Outer Hip Flow for BJJ: 46-Min Hip Mobility & Opening Routine

So on your own time. Bringing the leg just hovering over the ground. Stepping on the ceiling. Hover and paint brush.

Center. Step on the ceiling. Hover and paint brush. Those are not the technical terms.

So don't use those. Don't use those. Those are my technical terms. When you've had enough of that.

Place both feet on the ground. Strengthening through the hip flexors which are commonly weak but they're really important for our guard game. Right leg up. Foot on the ceiling again.

This time bring the right outer ankle to the quad. Almost as if you're doing a triangle. A triangle choke. But instead because there's no one to triangle.

We'll stretch the outside of the hip. And then other side. You may find one side is tighter than the other and that's okay. It's the way she goes.

Usually because we're more dominant on one side. And that's why we do yoga. To balance out both sides. So on your own time.

Switch between the left and right side. Gently waking up the outer hips. And the next time. The right outer ankles on the quad.

Look at the right foot. And bring the right foot all the way down to the left side for spinal twist. With the left hand you can grab your right ankle if you like. And naturally the right arm will be out to the right side.

I find for most people this is a great way to get a gentle stretch to the outer hip. Without stress on the knees. So if you feel a stretch in here awesome. You don't feel a stretch.

Then with the bottom leg. Which is the left. The leg that's on the ground. Bring it closer.

Bring it closer to a 90 degree angle. So sliding it up the mat. And that will intensify the stretch on the outside of the leg. Because it intensifies the angle from being low to a little bit higher.

You still don't feel a stretch. So just enjoy a few minutes without a stretch. Of just relaxing. Come to center.

And other side. So left outer ankle on the right quad. Looking at the left foot. Bring it to the ground.

With the right hand you can grab the left shin. And naturally my free hand. The left hand will be reaching out. Relaxing here with the stretch through the outer hip.

And again if this is enough for you. Stay here. Or if you would like more of a stretch with the bottom leg. Which is the right leg along the ground.

You can pull that knee up to make a 90 degree angle with the hip. But less is more. Because we don't want to stretch this so much that it gets tight. Body's like what's going on and it gets tight.

We just want a gentle stretch. We're just starting off. Back to center. Tuck the chin.

Grab behind the legs. Rock and roll. It always feels so good to roll that spine out. Come into a sit.

When you're in a sit. Cross the right leg over the left. Turn the torso to the left side. And hands on the ground.

Bringing the chest over the left knee. Gently swaying left and right. And feeling where it's tight. And sometimes this is just a nice release through the back.

I feel a small stretch through my right hip. Coming to center. With the right hand. Place the right hand on the ground.

Reach the left arm up. Deep inhale on the exhale. Reach the arm over. For a really nice side stretch.

And again not going too intense. We're just warming up. It's almost like a story. Just getting everything warmed up and moving.

And then we'll begin to flow in a few minutes. Coming to center. With the left hand. Place it on the right knee.

And your right hand will be a post. Use the right hand to lift the torso. Lift, lift, lift. And gently turn to the right side.

And that's it. We're going to do a few more. And then we're going to move on to the next one. And we're going to do a few more.

And then we're going to do a few more. And then we're going to lift, lift, lift. And gently turn to the right side. Not cranking the neck.

Just let the neck be gentle. Make the spine as tall and long as it will go. Lifting through the top of the head. Inhale to lift.

Exhale. Gently rotate through that right side. Inhale to lift. Exhale to rotate.

And lift. Nice. Back to center. To transition the other side.

We'll add some more core. What's called boat pose. So spine straight if you can. Shins parallel to the ground.

And if you'd like a little more, maybe straighten the legs. So they're right in front of the camera. Place the left shin in front of the right shin. Turn the torso to the right knee.

Chest falls over the right knee. Hands out. And gently rock side to side. Being aware of where you feel the stretch.

Is it through the lower back? Is it through the side body? The side hip? Coming to center.

