Has anyone come across any good guides to stretching for grapplers online? I'm curious as there seems to be a ton of stuff on the stuff that you need for getting nice high kicks but what about routines to ghelp develop your guard work and escaping from under bad positions?
Might be worth reading this: http://www.grapplearts.com/Yoga-for-Grappling.htm The main stretches i focus on are for the groin and hips. Butterfly stretch is a staple for grappling. I can't do it at the moment though due to a groin strain
From my experience you don't really need any other diffrent stretching techniques for good guards etc. I stretch with doing splits, or touching my nose to my knees and such(or as far as you can go). Which is the same way I stretch for my kicking, and people have a hard time getting out of my guard because of my flexibility. It takes time.
Nice stretches on the above mentioned yoga for grappling site, but one not included is the frog stretch. Position yourself on your hands and knees, then rotate your knees outwards, pivoting the insteps of your feet until they're parallel with the floor, then drive your hips down towards the floor as far as possible. It's a great stretch that really helps when you gain someone's back, set your leg hooks and you're trying to sink a rear naked choke.
When i trained with Korean Top Team, before every class during the warm up, one of the main stretches were bridges using your head. Lay on your back bring your legs in and arch your back in the bridge position, use your hands to balance onto your head and then gently push further back rolling on the top of your head. another one was in the same bridge position and bring your right hand to touch past your left shoulder on the mat behind and same on the other side, rolling on the side ofyour head. These excercises are great for your neck muscles and help your bridge for escaping from when your opponent is in the mount or side control.
