lizard pose.

Step your left foot on the outside of your left hand. Lower your back knee. Flatten out your back foot. If this doesn't really work for you, you can keep the toes in the ground.

It's going to be a more active variation. If you feel that you're leaning over to the right, then I would recommend coming up to your fists. So you place your fists in the ground. If your arms are short and your your shin is really long and your hips are a bit stiff, you can place your hands onto an object to get more reach to lengthen your arms.

But figure out a way to stretch the back of your left thigh in the front of your right thigh equally. So you shouldn't just feel it in the right side or the left side. Try to find this equilibrium, this balance between the left and right. And then let's stay here for a minute.

I usually prefer stretching my forearms here when I have straight arms, but you can also come down to your elbows if that feels better. Don't switch between, just stay in one pose, one minute. We already opened the outside of our hips, the outwards rotators and our abductors. Now we're working the front and backs of our hips, the hamstrings and the psoas.

Make sure your neck is not tense. We're focusing on our hips, not our upper body. So just find the position of your shoulders, neck and upper body that feels comfortable. That makes it easier to breathe deeply too.

Five more breaths here. And switching sides. Step the left foot back, step the right foot forward. Switching sides.

Another minute, a minute and a half here. Again, if you're too far back, you're going to feel it more in the front leg. And if you're too far forward, you're going to feel too much in the back leg. Try to find the perfect 50-50 position, but don't get too obsessed with it.

You can just stay where exactly where you are. Looking is done with the eyes. Looking inside cannot be done with eyes. You cannot see yourself with your eyes.

A mirror doesn't count. You can't really look at yourself with your eyes. That's why we close our eyes to look inside. It's just a metaphor.

We're not actually looking. We're trying to be present to see what's going on on the inside. And that's why we close our eyes to make it easier. Five more breaths.

And come back up. Find a wall space. Scoot your butt as close to the wall as possible. Stretch your legs up.

Make sure your back is flat. And then go to about three feet between your feet. Make sure you're completely flat. Your head is relaxing to the ground.

If your spine is round here, then place something under your head so you can be 100% comfortable here. And then move the feet as far from each other as possible without using any force. Just let the weight of your legs spread them apart. Do not resist here.

If you feel tension, if you feel spasms or some jerking in your thighs, then just place your hand where you feel the most resistance and breathe. Flexibility is inevitable in this pose. Let your legs naturally spread apart. Don't force it.

Don't use. Don't do. Just stay relaxed. And let it go.

Ignore everything around you. Close your eyes. Focus on your breath. Relax the front of your thighs, the quads.

Relax the back of your thighs, the hamstrings. Your inner thighs, your adductors are probably resisting because they're not used to this position. Your adductors are probably resisting because they're not used to this kind of tension. Or maybe they're used to be tense all the time.

But I believe that most of us are overstressed and underdeveloped in our inner thighs. We use our adductors, our outward rotators a lot, walking, running, doing squats. But we don't really use our inner thighs that much for strength training. So I believe it's nice.

It's a good plan to stretch them and also deliberately working them to make them stronger. You're going to feel a big difference in your jujitsu when you start using the squeeze, your squeezing power of your thighs. Take a couple of breaths more here. Place both feet on the wall.

Push yourself away and sit back up. Almost the same pose, but at the same time, not at all the same pose. Feet together, knees apart. I prefer sitting up onto something because that gives me more leverage.

Don't place the feet too close to yourself. This is really a pose where it's not necessarily about flexibility, but about mobility. Some people might never be able to touch the knees in the ground. Some people might do it the first time they try.

So how our actual hip socket is built has a lot to do with the angles of your knees. Never mind that. Just do what you can right now. Grab the feet or ankles and lean forward, pushing your knees down, but not to the point of pain.

So if you feel pain, no gain. Just go where you can feel it and stop there. Preferably round your spine here. So if your lower back and your hips are super stiff today, that's when it's a good idea to sit up onto something like a pillow or another object.

Relax your head, stretch your neck, your upper back, and the weight of your upper body will also stretch your inner thighs. And some people might feel it both in the back and in the outer hips. When you inhale, you will naturally lift up a bit and try to kind of actively relax when you breathe out, without pulling yourself down. Inhale.

Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale again.

Exhale. Relax. Two more deep breaths. Inhale.

And sit back up. We're going to choose between one of the following poses. Either we're going to squat down with our feet as much parallel as possible. If parallel feet means knee pain, then you don't go completely parallel, but not complete penguin feet either.

Try to, today at least, point your feet as much forward as possible. You can interlace your arms so you're hanging down here. Just a simple squat, but we're going to do it for a few minutes. If this is no-go for you, then you do the same pose lying on your back.

So happy baby, grabbing the outside of your feet and with your biceps, your huge, amazing big guns, pull the knees down with the feet on top of the knees. So not heels to butt, feet completely over the knees. And you're actually trying to pull your spine straight. So imagine you're doing a back bend, shoulders back and pushing the hips, your sacrum down into the ground, pulling your feet down.

So this is the active pose. Squatting is the passive one. So choose one of them wisely and let's stay here for a while. If you've been with me on Yoga for a while, you know that one of our biggest nemesis, one of our biggest villains and enemies is the share.

Not necessarily because sitting is bad, but the angles and the way we sit is usually destructive and devastating for our backs and hips. And I believe squatting is one of our best friends. So the more you squat, the more hip health you will have. Black and white, just like that.

That's what I believe. So every time you have the opportunity, which is every time to not sit on a chair and sit in a squat instead, take that opportunity. Even if it's just five minutes a day, it's going to make a difference. If it's 50 minutes a day, it's going to be unexplainable.

If you squat an hour a day, you will get your butt down to the ground, no matter if this is where you are right now with the hips above the actual knees. I've seen that in extreme cases, but we all start from somewhere. It doesn't really matter where we start, but where we quit. That's the deciding factor where we, how far we go.

So, so so so so so five more breaths. If you're in happy day, keep pulling your feet. If you're squatting, keep being heavy. And sit down on your knees.

I'm going to give this pose as an alternative, just sitting down and leaning back like this. So, so so so so so so so so so so so so they work equally well, just a bit different. Stay here for a while. The more you pull your belly in, the more you're going to feel it.

This is one of the worst poses I know, intensive wise. It's so intense. It's so easy to make, so intense. But that's a good thing, I believe.

The front of our thighs and our hip flexors is one of the biggest problems that most people that I talk about, talk with, have in Jiu Jitsu. You feel so damn tight on the front side and it ripple effects to your spine and the front of your body and your hips and your knees. So, so so so so so so so three more breaths. So, slowly switching sides.

Slowly switching sides. Slowly switching sides. Second side. Second side.

Try facing straight forward with your chest and shoulders. Don't lean to the left, but try to pull your right shoulder back so that you're square and even. Light, deep, deep, deep, Two more breaths. And release.

So what we just did is we worked our the outside, the inside, the front and the back and all the small muscles in between. So stand up, shake it out and just feel from this was Thursday. So we worked Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday with both strength and stretching. And today we just stretched it out.

And tomorrow we're going to put not everything together, but we're going to do a general flow and test our hips a little bit and see if our ability to move with precision have improved. So thank you guys for today. See you tomorrow for the last day in the hip week.