Left hand on the ground this time. Right hand reaches up, up, up. Deep inhale. Exhale.

Stretching over to the left side. Just being aware of where you feel the stretch. For me it's the entire side body. Coming to center.

With the right hand. Place it on the left knee. Left hand posts on the ground. Using that left hand to lift the torso.

Lift, lift, lift. And as you're lifting the torso, reach through the head. Inhale. Exhale.

Rotate to the left side. Inhale to reach. Exhale to rotate. Inhale to reach.

Exhale to rotate. Coming to center. One more set. For this set, transitioning.

We'll stay in bow pose. So while you're in bow pose here, just for a moment, I'll show you what we're doing next. We'll stay here. Now, level one is do the same thing we did before.

Right shin over left. Or, if you'd like a little bit more, we'll do our variation triangle. The right outer ankle on the left quad. And then sitting with the shins parallel on top of each other.

This may be a bit too intense for you. So if it is, don't do it. But go ahead, leave your bow pose. Try both.

So try both. Maybe you can get that outer ankle on the quad. And this is okay. If not, then just do what we did before and you'll build up to this.

Or so, towards the... actually, sorry, towards the left knee. Hands on the ground. Gently swaying left and right.

Or maybe no sways this time. Sways are optional. And feel the difference. Perhaps this time, it's a lot more intense with the stretch through that outer hip.

Coming to center. Right hand on the ground. Up and over. Second stretch through the left side.

And it doesn't matter if the feet are flexed or not. I just like to flex the feet to bring awareness throughout that leg. But also in triangle, that foot will be flexed. So that's why I have the flexed, the feet flexed.

It doesn't make a massive difference though in regards to protecting the knee from injury or not. That's controversial. We're going to go with in triangle that foot needs to be flexed. So we're practicing.

Coming to center. Left hand on the right knee. Right hand pose. Inhale to lift.

Exhale. Gently rotate. Inhale, lift. Exhale, really gently to rotate.

And last one. Release. Boat pose. I'm going to go sideways so you can see it.

This time in the boat pose, we are going to add low boat. See if you can push that lower back to the ground. And higher. Low.

And high. One more time. Low. And high.

Let's find the other side. So whatever variation on the other side, maybe left ankle is over right. Or maybe the left outer ankle is on the right quad. And again, if one side is tighter than the other, that's okay.

For me, this side is definitely tighter. Turn towards the right knee. Each hand on either side. The knee chest down.

And optional sway. Swaying is optional. Swaying is optional. Coming to center.

Left hand on the ground. Reach the right arm up. And over to the left side. Center.

Right hand. On the left knee. Left hand pose. Inhale to lift.

Exhale to rotate. Inhale to lift. Exhale to rotate. Doesn't matter how far you go.

I just want to create some more space. So I'm going to do a little bit of a circle. I just want to create some length in the spine and some rotation. Really important for spinal health.

And for the work we're doing today. Coming to center. Both pose. Now, I want you to find 90 90 set.

So last set of our warm up. Chin is parallel to the front of the mat. My other chin is parallel to the side of the mat. And for this one.

Place each hands on either side of the knee like we did before. Bringing the chest down. So you can move up and down or you can stay low. Paying attention to that stretch on the outside of the hip.

And I find that this is one of my favorite variations. Because there's no stress on the hip or the knee. Because it's uneven and plain. So it should feel pretty good.

Coming to center. And ready stance. Open guard to switch the other side. One hand on either side of the knee.

Chest down on top of the knee. And you can play here a little bit. You can do our optional sway. You can drop the chest in front of the knee and below.

You can play here for a little bit to find where you can do the chest. And then you can do the chest sway here for a little bit to find where you have that stretch. When you find it keep it. Come to center.

And one more each side. Second time optional. Hands are optional. So either without hands this will create strengthening through the outer hip without the hands.

Or if you're looking for more of a stretch you can drop the hands down. And the reason why I'm going to create some strengthening is because the outer hips tend to be weak so they get tight. So today we're solving that problem. Okay now drop the hands if you haven't already.

