Flexible Knees??

[Sophana Sok]

Hey guys,

I saw this video during my break at work one day, not sure if anyone has ever brought this up here...but this guy talks about how dangerous it is to have flexible knees. This has not convinced me to stop working my rubber guard. However, it has made me think about ways to avoid injury. What are your opinions on it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obNRbziR2_k

[John Alighieri]

The rubber guard is all about HIP flexibility not knee flexibility!

[Sophana Sok]

The rubber guard is all about HIP flexibility not knee flexibility!

dam...it used to hurt my knees like hell, I still have problems doing kung fu move to get to jiu claw because I feel tightness in my knees when trying to work the rubber guard.

[John Alighieri]

angles are really important too instead of being square with your partner try to be a bit more on the side. That'll make the jiu claw/gogoplata... a lot more easier to hit if you're lacking of flexibility.
Can you double lotus easy?
Can you put both knees on the mat when you're doing the butterfly stretch?

[Rick Weise]

The rubber guard is all about HIP flexibility not knee flexibility!

This.

He's half right. I'm not a fan of closed chain knee circles either, and he does make a valid point about knee stability. But dragging Eddie's name into it is, I feel, disingenuous. While Eddie does refer to some stretches as 'knee' stretches or talks about 'stretching your knees', the truth is that what he refers to are primarily hip stretches. ANY stretches that one performs that either cause, or feel like they're causing undue stress to the inside or outside of your knee should be stopped immediately, because it means either 1) you're doing the stretch wrong or 2) it's a crappy stretch. Hypermobile knees are bad news but doing rubber guard stretches - correctly - are a far cry from causing your knees to blow out. Flexibility takes time and consistency, and shouldn't be rushed.

[Justin W.]

LOL flexible knees.

[Sophana Sok]

angles are really important too instead of being square with your partner try to be a bit more on the side. That'll make the jiu claw/gogoplata... a lot more easier to hit if you're lacking of flexibility.
Can you double lotus easy?
Can you put both knees on the mat when you're doing the butterfly stretch?

I can get to the lotus stretch fairly easily now after working on it. However, my knees cannot touch the ground when doing the butterfly stretch. I'm pretty sure if my hips were more flexible I wouldn't feel my knees so much. Definitely trying to do things the right way. I been working my positioning and trying to make everything work but my flexibility always sucked balls! It's frustrating when I am rolling and see things that I could get in to and can't finish because usually my knees start to tense and I start opening my guard. My knees used to cause me a lot of problems so when I saw this video I was like, shit...wtf, if I don't work on my knees I wont be able to do shit, so I just disregarded it.

[Rick Weise]

I'm pretty sure if my hips were more flexible I wouldn't feel my knees so much.

There you go, you hit the nail right on the head. IMO hamstring flexibility is the most important thing to work on for the knees, most people's quad flexibility is pretty good. It just takes a while for some people (myself included), don't get frustrated. I found Eddie's flexibility video to be very inspiring.

[FRANK BARCA]

Interesting........when is legibility ever a bad thing anyway? Take your time no rush, gentle and easy does it goes far in this area. Problems start when fools tug and pull ton their limbs cold. No wonder! Anyway, I don't totally agree with all in this clip

[Brent Smith]

If there's pain in your knee when doing rg you gotta change your technique a bit. I've seen someone pop their knee just from trying to squeeze mission control. The knee has no side to side mobility