Shoulder Mobility & Opening: 10-Min Class for BJJ (No Time)

Look at the watch. Look at the time. Put the time on your hip. Now, using your knee to the outside of the arm.

Really gentle with this one. This can be quite intense and I'm going to keep making the joke. We already don't like yoga, so we don't need to hate it more. And you know what?

This shouldn't even be named yoga. It's really just stretches. And what you're looking at is, it's time to move the other side. My timer says it's time to move the other side.

And what we're really looking, so look at your watch. Hand on the hip, but your watch on the hip. And then outside. Bring the outside of the arm to the inside of the leg.

And I was interrupting myself. Everyone makes fun of me. I got lots to tell you guys in these videos. And again, it's more efficient to do it during the stretches.

These are great stretches. And what you're looking at is not, the value isn't in the 10 minutes of stretching, but it's the experience behind it. So I've trained for 18 years and I've two Masters World titles. And also medaled at the international tournaments at Pan Ams and World.

So lots of gold, silvers, bronzes, all that. And the reason I'm telling you this is I started yoga five years ago. And these are my favorite stretches coming from someone that I hate it as you're not. You're not investing in these 10 minutes.

You're investing in the years and years of experience behind creating these 10 minutes. So they're really, really good. Did that for you guys. I did that for you.

On your hands and knees, right foot up. I'm going to sit up. Now, bring the arms up, down to a cactus. And as the arms are cactus, see 90 degrees, pull the shoulder blades towards the spine and down.

Shoulder blades towards the spine and down. Chest proud, chest proud and up. Lower the hands down to the sides. So reach the arms up and cactus.

You'll find you get a nice, it's more strengthening to the back, a bit of a stretch to the chest. You probably feel this in your left hip too because I decided to add a bonus in, which is your left hip stretch. OK, on your hands and knees, other side. Left foot forward, low lunge and coming up.

Arms up and cactus. Moving through this a few times. And you know what I joke about? So keep doing this movement as I'm talking.

I joke about the left hip being a bonus, but there's something called anatomy trains through the body with how the fascia is connected. And that was one of my studies when I was creating a fascia course. And when you move through the foot will connect all the way up, moving through the entire body. And you might already know this, but I found it fascinating.

So the hip does affect the shoulders. I joke about it being a bonus, but it actually you need to do it. On your hands and knees. Now we've loosened up the shoulders, gotten them moving to repair them for this next stretch.

OK, come all the way to the ground. Now, the elbows under the shoulders. Notice how this is a nice stretch for the back. This might be too much.

If this is too much, just walk the elbows forward a little bit. That's OK. So we'll stay with this nice back bend for a while and the next couple of stretches. And the reason is it's purposeful.

Purpose. I do it on purpose because in jiu-jitsu for the spine. Oh my goodness. We are where is the spine?

It's always forward, leaning forward, rounding forward. We've got our guard, mount, side control. It's always forward. If this feels good, it probably means that you really, really need it.

Not just you, me too. Reach the left hand forward. Right hand goes underneath. Palm down.

Now, instead of having my torso facing towards the camera, I actually want to see if you can get both shoulders to face the mirror. I'm lifted up a bit so you can still hear me on the mic. It's worse in a video where the instructor is all muffled and can't hear what they're saying. And you want to email them and send a very mean email.

Be like, bro, figure your, figure your mic out. Either keep the left hand in front or left palm down and reach out to the other side so you can have crisscrossed arms or just leave that left arm out to the side. Both are really good. Find which one you like.

Reset back to where you should be as a human. Left arm, sorry, right arm reaches forward. Back of the left hand on the ground, reached underneath. And again, my body's on the ground, but try to get those shoulders to square up on the ground.

So you're going to be totally on the ground again, my mic. I don't want to be a jerk. Can't hear what I'm saying. And either this right arm stays extended out or you crisscross them in front of you and all your weight's down.

Another exceptional stretch for those shoulders. Okay, here we go. Here we go. My favorite.

Come to center. And remember those cactus arms that we did in low lunge so long ago? So long ago, I mean three or four minutes. Bring the left arm out to the left side.

I have a cactus. Use the fingers to pull the elbow up smallest amount, just over, so that my elbow's tiny, tiny bit higher than the shoulder. And then, right hand on the ground and look towards that right side. So it'll be a really nice stretch through that left shoulder.

Sorry, I got a cough. I always joke when I'm coughing. Oh, I took up smoking. Didn't.

But it's always a joke because it's so dramatic. And I'm such an athlete. It'd be too much work. Okay, come to center.

You know, when you come to center, just rest the head on the forehead. Notice how that feels. The left shoulder to the right shoulder. And now, right hand out to the right in a cactus.

Walk the fingers forward smallest amounts. The elbow is tiny bit higher than the shoulder. Post on the left hand and stretch that right. And only go like this does not take a lot to feel the stretch and it's through the entire pack, through the entire front of that chest.

Like that's a big deal because we're closed in in jiu-jitsu. The chest is closed and the shoulder is closed and we need to balance that. You need to have your vegetables and maybe cook them so we like them a little bit. Right now, the vegetables taste awful.

That's my analogy. I don't like this, but I know I need it. Some stretches feel better than others. From here, come to center.

Head on the forehead. From here, come to center. Head on the forehead for just a moment. Now I want you to use only the strength of your arms best you can to push yourself to turtle.

So use your arms best you can. Turtle knees wide. And the reason why, and then you can either have the hands forward or I like to rest my hands on the forehead again. You notice how that feels to the back and spine.

It should feel really nice because we were doing a back bend for a while. This is a forward bend for the back. So we worked through the shoulders, but the shoulders are connected to the spine. They're connected to the upper body, connected to the torso.

So it's important to get some work lower spine in there too. You'll actually find it feels really nice once that back settles down a little bit. Come up to a sit. Take a moment.

A few shoulder circles. Notice how you feel even better than 10 minutes ago. I don't like yoga, but I need it. But maybe I don't mind it so much.

Okay, we'll see you next video.