Working hard on my flexibility but I'm having a difficult time. I've got really inflexible knees and hips so that's what I'm mainly working on.
For each stretch am I supposed to be forcing it and just tolorate as much pain as I can, or relax into each stretch and let it happen naturally, kinda yoga styley?
BTW, I'm using the stretches in Eddie's twister book.
It's just frustrating, because it feels like every day I'm super tight again and back to square one. :(((((
Are some people just genetically predisposed to be inflexible? I think I am.
I think some people are naturally flexible, but I'm hoping that really inflexible people like us still stand a chance :P
My rubber guard book has my stretching routine :)
Anyone can achieve high levels of flexibility. It's a matter of CNS functionality. Do yoga, meet hot, flexible females.
EddieBravo - My rubber guard book has my stretching routine :)
Yeah I've got this book and I'm using the stretches in it, it's been 2 weeks though and I wanna be able to do rubber guard nowwww :P
Cheers for the response though, I think you're a right legend. Just wish there were more 10th planet places in England :(
It takes a lot longer than two weeks. Every night I would strech for about 30 minutes, holding each strech at my limit for about 2-5 minutes. After about 6-12 months I went from having no flexibility to being able to put my legs behind my head. I took 6 months off recently and gained some weight and lost some of that flexibility, but I intended to get it back.
Your doing it right. It takes time though. Be patient or injure your knees. The choice is yours. If your doing it specifically for RG, focus on MC thru new york. There's plenty of toys to play with in there. Master them. It's gonna be your foundation. Don't rush to get past CD and double bagger and what not. Work your half and deep half game. Sit in half lotus as much as possible. When you do get to chill dog use it primarily for oma plata/sweeps and the flashier stuff will come eventually. Butterfly then triangle stetch then back to butterfly. You'll feel a slight increase in flexibility each time you do this. Also, work your takedowns and top game too. Also if you can't get a good mission control it's most likely your clench and angle that are off. 
Never seen this sub-forum before. I still don't know how I stumbled into it but rest assured I'll be back.
Thanks for the advice guys, I'm taking it all on board.
I'm nowhere near being able to sit in the lotus, but every day I'm getting a bit closer.
I guess with rubber guard etc, it's evolving so fast I wanna be able to keep up, but like you say I need to just focus on the basics for the time being. I train at a pretty new club so most of the guys are still grappling at 100%, makes it hard to try out new things until they knacker themselves out.
In any case, even if I can't do rubber guard properly yet, I figure good flexibility helps escapes, transitions etc so I'll do my best to get bj penn bendy :D
Stretch to the point of mild or moderate pain or discomfort. If you try to rush or force a stretch you will injure yourself. For knees are the hardest to gain flexibility in at least for me, but one I've found in one of Bravo's books is the heel hook stretch you'd have to loom it up cause it's a little hard to explain but it has helped a lot for me coming off a recent MCL injury. Also do stretches in sets and hold for 8-10 seconds relax repeat for 3-5 sets, and warm up before stretching to decrease risk of injury.
Andrewmccoll - It takes a lot longer than two weeks.
If your knees hurt when you do a position, it is your hip flexibility you need to work on. You do not want to stretch your knees, that is retarded and will lead to weakening and injury.
PointyShinyBurn - If your knees hurt when you do a position, it is your hip flexibility you need to work on. You do not want to stretch your knees, that is retarded and will lead to weakening and injury.
This... Except I believe it is the external rotators that are the culprit. But do not stretch your knees!! every stretch that leads to rubber guard flexibility which appears to stretch the knees is in fact needed to focus on some other area.