Come to center. Other side. Look mom no hands. Just for a beat no hands.

Pushing the hip into the ground. Go ahead. Hands on the ground. Drop the chest.

Other side. A few more. Dropping the chest with no hands. Or if you need to do hands that's okay.

Hands down. Drop the chest. Center. Other side.

No hands. Pushing the hip into the ground. Drop the hands. Down we go.

Last one. Last one team. So chest in front of the knee. No hands.

For three, two, one. Dropping the hands. Chest down. Center.

Other side. And yes I was always counting my head so we were even. Pushing the hip into the ground. For three, two, and one.

Hands on the ground. And back up. There we are. So find your way onto table top on the hands and knees.

And for this one I want you to place the right foot between the hands. Coming up to the low lunge. With the low lunge. Push the lower foot the back foot into the ground.

Tighten up that glute. Tighten up the butt. And the last step is to pull the hips to ribs a little bit. So a little bit of a pelvic tilt to stretch to the front of the hip.

Because our focus is the outer hips but we are also stretching the surrounding areas. Now while I'm here engage for foot butt and pull the hips to ribs. It should be very active through that left leg. Gently sway forward and backward.

So it should be a nice little stretch. Not really little at all. It's just a good stretch. Releasing that.

Onto all fours. And other side. So left foot forward. Coming up to your low lunge.

Pushing the lower foot into the ground. Knee into the ground. And then pull the hips to the front of the hip. Knee into the ground.

Engage the glute. Well the knee has to be pushing the ground. Foot, engage the glute. Pull the hips to ribs.

And gently, gently move forward and back. And notice how upright my torso is. I'm not falling. I'm not falling forward because that puts pressure on the hip joint.

And I've lost all my engagement. So you have your checklist to three. Foot into the ground, engaging the butt. Hips to ribs.

Gently moving forward and back. Nice. Hands down in front of you. Step both feet forward.

Find your forward fold. So legs can be straight. Legs can be bent. Allow the head to hang.

Hands can grab the elbows. Hands can be on the ground. So find your variation that feels good. And for me, I like the legs to be bent.

Maybe I straighten one leg. Maybe I straighten the other. And allow the head to hang. Now walk the feet out to drop the hips in between the feet for a low lunge.

Or low lunge for a low squat. Deep squat. Using the elbows to push the knees out. And so here it doesn't matter if your heels are on or off the ground.

That is just body mechanics. Maybe a tiny bit of flexibility. So if your ankles are on the ground or off the ground it doesn't matter. I'm just looking for a stretch through the inside of the hips.

Maybe a small release through the lower back. Moving between these two on your own time. Deep squat. Forward fold.

And again, forward fold. These legs can be straight or bent. So moving between these on your own time. Take your time.

The next time you're in your deep squat. Move to your forward fold. Gently ragged all your body all the way up to a slow, slow, slow stand. Once you're in your stand.

Standing tall. Three half salutations just to get everything moving. In the middle of the squat. And then the other side.

And then the other side. And then the other side. Just to get everything moving. Inhaling, arms up.

Look up. Reach through the ring fingers. Exhale. Forward fold.

Allow the knees to bend. Inhale, half lift. Hands on the shins, knees or quads. I just want a straight back activation through the back.

Exhale, forward fold. Inhale, bend the knees. To stand all the way up. Exhale, forward fold.

Inhale, half lift. Exhale, forward fold. Inhale, stand all the way up. Exhale, forward fold.

Inhale, half lift. Exhale, forward fold. Bend the knees. To stand all the way up.

Deep inhale. Exhale, palms together. Adding to this now. Inhale, arms up.

Exhale, forward fold. Inhale, half lift. And on your exhale step the right foot back. Right knee down.

Come up for your low lunge just like we did before. Top of the foot to the ground. Engage the glute. Hips to ribs.

