Bloody Tight Hamstrings!

Shane732

As the title suggest I suffer from tight hamstrings.

My hamstring flexibility when lying flat on the floor would only be about 60 - 70 degrees.

I stretch them on a daily basis but i just don't seem to be able to loosen them up.

I'm wondering if any of you guys suffer from the same problem? How do you loosen them?

Brian?

How are you currently stretching them? How long are you holding the stretch.

KathleenMcCabe

My flexability has been fairly bad most of my life.
About 5 weeks ago, i started doing yang style tai chi. Partly for the mental well being and partly to put a balance all the combative aspect of the martial arts that i train in.

I have in the last week-10 days noticed a dramatic improvement in my hamstring and hip flexors.

I'm looking forward to the progression in my flexability.

Just an idea for you

Shane732

briankeating wrote: »

How are you currently stretching them? How long are you holding the stretch.

Holding most stretches for about 10 seconds....

Brian?

Shane732 wrote: »

briankeating wrote: »

How are you currently stretching them? How long are you holding the stretch.

Holding most stretches for about 10 seconds....

You need to start holding them for 30 seconds X3. So you're basically doing 1/9th of what works best .

Give that a go for a few weeks and see how you get on.

Doug Cartel

Do you do any dynamic stretches or mobility work?

Are you sure you're doing your stretches with good form?

Barry.Oglesby

It's usually not hamstrings when people complain about their hamstrings. In my experience it's more likely to be hip or back related.

Just something to consider.

Kadongy

the flexibility of my chest and front of shoulders improved a great deal when I strengthened my upper back. Maybe if you have strong hemstrings you should look at strengthening your quads or other opposing muscles.

ixus

Yoga.

I have very poor flexibility.

After a long term injury, I used to go to yoga for an hour before football (GAA) training. It had a hugely positive impact for me.

Shane732

briankeating wrote: »

You need to start holding them for 30 seconds X3. So you're basically doing 1/9th of what works best .

Give that a go for a few weeks and see how you get on.

What do you think would be the best stretches for my hamstring...

Shane732

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

It's usually not hamstrings when people complain about their hamstrings. In my experience it's more likely to be hip or back related.

Just something to consider.

Generally I'm quite flexible with the exception of my hamstrings. The personal trainer I used to go to always said that I had tight hamstrings.

I pulled hamstring earlier on in the summer and it feels unbelievably tight when I run now.

I'm doing regular stretching but it doesn't seem to be helping. Also my hamstring seems very weak as I seem to pick up small pulls in it a good bit.

Kevin Duffy

Shane732 wrote: »

Generally I'm quite flexible with the exception of my hamstrings. The personal trainer I used to go to always said that I had tight hamstrings.

I pulled hamstring earlier on in the summer and it feels unbelievably tight when I run now.

I'm doing regular stretching but it doesn't seem to be helping. Also my hamstring seems very weak as I seem to pick up small pulls in it a good bit.

Have you had your back checked out by a good osteopath or physio? I've done quite a bit of fitness consultancy for sports teams and individuals at a high level, including injury management. IME, the first place to look for hamstring problems is in the lower back or hip. Maybe 80%+ of the time that's where we find the problem. The remainder of the time, it's some combo of tight quads, bad warmup habits and previous hamstring problems manifesting as feeling a tight hamstring. Genuine, stand-alone hamstring problems seem to be low on the list of problems.

batmanandrobin

I know it might sound strange but stretch your hip flexors first. I have tight hammers because my hip flexors are tight in front and pulling my pelvis forward. My physio reckoned that the hip flexors cause an anterior pelvic tilt and as such puts the hamstring on stretch and makes the hamstring work hard to balance the pelvis. Long story short it's stopped my hammers from pulling every time I run!

kevpants

Amazing how often I end up referring to Stuart Mcgill nowadays:

There is really no support for bilateral stretching of the hamstrings to prevent and treat lower back pain. In most cases, the tightness people feel in their hamstrings is a neural tightness – not a purely soft-tissue phenomenon. Dr. McGill believes that the only time the hamstrings should be stretched is with an asymmetry. This is something I’ve been practicing for close to a year now with outstanding results; the tighter my hamstrings have gotten, the stronger and faster I’ve become. The secret is to build dynamic flexibility that allows us to make use of the powerful spring effect the hamstrings offer; static stretching – especially prior to movement – impairs this spring.

In brief. Really no need to stretch hamstrings. They generally aren't the problem lke Barry said.

