Supplementing your BJJ training with yoga is a very good idea. Whilst not being 100% essential, if you are looking for longevity in the sport and enjoy training then it is a no-brainer to at least do something to help your body. Yoga is beneficial for pre-emptive strength and conditioning, as well as injury recovery. Not only does yoga allow you greater flexibility in your limbs, it also increases the strength of your core and will stop you from getting hurt as much when an accident happens.
Table of Contents
Core
This first video is a good idea for a core workout, this would be especially recommended for anyone starting BJJ. Having a strong core is absolutely essential and will help massively. The exercises in this video will not necessarily make you any more flexible in your limbs but will at least help keep nasty rib injuries away.
Upper Body, Shoulders & Neck
Everyone who has done BJJ for some time will have had some problem with their neck or shoulders. The constant pulling of arms and cross facing is fundamental jiu-jitsu, so this is not going away any time soon. Whether a recurring injury, or a one-off problem that goes away over time. These exercises will both stretch out the problematic muscles and make them stronger. The core idea behind these kinds of exercises is to make the muscles both stronger and have a greater range of movement. This way you will be far less likely to have anything bad happen in the future.
Lower Back & Hips
Another core area of BJJ is the lower back and hips. These problems generally arise from playing a lot of guard and/or inverting. When playing guard you will often be twisting in fast and violent motions to recover when someone has almost passed. This can become worse when inverting as you may have to quickly spin upside down and then have a lot of weight put on your lower back – which you may not have expected. These can lead to some more serious injuries such as slipping discs and even sciatica.
The exercises below will make your back and hips more flexible, as well as giving them some essential and fundamental strength to significantly reduce your risk of being injured.
Hamstrings & Hips
These exercises are not too dissimilar from the above hips & lower back techniques, but place more emphasis on the hamstrings. In this video you will learn how to make your hamstrings more flexible. This is a little bit different as your legs are more likely to be conditioned for strength compared to the rest of your body, especially if you walk a lot. It is important to keep this functional strength and add some flexibility. It is no use going for a big powerful sweep if you have no range of movement in your legs, which can cause a pulled hamstring and sideline you for a good 3 weeks.
Yoga For Breathing
Whilst I am sure this will not be for everyone, it certainly has some practical applications for those who are quickly running out of breath during sparring. It should go without saying that Rickson Gracie is largely credited for breathing in BJJ. But yoga and breathing have gone hand in hand long before BJJ existed. These exercises may be useful to you if you are interested in them so I will leave this video at the bottom. It could be argued these are the “least important” if you were to try everything on this page, but it is only 5 minutes so maybe worth a trial.
