Neck Tension & Stiffness: 11-Min Stretch for BJJ (No Time)

I don't like to use tools or pressure or belts. Like I just like natural movements of the spine and the neck with some help. So the help is us. Like the help is the movement we're doing.

Instead of looking at the camera look down. Forward and back. And this is something that you can do any time. And how long did this take us?

Two minutes. Three. Good three minutes invested team. Good work.

Come to center. Roll the head around one way. You can close down the eyes if you like. I like to do it just so I can check in and notice but you don't have to.

Another way. Okay that's starting to feel good. Starting to feel better. On your hands and knees.

Cat cow. Now this time through cat cow. Pay attention to especially the neck spine. So lower back towards the ground.

Middle back and your upper back. Your upper back. Your neck will actually lift and then reset. Lower back towards the ceiling and the upper head will hang.

The head will hang. So move between your cat cow. Special focus and attention on the neck. And of course we're focusing on the neck but the neck is attached to the rest of the spine.

So we will do some work within the rest of the spine. The neck is attached to the shoulders. We will do a little bit of work with the shoulders. Opening everything up and loosening up.

So come onto your hands and knees. No you're already on your hands and knees. Come all the way down to the ground. We did this last class.

We'll do it again but a bit of a different adding more to it. So cactus arm. The right hand out to the right side. Walk the fingers up a bit so the elbows just above the shoulder.

Take the left hand to push off the ground. We're stretching through that front of the shoulder really gentle and it's not wrong. If you want that right hand instead of a cactus to be straight go ahead and do that. Not a problem at all.

I find they get more out of it with the cactus but you know it's your body. I can't tell you what to do especially with the camera. I wouldn't even know. Now from here release.

Hands down and I want you to actually put your right ear on the mat. Hands beside the hips. Palms down. And this is this can be a really nice stretch through the side of the neck.

This right ear and I'm lifting my left shoulder a bit so the mic doesn't touch the ground but see if you can put both shoulders on the ground. So this can be really nice. If you don't feel too much then just chill for a couple seconds. It's still really good for that for that upper for that neck because often we'll have weight on it when we turn it so this is natural movement of turning with the ground to support.

Okay moving into the other side. Left hand out in the cactus. Elbow barely above the shoulder. Look towards the right.

Push off the right hand and stretch through the left shoulder. And as we're doing this you can think about all the jiu-jitsu that we do which is so hard on the upper body so no wonder those necks can get a bit sore or tight even if you don't realize it. And left ear on the ground. Left ear on the ground.

Hands beside your sides. And if your left ear isn't totally on the ground that's okay. That's just something that that we're working towards. I can't quite do what I recommend then you have something to work towards.

And if you've already got this totally down path then jump into my next series of videos 10 and 30 is so great and I also do some foundational flows too and always releasing new stuff. Okay so from here onto your hands and knees. Turtle for just a moment. You can relax into the turtles.

You have options. You can relax into the turtle. Hips to heels or you can make it more active side to side. And you'll notice that we're seeing patterns like I'm starting to repeat some of the different exercises in different ways with a different focus and that's because they are really really important not just for your jiu-jitsu but for the body because we need to magnify what we're doing by a year.

By two years. By three years. By ten years. Not just the effects of jitsu on the body but the effects of life on the body.

And you know and yoga I say this yoga is really important. Yoga has such a connotation of the flows and the chakras and quite often yoga studios have yoga studios often will have such advanced stuff like what the hell am I doing? But when you break it down to these foundations it's exceptional. Just the real stuff that we need and that's that's why it's nice to have someone there.

I put the work in for you. So that I can show you my favorite stretches in my favorite sequence. In the days I don't want to do yoga. Okay so from tabletop bring the legs forward to find your deep squat.

Okay now the leg the feet might up you off the yoga mat. It's okay if your heels aren't on the ground that's okay. I just want you to find a deep squat so nice to the shoulders palms together. Use the palms together to push the knees out and make the spine long from the tailbone all the way to the top of the head.

From your deep squat hands to the ground lift the hips forward fold and it'll be a really nice stretch. You'll feel it through that entire back body. That's our goal so if it's more intense one area it means that you need it. Bring the weight into the hands more into the ball of the feet more.

Legs most likely will be bent and allow your spine to hang lower back middle back all the way to the neck. So the head's hanging really heavy let that go. Shake the head a few times so notice how that really nice traction of the spine feels. Then you have an option lower back down to your deep squat.

So obviously working on the spine but I want you to do what will make you feel better today. So deep squat and forward fold. You can do either or stay in each one as long as you'd like to or flow between both. So stay in each one if you need to or flow and you can always press pause in the video if you want to stay in either of these longer or if you get tired of me talking.

And I talked about in my other video talk about it again those anatomy trains where one the fascia is all connected through the body and one area will affect the other area. So you have anatomy trains up through the whole back body so if the hamstrings are tight it means that lower back is tight it means that the upper back is tight and it can connect all the way to the spine. So it's no surprise that loosening up this back body with the natural traction will help that neck spine. It can be an upside down a little bit helps bring blood flow so it can be really nice.

Just know that when you're in your forward fold I want your weight forward. My heels are off the ground. That's a bit of an exaggeration they don't have to be but I want to show you. My weight's in my fingers and my head is hanging long.

That is our really big focus of this one. So from here to finish up obviously do this longer if you'd like to I'm not the boss of you but finish in the deep squat so that you have a nice way to bring your head back to center. Don't stand all the way up you might get a little lightheaded and find your way to a sit and notice the difference. Ten minutes my spine not only feels better my neck not only feels better my neck not only feels better everything feels better.

How cool is that the ability we have to change the tissues so quickly. Okay this yoga thing might not be so bad after all yoga stretching movement mobility it's all of it really. I don't think I could properly call it yoga but it's the name of the series I suppose. Okay we'll see you next time.