Sebastian Brosche · 25 min · 2,163 words
Previously titled: Video 2 - Stretched Hamstrings Club
Namaste motherfuckers, today we will talk about one of the most common problems in Jiu-Jitsu which is this problem. This problem comes from two major dysfunctions. One is stiff hamstrings, two a stiff back. So we will address this problem separately and the result will be that we will be going from a huge difference for Jiu-Jitsu if you can get from here to here.
That can make all the difference when someone is passing your guard. If your leg can go there or if your leg can go there. Can make all the difference in the world. Stand up, interlace your fingers behind your head, feet as wide as your hips and then push your head into your hands and widen the elbows like this.
So back bend as you inhale, exhale hug your elbows together and pull your chin to your chest. Repeat, inhale back bend, open your elbows, exhale pull your head down, not with force but enough to have a nice response in your neck. Your neck should be saying oh ho ho ho and then inhale and then exhale. Same thing again.
Inhale, exhale. Go a bit deeper now so your elbows go down a few centimeters. Inhale up. We are progressively working deeper and deeper into our upper back.
Inhale. So you start rolling down, you're not folding forward, you're rolling down. Inhale. Exhale go down deeper.
Don't bend your knees yet, just roll your spine. In your own pace, inhale as you go up and exhale. Don't pull your head down, rather curl into yourself. You should start feeling your lower back now when you go deeper.
You go so deep so it's not only the neck and the upper body but it's also the lower back. Go so deep that you can get your elbows into the same height as your hip bones. And when you start going lower than the hips then you start bending your knees too. So when your elbows go down deeper than the hips you start bending your knees.
And over the next four or five reps we are going to end up with our elbows touching or almost touching our knees. The back bend is really important. You re-engage your muscles on the inhale and when you exhale you train your muscles to let go. So engage and tense up on the inhale, push your head back.
So when you roll down almost to your knees. Touch your elbows to your knees and stay here for a couple of seconds. And then go all the way up. Let's do that a couple of times.
All the way up, inhale. And curl down to your knees. And then roll up again if you haven't already. This time spread your toes and put the elbows on the inside of your knees.
Roll up again. And this time inside of the knees bend your knees and sit down into a squat. If you can't squat then go as deep as you can without being super uncomfortable. Take a few breaths here.
Super slowly release your hands from behind your head. And push your head back up. Nice. Find a seated or kneeling position.
Stretch your arms out. We will attack the back of our shoulders and our traps and rhomboids. The muscles between our shoulder blades. Left elbow goes under the right elbow so your left biceps is hugging your right triceps like this.
Both hands point up and many different variations. The second variation is left hand is touching the right thumb. If your thumb is almost being ripped off your right hand you should probably do this more often because then your shoulders are very stiff. Worst case scenario grab a cloth or something that you can hold on to, a towel and then just try to turn everything in so that your palms are facing your face.
Another variation you can grab the pinky side like this. Gives a nice stretch on the outside of the shoulder. You could also grab the pinky side from the inside if you have the proportion so you are turning your right palm in and grabbing the back of your fist. Then you get a nice wrist lock on yourself.
And the proper yoga way to do it is to grab the thumb and turn both thumbs facing your nose like this. The super proper way to do it is to lift the elbows and push out but that's mainly for pictures when we want to have a nice stretch we release the elbows down and we curl into ourselves just like we did in the last position so that you get a neck, spinal erector stretch and a stretch for the back of the shoulders and everything good back there. Leaning your head to one side can be torture and it can also be extremely nice. Oh yeah, breathing helps.
Five more breaths. And let's release this with a cat and cow. Full spinal extensions and flexions on all fours. And let's switch.
Since we have two sides we will do both sides. Right arm under the left try to grab as high on the triceps as you can. For noobs this would be the best option just pulling the palm to face your face and lower the shoulders. Trying for one of the variations.
Your body should not be screaming it should be humming. You don't hum with your voice but this is the kind of response that this sounds so bad. The energetic response that you get from your body should be similar to a slow patient but steady response is what we're going for. If you don't then you have to tune your chakras that's all you have to do.
Sign up for my workshop Chakra Tuning Workshop. It's going to be great for you. It's $500. Bargain.
That counts as a cynic stab to my contemporaries. Side and curl into yourself. All right we will re-engage our back muscles by doing plank pose. High plank top of a push up stretch everything out use the plank as you would the down dog.
Make everything nice and straight. Push your chest away from the ground without curling your neck. So the neck is in line with the rest of the body but you are using your peck muscles to lift you up off the floor and tense your legs and make your legs straight. If you have never done serratus push ups it's a great exercise for your upper back muscles.
Not to make them stronger but to make them more mobile. I actually have to it suddenly became very sunny here so I'm gonna pull some shades. Slight improvement. Right foot forward flex the foot.
