Neck Program (Day 1): 16-Min Strength & Flexibility for BJJ Athletes

Look straight forward and breathe. And as in most poses patience is key so you can't push it and you can't rush it. You have to take your time. Take two more breaths here.

And now move your hand further back and get your chin to your chest. You're holding more of the backside of the head. Look down into your lap and stretch the side and back of your neck. So now you can let the elbow drop and you should find a good finger placement at the base of your skull.

So dig your fingertips into your skull. What's actually really nice when you find those tense spots in your skull you can give yourself a second hand massage here. Remember to breathe. Let your hand slide all the way to your forehead and push your head back up to center and let's switch sides.

So shake out your left hand sit down on your right hand. Grab your left arm over and find a grip over just above your ear and don't pull just hang out. Try to keep your spine straight and if that is too much work then make sure you get a wall behind you so you can lean back into the wall. So if your hips are stiff and your spine is not collaborating with your hair just lean back into a wall.

Another couple of breaths here. And then move your hand further back your skull chin to chest look down. So 45 degrees forward and down. Let your elbow drop.

You are probably feeling this in your trapezius muscle. Let your hand slide down to your forehead and push your head back up to center and release. One more time but a little bit different cross the switch the crossing of your legs or keep sitting on your knees this time palm facing down. You can sit on your knuckles and catch your head again but now we are going to do it more dynamically so we go to the side and then forward and then side again.

So you roll between the two poses we did inhale when you go up and exhale when you go down. Now you can give yourself a little pull because now you know since we did the last pose for a few breaths actually for quite a while it's going to be easier to not push too far. So roll through all the muscles on the side of your throat and the back of your neck. Firm but gentle.

Inhale as you go up. And exhale when you go down. Another round. And then let's switch sides.

Sit on your right knuckles palm down. Left hand on the air over the air and roll up and down. Find your flow. Two more.

And then push your head back to center and move your head from side to side. Just feel how it feels to look sideways left to right. Alright let's lay down on our backs. So back is flat feet can stay in the ground.

Hands on your belly we are going to strengthen the neck with some actually kind of gentle exercises but still you are going to engage your upper back muscles and your neck. So instead of lifting the hips lift the shoulder blades off the floor so you are bridging on the back of your head. Inhale here and exhale lower down. Lift your head chin to chest.

And let's do a few reps. So back of the head down lift your whole back off the floor so no part of your spine is touching the floor. Inhale and exhale down chin to chest. Keep going take a full breath every time you lift up off the floor.

Feet, hips and head in the floor. Lower down chin to chest. Keep going. Chin to chest.

Two more rounds. Chin to chest. Last round stay here for three breaths. Lower down and interlace the fingers behind your back.

With your shoulder blades in the floor do a sit up. So you are going to be able to do a sit up. So just lift your head and pull your head with your arms. Try to push your head back into your hands.

And then rock up and get your balls. If you have tennis balls put them in a sock so they don't roll away. Place the balls sideways and lay down with the balls in the middle between your shoulder blades. So on your rhomboid muscles.

And then hug yourself. Try to move your hands as far back to your shoulder blades as you can. And find that sweet spot between the shoulder blades where you feel the intense pain. So no balls should be on your spine.

The balls should be on either side of your spine. Today we are going to make it easy and just stay here for a while. You can always lift your hip and move up or down. But try to find one spot today where you stay and take ten breaths.

The balls are good because the more you relax the more intense it becomes. The more you resist the less effective it is. So the more you learn to let go the more effective it will be. Two more breaths.

And then hug your knees into your chest. You can actually rock your knees up and back like this. This gives you a nice little massage for those muscles that you just had. Pressure therapy.

A word I just invented. And then switch the crossing of your arms so the other arm is on top. Same thing, try to sink into the balls. If you have soft tennis balls you are not going to feel this at all.

You need to find yourself a hard set of balls. The trigger points between your shoulder blades personally is the major cause of neck discomfort. When your upper spine is locked up it feels like the neck is completely frozen. And when you do this muscle and fascia release therapy that we are doing now.

You will feel your neck suddenly being able to move again. Stretch your arms overhead. Take a couple of breaths here. And then sit back up.

Cross your legs again. Move a little bit from side to side. And experiment, see if your neck feels a little more free. Now after we did stretching, strengthening and some ball therapy for our neck and upper back.

So this was the first of five. We are going to do four more sections. Variations of this and some other exercises as well. But it's going to be stretching, strengthening and ball therapy.

So if you don't have balls, get the balls. They are amazing.