Filling the stretch through the front of the quad. And this time, instead of gently rocking forward and back, this time I want you to move all the way forward. Putting weight on the hands so we don't put pressure on the hip joint. And all the way back.

Straighten or almost straighten that front leg. So this is almost work like flossing. You could call it flossing. Stretching through the front of the hip and the back of the leg.

And it's okay if those hamstrings are a bit tight. That's the way she goes sometimes. That's why we're working on them. The next time the front leg bends, both hands on the ground in a plank position.

Lowering the entire body to the ground for sphynx. Elbows underneath the shoulders. And use the elbows under the shoulders, palms on the ground, to pull the torso up and forward. And really, our first big back bend of the class and it should feel really good.

Now, palms together. Tuck the toes. Come up for plank. Down for sphynx.

So that was one. We have two more. Up for plank. Down for sphynx.

Up for plank. Down for sphynx. Down for sphynx. And up for plank.

The next time you come down for sphynx, hands under the shoulders, find your plank to move back to your dog. Keep the knees bent. Back long. And walk your dog out.

Bend one leg, bend the other leg. Heels to the ground. Again, you may feel the hamstrings or you may feel the calves joining the party. Stepping the right foot between the hands.

Up for low lunge. Check list. Bottom of the foot to the ground. Glutes tight.

Hips to ribs. And shifting the weight. Instead of shifting the weight forward and back, this time we're adding to it, placing the left hand on the ground. And straightening or almost straightening that front leg.

Just allowing the hamstrings to join the party a little bit because they are attached to the hips. And all the focus, all of the focus of today's outer hips, we also need to work with the surrounding areas to get into the outer hips most efficiently. Sometimes you're doing this, you need to make sure that you're still recording because if you aren't, it really, really sucks. That's how we get so flexible.

We always have to re-record stuff. The next time that knee is bent, the front knee is bent, step forward, to the front of your mat. Inhale, half lift. Exhale, forward fold.

Inhale, stand all the way up. Exhale, pull up. Inhale, lift. Inhale, lift.

Exhale, lift. Exhale, palms together. Again, inhale, arms up. Exhale, forward fold.

Inhale, half lift. And on your exhale, step the right foot back. Keep the knee up for runner's lunge. Feel the stretch through the front of the back hip.

And you can gently shift forward and back if you like. Front of the hips tend to get so notoriously tight because we're always sitting. Not always sitting. Quite often the hips are in flexion, quite often they're bent.

Not for everyone, but I know for me. Now for just a few times, if you can, you have two options. Option one is to allow that knee to go on the ground and lift. That's option one.

Option two is to gently straighten or almost straighten that front leg. So take whichever option you can. Both are good. Both are a little bit different.

Both are good. And work within those. So it depends on the day. One day, like for today, straightening the hamstring like this feels better for me.

On other days, lifting and dropping the knee feels better for me. Depends on the day. What I've been doing that week for training. The next time the front knee is bent, find your way to your plank position.

Gently lowering all the way to the ground. Hands under the elbows for your sphynx. And three times. Moving to your forearm plank.

So palms can be together for the forearm plank. I just find it makes a bit of a better base or you can keep your palms on the ground. The world's not going to end whether you have your palms on the ground or together. If it does, I guess we'll find out.

Tucking the toes, lifting the hips, plank. Gently lowering the hips, sphynx. Use the hands to pull the torso up. Tuck the toes, plank.

Last one. Sphynx. Now I mean last one. And plank.

Sphynx. Releasing the sphynx, hands under the shoulders, find your plank. And your dog. Again, allowing the legs to bend.

You can walk your dog out if that feels good or just stay static or just stay static with the hips high. Stepping the right foot between the hands, back knee off the ground to start. Feel the stretch through the front of the back hip. And find your option.

Whether you like to drop the back knee and lift it. If that feels good for you today or if it feels better to straighten the front leg and bend it. Targeting the hamstrings. So find which one you need more.

Find which one feels better for you. And then you can go back to the front leg and bend it. And then you can go back to the back leg and bend it. And then you can go back to the front leg and bend it.

