Tight Hips? 13-Min Hip Mobility for BJJ (10-for-30 #1)

So when you squeeze your butt, you get a nice stretch of the front of the hips here. And then try lifting your hips up off the floor. And let's not stay here for long. Let's switch sides.

So go all the way as far as you can. Squeeze your butt, lift your chest and lift your hips. And that's it. Just go from side to side and you can stop wherever you want.

Some of you that are practicing with me right now have knee problems. Some of you have herniated lower backs. Some of you are just super stiff like rocks. So whenever you see me do something, don't compare because I've been doing yoga for six years now, which is not a lot compared to other people.

But I know my body quite well and you might think you do, but don't do the mistake of comparing whatever you see with your own body. Because in my experience, that just makes you it's not really inspiring to see someone do something crazy and you can't even attempt it. That's more demotivating. So try not to compare.

Just do what you can and be mature about it. Alright, stretch your legs in front of you. No, don't stretch. Bend the knees, lift your hips and let's go reverse table.

So this is a nice stretch for the front of the hips if you squeeze your butt. Take a breath here and then sit down and circle your feet. So again, feet down, lift your hips, engage and then sit down, circle your feet. And this is like I like to work with contrasts.

Go one more time. Now we squeeze and engage and stiffen up your hips. And then when you sit down, you really try to let them loose. So you're rolling from butt cheek to butt cheek.

So we're trying to engage and lift. And then sit down and relax them. So we're learning the two extremes. Super stiff.

And super loose. Alright. Okay, let's sit in a squat. I obviously have a super deep squat because that's how my ankles are designed.

I have no knee problems and my hips are loose. So if you're here, that also counts as a squat. So like a 90 degree bend in the knees and supporting with your elbows, that's perfectly fine. Okay, so go as deep as you can without feeling any sudden pain in your knees.

Let's take half a minute here. All cultures in the world use the squat as a working position, going to the toilet position. It's only us that invented chairs. We invented chairs and they're good use.

Like if you want to sit in front of a computer for eight hours, the chair is actually a good choice in order to do your job well. But for your hips, the chair is a bad idea any more than a couple of hours a day. So anytime you have a chance in the bus or anywhere you are, sitting down in a squat is a great idea. Okay, knees down, flatten out your feet and try to sit on your heels.

And it's okay if you sit like me like this with most of the weight into your knees. If your knees are fine, then sit straight up and down. And if you want to get a really nice stretch for the front of your hips and your thighs, lean back and squeeze your butt again. But don't pop your chest up.

Try to engage the front and engage your butt. Now I get a really nice stretch for the quads and the quads are all connected to the front of the hips. So if you stretch your quads, you're probably also stretching your psoas muscle that connects your lower back to your legs. Take a few breaths here.

Nice. Let's stand up. Wide legs, not too wide, but maybe I know five or four feet between the feet, three or four feet. Hands to the ground and bend one knee and bend the other knee.

Now you can go fast, but only go fast in the beginning. Then you try to slow down and find a nice rhythm. I like inhaling straight and exhaling bend, but you can do like you want. Just go gently from side to side.

And the more the more resistance you have in the legs, the more you lean into your hands. So you're kind of doing a halfway handstand here. If you feel like you shouldn't put more pressure into your ankles, your knees or your hips. Go from side to side two times more.

All right. Now walk your hands towards your left foot and place your back knee down into the ground. So this is kind of a split, but you're not really splitting your feet away from each other. You're just doing a split from the knees.

Okay. So your hips are trying to get down between your knees. If you need to prop yourself up on the fingertips or even have your arm forearms on the knee, that's okay. But again, like we did when we were doing the bicycle thing with the feet, try to relax your hips and drop it down because you probably have a lot of tension that you don't think about.

So try to take an inhale and then relax when you exhale. One more time. Inhale. And exhale.

Last one. Nice. Now walk your hands back and try to get your left leg as straight as possible. And then bend it again.

Try to inhale when you bend the knee. Exhale, straighten as much as you can. Do a couple more. Inhale.

Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Try to relax when you exhale.

Last one. Inhale. Exhale. Exhale.

Now walk your hands all the way to the other foot. Same sequence here. Just take a few moments splitting your knees away from each other. So let the weight of your butt drop down into your hips.

Should you get a double stretch here, get a stretch for the left front and the right back of your hips. There is a trick in yoga. If you relax your face and relax your neck, you kind of relax your whole spine. So take a couple of deep breaths and just enjoy being here.

Even if it hurts, just enjoy being here. Most of the pain you feel in a class like this is good pain. Now walk your hands back and stretch your right leg as much as you can. And then bend the knee.

Inhale. And exhale. Stretch. Inhale.

Bend. And exhale. Stretch. Inhale.

Bend. And exhale. Stretch. Inhale.

Bend. And exhale. Stretch. Inhale.

Bend. Exhale. Stretch. One more.

Nice. Okay. Last exercise. Sit down on your butt.

Like we did when we did the windshield wipers, we have an S shape on our legs. Get your chest close to your knee. So do like a push-up, trying to get your chest down to your knee. And then straighten your arms.

And then go to the center of the calf. And then up again. And go towards your foot. And then start over.

Inhale. Lift your chest. Exhale. Knee.

Inhale up. Exhale. Calf. Inhale up.

And then hold. And one more full round. Inhale. Exhale.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

Switching sides. Inhale. Exhale knee. Inhale.

Exhale calf. Inhale. Exhale foot. Inhale.

Six to go. Knee. Inhale. Calf.

Just breathe on your own. Foot. One more round. Ah.

Nice. Cross your legs. Sit down. Try to sit with a straight spine.

Thank you very much for completing the very first class on Yoga for BJJ. Tomorrow we're gonna do another part of the body. And I hope you feel slightly better now. This was just 10 minutes, but 10 minutes can be magic if you do it consistently.

So this was just the first tiny taste of what's to come. Hopefully you feel good. And hopefully it was a little bit challenging. Because if it's not challenging, it's not fun.

As soon as you feel like, oh, this is a big problem, don't think about it as a problem. Think about it as, this is a great challenge. And please write down any thoughts you have after the very first Yoga class. Because that is gold further down the road.

I really wish I did that on my first Yoga class. See you tomorrow. Ust.