Sebastian Brosche · Strength · 5 min
This class is part of the Yoga For BJJ membership. Become a member to watch the video — or sign in if you already are one.
Strengthen your spine for BJJ with this 5-minute yoga flow. Learn locust, cobra, and turtle poses to build back strength. Start your practice today.
Spinal strengthening. Start on your hands and knees, move through a few cat-cow. Close down the eyes if you like, purely to check in. Get the spine moving, notice how it feels.
Inhale as you arch the spine to the ground, exhale to the ceiling. Inhale to arch, exhale to round. One more. Inhale to arch, exhale to round.
Now a few times really quickly, right foot to the outside of the right hand, find your lizard lunge, lift the back knee or not or leave it down, but either way whether the back knee is up or down, walk the knee back a little bit. So I need to get into the front of the hips to release to the back of the hips. To release the back of the hips, which releases the pelvis, which releases the spine so we can get into it. And to get the blood moving a bit because spine strengthening doesn't feel very good with a cold spine, so get everything moving.
Now from here, just for a bonus, walk the hands to the hips, hamstrings, because we can and we always need to stretch the hamstrings. Walk the hands forward, tabletop on the hands and knees, other side, left foot to the outside of the left hand, walk that back knee back just a little bit. So your lizard and back knee can be down, it can be up, it can be both, you can be on your elbows if you like. So lots of variations for one posture and it's cool because as you advance there's always ways to make that posture harder, more challenging because as you get better then you'll be ready for more.
Walk the hands towards the hips, quick hamstring stretch. It's important to strengthen the spine since it's forgotten about. People think about strengthening the core, but strengthening through that back spine is incredibly important because it's part of the core, it's just the back of it. Okay, walk the hands forward, under your hands and knees we're ready now.
Our sequence will be locust, cobra, turtle. Down you go. Belly to the ground, first one really, really light. So hands beside the hips, lift the palms, shoulder blades towards the spine and down.
Lift the legs, notice that engagement through the middle back, lower back, upper back for five, four, three, two, one. Release, zip the legs together. That's just a variation, they don't have to be together. All ten toenails into the ground, hands under the shoulders and pull the torso forward using the strength of the arms and up any amount for three, two, one.
Release, turtle. Moving through this again, find your tabletop, down we go. Locust, hands beside the hips, palms down, shoulder blade towards the spine and down, upper back, middle back, lower back, notice. Release, hands under the shoulders, pull the torso forward and up.
Release, turtle. Now it's next time we'll move through with breath. So think of inhaling in the back bend. So inhale in the back bend.
Inhale to tabletop, exhale down. Inhale locust, exhale release. Inhale cobra, exhale release. Turtle.
So turtle just for a moment, think of getting those hips to heels. Again, moving through this. Inhale tabletop, exhale down. Inhale locust, exhale down.
Sorry, yeah that was locust. Inhale cobra, exhale down. Turtle. And when you're in the turtle, inhale, notice where you feel it in the back, exhale release.
You can either stay in turtle if you like, you can move through that flow again, or if you have five minutes then that was a good five minutes. Alright, I'll see you next class.
3 minCore Rotation Strength: Windshield Wiper Exercise for BJJ
6 minBridge Strength for BJJ: 5-Min Mount & Escape Drill
6 minCore Workout: 6-Min Core Program Part 3 (Swedish)
23 minCore Wake-Up & Maintenance Flow: 23-Min Strength Class
12 minPlank Flow Drill: 12-Min Mobility for Jiu-Jitsu Athletes
5 minCore Coordination Drill for BJJ: 5-Min Sweep Strength
.avif)