And then you can go back to the back leg and bend it. And then you can go back to the back leg and bend it with the same movement. The next time that front leg is bent, step both feet to the front of the mat. Inhale for your half lift.

Exhale, forward fold. Exhale, palms together. Inhale, arms up. Exhale, forward fold.

Inhale, half lift. Exhale, hands down. This time, step the right foot back for a high lunge. So coming up for the high lunge, I like to have a bit of a wider stance between my feet so it's not so narrow, almost in line with my shoulders.

Front knee bent. I prefer the back leg to be bent because I find if it's straight, sometimes it loads into the lower back and we don't want that. So have that back knee bent and feel the stretch through that hip flexor. Now, just a few times, go ahead and straighten that front leg and lean forward.

So you can either stay here if it feels better or move between both of these. High lunge, straighten the front leg, hips forward really gently, really, really gently. In between this on, on your own time with your breath, not too much. This is not less is more.

You don't want to hurt those hammies because we need them. Hands to the mat. Find your plank position, lowering the entire body to the ground for your Sphinx. With the hands in Sphinx, palms on the ground, use the palms to pull the torso up and forward.

Find your plank. Tuck the toes, hips up for plank. Sphinx. And plank.

Sphinx. And our last plank. Sphinx. Hands into the shoulders.

Long plank on your hands, hips up and back for dog. Step the right foot between the hands. Come up for your high lunge. Take a moment to get situated.

Make sure the legs are a bit wider apart, pretty much shoulder width apart. Doesn't make any sense to have them in the same plane. It just throws a bounce off for what we're doing. Front knee bent.

I like to keep the back leg bent. Stretch through the front of the hips flexor. You can either stay here, if this is enough for you, if this feels good, or go ahead and move through these transitions. Straighten the front leg.

Really gently shift the torso forward. You can either stay here but not to 100%. Really important you go to 60% because we don't want to hurt those hammies. Bend the leg, high lunge.

Straighten the front leg. Shift the torso over. Bend the leg, high lunge. And last one.

Straighten the front leg. Torso over. And bend the leg. Both hands down.

Both feet to the front of the mat. Inhale for your half-let. Exhale, forward fold. Inhale, stand all the way up.

Exhale, palms together. Last set. Focus in on the outside of the hips. Inhale, arms up.

Exhale, forward fold. Inhale, half-lift. And on your exhale, come to dog. Come to dog.

Bringing the right foot forward into pretty much a pigeon. But I want you to find that comfortable spot, kind of where we were before with the 90-90. So you're in your pigeon. And you can either be in pigeon with the back leg straight back.

But I find this puts stress on my granny knees that had surgery. So I don't really like that. You can stay here if it works for you. It might.

I like to just go 90-90. I guess, touch the outer hip. But this time, pushing off the ground with the hands and pushing the front foot into the ground. So it's not a passive stretch.

We're adding awareness and strength into the outside of the hips. Pushing the hip into the ground. And just for a beat, release that chest forward. Find your way to your plank, lowering the entire body to the ground.

Last time today, find your sphynx. Using the hands to pull the torso up and forward. Palms together, tuck the toes. Plank.

And maybe in your plank, pull the hip strips just a tiny bit like we did in our low lunge earlier. Not a ton. Not a ton. I don't want you looking like this all crazy.

Just a tiny bit to engage a lower core. Sphynx. Use the hands to pull the torso up and forward. And plank.

Last one. Sphynx. And plank. Sphynx.

Hands under the shoulders. Find your, I call it a long plank because it seems so long using the hands to the shoulders, hips up and back. We're done. And bring the left leg forward to whatever variation of pigeon you like.

For me, I like what's called the 90-90 pigeon. I also just made up that 90-90 pigeon. Both hands on the ground. Pushing the left outer hip into the ground and using the hands to posture up.

Pushing the left outer hip into the ground, adding some awareness, some strength, some sensitivity to really an area of the hips that are quite often forgotten. That are the star of the show today. Don't repeat that. That was a really bad joke.

