Hip flexibility for BJJ/Judo

Dermot Nolan

Hi lads,

Im looking for some advise on improving flexibility at my hips. I overstretched in a warm up at a royce gracie seminar a couple of years ago and caused internal damage to the left hip joint (not too sure exactly what, possibly burst a fluid sack at the joint no physio could say for sure).

The pain has always been pretty bad after rolling since then. Over time my body seems to have compensated for the injury by tilting my pelvis bringing the pressure off the joint at the left side. This however has resulted (im not sure how) in a significant decrease in flexibilty at my hips. For example if someones attempting to pass my guard and pushes my knee to the floor it causes great pain due to how stiff my hips feel.

Thankfully the joint injury seems to have heeled now. Also due to a freak back injury on Friday and subsequent trip to the chriopractor, he fixed my back injury and also staightened out my pelvis.

So the only problem im left with is how inflexible my hips are. Has anyone experienced similar problems? Can anyone recommend specific exercises to improve hip flexibilty with particular reference to the demands of BJJ?


Thanks in advance,

Dermot

Roper

Dermot Nolan wrote:

Also due to a freak back injury on Friday and subsequent trip to the chriopractor, he fixed my back injury and also staightened out my pelvis.

:eek: :eek: Hope its all good now man!

Don't know about BJJ/Judo, but I had similar problems for kicking a few years ago. Like you it was caused by an injury (to a hip flexor) and I was vary wary of it for months afterwards, and that meant a loss in flexibility, similar to what you're on about there from the sounds of it. I had tried static type stretches (they were already a heavy part of my routine) but what sorted it for me was dynamic exercises before training. A bit hard to explain on here but we do them before most of our stand-up classes now. I'll show you them next time you're down.

Cheers,
Barry

Dermot Nolan

Cheers Barry,

yeah back seems to be fine now. Chiropractor x-rayed it, i managed to slip two bones in my spine out of place and they were trapping two discs. I have to take a break for a week but it feels good now. I'll let you know when i can make it down.

Roper

Dermot Nolan wrote:

yeah back seems to be fine now. Chiropractor x-rayed it, i managed to slip two bones in my spine out of place and they were trapping two discs.

Jaysus! I did that a few months ago at the top of my back. Its not a pleasant experience, and getting them pushed back in is no picnic either. Take it handy!

Barry

MaeveD

Hi Dermot,
I've had pretty similar problems (not a burst fluid sac though :eek: ) and find ashtanga yoga works wonders. Lots of BJJ guys in the US do Ashtanga to become more flexible.

I get my back etc looked at every six to eight weeks to make sure everythings in the right place and take a supplement like glucosamine regularly.

Dermot Nolan wrote:

Hi lads,

Im looking for some advise on improving flexibility at my hips. I overstretched in a warm up at a royce gracie seminar a couple of years ago and caused internal damage to the left hip joint (not too sure exactly what, possibly burst a fluid sack at the joint no physio could say for sure).

The pain has always been pretty bad after rolling since then. Over time my body seems to have compensated for the injury by tilting my pelvis bringing the pressure off the joint at the left side. This however has resulted (im not sure how) in a significant decrease in flexibilty at my hips. For example if someones attempting to pass my guard and pushes my knee to the floor it causes great pain due to how stiff my hips feel.

Thankfully the joint injury seems to have heeled now. Also due to a freak back injury on Friday and subsequent trip to the chriopractor, he fixed my back injury and also staightened out my pelvis.

So the only problem im left with is how inflexible my hips are. Has anyone experienced similar problems? Can anyone recommend specific exercises to improve hip flexibilty with particular reference to the demands of BJJ?


Thanks in advance,

Dermot

spiral

Dermot
1. deep slow squats sumo style feet spread wider than shoulder width , feet toed out hands resting on thighs slowly up and slowly down.

2. Hip circles on your back feet in the air head off the Ground circle legs in and then out. try not to do it from the knees like a lot of people but from the hips.

3. Shrimps and if you want to make it harder do it keeping your hips off the ground.

yomchi

Hey mate,

My physio emailed me some photo's of stretches for hip flexors and the surrounding hip muscles, PM me and I'll mail them to you

Dermot Nolan

Thanks for all the feedback lads, really appreciated. I'll give all the above a try and see what works for me.


Dermot