Place on blocks or if you have a wall beside you place your hand on the wall. If you can't get all the way down to the floor place your hands somewhere where you are supported. Can be a good idea to turn the back foot in a bit. But what we're going for first is this.
Inhale forward. Exhale back. Inhale forward. Exhale back.
Let's do five more. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
Last one inhale. And exhale pause. One. Two.
Three. Four. Five. Forward.
Back leg straight. Same thing with straight left leg. Inhale. Exhale.
Inhale. Stop complaining. Exhale. Inhale.
Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Last one inhale.
Exhale pause. Five. Four. Three.
Two. One. Back knee down again. Right leg more or less straight.
Lift your chest. Inhale. Exhale. Get your damn forehead as close to the knee or shin as possible.
Inhale up. Exhale repeat. Inhale up. Exhale down.
If you feel tension in your butt you're doing it too much. You should not feel the stretch in your butt. You should feel it a bit behind the knee but mostly in the middle of the hamstring. Keep going a couple more.
Next time pause and five. Four. Three. Two.
One. And switch sides. Next foot forward. Inhale forward.
Exhale back. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.
Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.
Exhale. Last inhale. And exhale pause. Five.
Four. Three. Two. One.
And forward. Back leg straight. Inhale. Exhale.
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
Quit complaining it doesn't help. Inhale. Exhale. Last one.
Inhale. Exhale. Pause. Five.
Four. Three. Two. One.
Back knee down. Left leg straight. Inhale. Exhale.
Forehead to shin. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.
Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.
And exhale pause. Five. Four. Three.
Two. One. And exhale. Stand up.
Wide legs, not too wide. We're not going for a stretch of the groin so much or the outside. Fold forward and place your hands on something. Could be the ground, could be a support structure of some kind.
Let's start with a few push ups. Inhale straight arm. Exhale try to look under your butt. Inhale push up, look forward, back bend.
Exhale curl into yourself. Inhale up. Exhale fold. Last one.
Inhale. And exhale stay down. Maybe grab your hands behind your head and place your elbows close or onto the ground. Similar to the pose we started with.
Your head will be full of blood. But your back should be releasing and your hamstrings should be stretching intensely. If you get too much blood in the head keep doing the push ups. Every time you inhale you will get a release and then go for intensity on the exhale.
Two more breaths in a standing straddle forward fold. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.
Exhale. And then sit the hell down. Seated straddle forward fold. Toes point up, legs more or less straight.
If it's impossible to do both legs at the same time. Heel to groin. Fold forward with one leg and then switch halfway. If I remember I will tell you when we did half of the pose.
Go to maximum where you feel that this is way too intense. And from there back off. One hand length. And instead of working with getting your head down to the floor now.
Straighten your spine, straighten your arms, straighten your legs and try to place the belly button in the ground. So your chest is moving away, your belly is moving forward. Which is basically another way of saying straighten your spine and sit up without moving your hands back. Hello inner thighs, hello hamstrings.
Your hamstrings and your inner thighs should be saying ooh la la. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.
Exhale. Inhale. Inhale. Inhale.
Inhale. Inhale. Inhale. Inhale.
Inhale. In my opinion, I think it could count as an opinion. Science doesn't bother with the most obvious things. And therefore yoga is not very scientific because if you do a class like this 15-30 minutes.
It is so damn obvious that it's good for you that why bother measuring and destructuring everything and making everything into understandable pieces. Because it feels so damn good and you can resolve so clearly that no one really bothers to waste time on proving it. Which is good and which is bad but I think it's a theory I have, it's not an opinion. It's a theory I have that yoga is so blatantly obvious that even an idiot like me that knows nothing at all can just basically do a few poses here.
And you watch it through video at home and still get a similar effect. It has to be really good. It has to be almost a perfect thing to do. We're really philosophical today.
I forgot to say switch legs half way through as I usually do. I hope you did. If not press pause for 3.5 minutes and do the other side. If not we're finished.
This was I don't know how long we did this but it was supposed to be longer than the other class. The other class was supposed to be 15 minutes it was probably 20 minutes. But you should probably feel a good sensation in your hamstrings and your back now. It should be easier to touch your toes even if you have to bend your knees.
It should definitely be easier to play guard. It should be easier to pass the guard because this back body stuff is a huge issue if you train more than twice a week. If you train 3, 4, 5 times a week you will have problems with the back body. If not your hamstrings then for sure your neck and your upper body.
The really flexible guys in the hips they usually struggle a lot with the back and the shoulders and everything that you can't see. Everything on the front except the hip flexors are usually easier to deal with. Everything back there is usually a big problem for jiu jitsu people. Take half an hour a few times a week.
Problem gone, problem solved. Thank you very much for watching. See you in the next video or for sure see you in the next video. Cheers!
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