Release. Chest over the knee. And now I want you to come to your dog. Both knees down.

Find your way onto your back. When you're on your back, we have a few variations for our back bend. Variation one. Simply to lift the hips.

Let's do variation one together. Lifting the hips. And as we move in the variations, if you can't do the next ones, just go to the variation before. I like to, with my hands, clasp the hands behind me.

Small shoulder opener. The shoulders didn't get a ton of TLC today, so it's nice to give them a little bit. You may begin to feel a little bit of fire through the glutes and the hamstrings. Releasing that.

Next set. Lifting the hips. Planting strong on the left foot to reach the right foot up. Just like we did the beginning of class, but this time the left leg is working a lot more.

And release. Make sure you're still in the camera frame. That's important. Plant the feet.

Hips up. Make sure the right leg is planted strong, the right foot is planted strong to lift the left. Creating strength through the hips, through the right glute, right hamstring. And release.

Allow everything to rest just for a moment before we move into our last variation. So that was variation two, lifting the legs. And the last variation is what I call our triangle variation. This time, plant the left leg strong.

And I like to have, for me, like you can have the leg out a bit depending on how your hips are, the foot out a bit. I like to have the foot in line with the hip. And this time, lifting the hips. Left foot planted strong, lifting the right leg, outer right ankle on the quad.

Now we've added some extra weight onto the quad and try to keep the legs even. For three, two, and one. Allow that to rest for just a beat. And that beat is done.

Lift the hips, plant the right foot so it's comfortable and strong. Lift the left foot up, stepping on the ceiling. Left outer ankle on the quad. Keep the hips up strong.

For three, two, and one. Allow the hips to drop. Feet on the ground. Bringing both feet into the chest, knees into the chest, don't bring the feet into the chest, bring the knees into the chest, it's a lot more comfortable.

Rocking side to side. And now, just like we did at the beginning of class, right outer ankle on the left quad. And either stay here, if this just feels awesome, or bring everything down to the left side. And I like to grab my right ankle.

Just like the beginning of class. So we've moved through stretching the outer hips, a small amount of strengthening, strength stretching areas all around the hips. And we're finishing with another outer hip stretch. And it's okay if the outside of the hips still feel tight.

Like I'm sorry to say, one class isn't going to change everything. You'll have to do it a few times, but the important thing is that you're doing it. Since those outer hips are tight, it can create problems. Just like anything, if something is short and tight, it'll create problems.

Or strong and tight can create problems. Come to center. Switch sides. Right foot on the ground.

Left outer ankle on the right leg. Moving all the way down to that right side. Right hand grabs the right shin. And the left hand goes all the way out.

Just relax here. Just relax here. We did a lot of really great work today. Core strengthening.

We gave some attention to that lower back, bringing blood flow into it. The front of the hips, the hamstrings join the party, the side body. So there's a lot of stuff that we did today that all surrounded working with those outer hips. Because it's okay to stretch the outer hips in an isolated way, but it's even better to stretch them and all the surrounding areas with a little bit of strengthening.

Today was a really, really good class. This is something that you can do twice a week. If the hips are really tight, I've designed it so you can do it every day for a week and notice the difference. That's why it has a lot more things to it in stretching all the surrounding areas and not just the hips.

So it's a beneficial class to do more than once. Knees to center. Both feet on the ground. Feet wider than the hips.

Knees in. Hands can be beside you facing up. Or hands on the belly. Close the eyes.

Take a few breaths. And feel how good the body feels after that flow. Allowing all the work we did to marinate. Even if it marinates for 5, 10, 15 seconds.

But what that does is it allows the body to recognize all the work that we just did and allows it to sink in a little bit more. If you have more time, go ahead and stay exactly where you are. Or if you're working within this time frame, roll to your favorite side. Use the hands to push yourself all the way up.

And there we are. Thank you for joining me everybody and I will see you next time.