Train in Jiu Jitsu and have pain? Check out our most recent Mobility Monday and see if any of these help relieve your pain and help you move better!
Proper warm-ups are important for all activities to improve performance and reduce your risk of injury. Different activities require specific warm-ups. We are going to start a series of sport specific routines that you can follow and tailor to your needs. If you have any requests please let us know! Today will be focused on Jui Jitsu. You may notice repetitions are in breaths, which is to promote that deep belly breathing.
1. Cobra pose, or press ups. Keep your hips on the ground, and relaxed. Push-up with your arms. Deep breathing throughout. Helps spinal mobility, hip flexors, and QL (quadratus lumborum).
2. Low back activation - lay on stomach, lift chest up, keep arms behind head or at side of your head. Activates spinal erectors, QL.
3. Pigeon Stretch - leg out front with foot 90 degrees to your hip and knee, opposite leg is behind you straight, then lean over front leg which is bent, hold your foot so it doesn’t slide back. Targets hip external rotators.
4. World’s greatest stretch, spider man stretch - leg out front to the side, similar to lunge position but arm is inside of your leg, back leg is straight, arm closest to your front leg will try to touch the ground with your elbow, rotating away from your front leg, then rotating the opposite way and reaching up towards the sky. Targets a lot of different areas including adductors, external rotators, and spinal rotation.
5. Cat/cow - on hands and knees, try to bring your back up towards ceiling, then extend your butt back as much as you can. The most important thing is getting to your end range of motion. This promotes spinal flexion/extension.
6. Hip flexor stretch - one leg out front in kneeling position, lock your pelvis in a posterior pelvic tilt, then move your hips forward. Targets hip flexors, mainly psoas.
7. Downward dog -start on stomach, walk your hands back towards your legs, keeping your arms and legs straight. You can bend forward more and stretch the shoulders, or bring the arms towards legs more to stretch the hamstrings. Also added bending one leg, to target your calves and add a nerve glide component.
8. Hip 90/90 - sitting on floor, have one leg out in front rotated externally, 90 degrees at hip and bent 90 degrees at knee, and your back leg will do the opposite, or rotate internal at hip 90 degrees, and bent at knee 90 degrees. Lean forward, then reach behind you to stretch both. Added activation for external and internal rotators, which involves lifting just the foot off the ground. Targets hip internal and external rotators and overall hip mobility.
9. Frog pose - spread your legs as far as you can with knees bent, then try and sit back without moving your legs. Targets hip internal rotators and adductors.
10. Butterfly stretch - sit with your legs bent almost in a criss/cross position, but with your feet together, sit up straight. Try and push your knees down towards the ground. You can use your arms for more stretch. Targets adductors.
11. Open books - lay on your back, rotate one leg over the other, hip at 90 degrees, keep the knee pinned down with the opposite hand, reach toward the ground where your knee is pinned with the other arm, then rotate out, or open up reaching toward the opposite side, targets mid-back rotation, hip external rotators, obliques
This does not replace the dynamic warm prior to rolling, it is meant to be used together with it. Thanks for watching, hope you enjoy and if you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them below!