Think of it this way, they are simultaneously the most stretched yet most injured muscle. Something doesn't add up.

Hanley

kevpants wrote: »

Amazing how often I end up referring to Stuart Mcgill nowadays:



In brief. Really no need to stretch hamstrings. They generally aren't the problem lke Barry said.

Think of it this way, they are simultaneously the most stretched yet most injured muscle. Something doesn't add up.

This.

The evidence seems to suggest (as Kev’s post alludes to) that asymmetric deficiencies are a bigger predictor of injuries than bi-lateral. And that hamstring injuries really occur as a result of something else (typically tight hip related - whether that’s tight hips or dormant glutes).

Think of it this way, your glutes are your primary hip extenders, if they’re not working, your hamstrings take an unnaturally great proportion of the work and you risk injury. And if your hips aren’t moving properly for whatever reason, your hamstrings are at a great risk and your body places a “stop” on their range of motion to protect itself, but every now and again you can push create a stimulus that pushes past that self-preservative “stop” and end up injured as a result.

Remove the need for that by having everything else work correctly and suddenly you could be more injury resilient without have to actually do anything specifically to your hamstrings.

dragonkin

Hanley wrote: »

This.

The evidence seems to suggest (as Kev’s post alludes to) that asymmetric deficiencies are a bigger predictor of injuries than bi-lateral. And that hamstring injuries really occur as a result of something else (typically tight hip related - whether that’s tight hips or dormant glutes).

Think of it this way, your glutes are your primary hip extenders, if they’re not working, your hamstrings take an unnaturally great proportion of the work and you risk injury. And if your hips aren’t moving properly for whatever reason, your hamstrings are at a great risk and your body places a “stop” on their range of motion to protect itself, but every now and again you can push create a stimulus that pushes past that self-preservative “stop” and end up injured as a result.

Remove the need for that by having everything else work correctly and suddenly you could be more injury resilient without have to actually do anything specifically to your hamstrings.

This is great advice. I had a similar problem to the OP got a pair of barefoot shoes and wear them everyday. They force you to use your glutes and you realise just how messed up your body is due to the unnatural height that the heel is lifted off the ground. In the space of three weeks doing 2+ hours per day walking the muscle tone in my glutes has completely changed.

Using a PNF hamstring stretch I can now go above 110 degrees lying on my back, so far back I actually stop as it looks so weird not because I'm feeling any pain.

Insect Overlord

I'll bite the bullet and ask the obvious question here (instead of Googling it!):

Could someone recommend some decent warm-up exercises and stretches for the glutes, hips and lower back?

Hanley

Insect Overlord wrote: »

I'll bite the bullet and ask the obvious question here (instead of Googling it!):

Could someone recommend some decent warm-up exercises and stretches for the glutes, hips and lower back?

..using the "teach a man to fish" approach here - google "joint by joint approach" with both Gray Cook and Mike Boyle as search terms. It's a good outline as to how it all works.

Hopefuilly someone else will chime in with actual recommendations.

Brian?

Insect Overlord wrote: »

I'll bite the bullet and ask the obvious question here (instead of Googling it!):

Could someone recommend some decent warm-up exercises and stretches for the glutes, hips and lower back?

Downloa magnificent mobility, I found it very good.

Shane732

Thanks for the comments.

I will certainly look into what you've all said.

I'm struggling to find anything decent on on the joint by joint approach....

Any chance you could give me a few leads....

Shane732

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_repair/get_your_butt_in_gear;jsessionid=DB33D2678003B52464AA3A67007A0A57-mcd02.hydra

How good does this article and program seem?

Barry.Oglesby

very good stuff. Probably the hip corrections would be the only exercise there that would require some coaching. They're tricky to get right. Most of those are simple enough but try to get some feedback on them from someone in the know...

... which come to think about it not many people have access to. If you can't do that then get youtube to help!

d'Oracle

Here is a similar article by one of the authors.
He goes into a little more detail on the whole excessive Lordotic curve/ Anterior pelvic tilt thing and how it can affect your hamstrings.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/hips_dont_lie_fixing_your_force_couples

Brian?

Cressey is one of the few people who regularly write for T-Nation that I think is worth reading.

The DVD I mentioned earlier is his:

http://magnificentmobility.com/

Shane732

d'Oracle wrote: »

Here is a similar article by one of the authors.
He goes into a little more detail on the whole excessive Lordotic curve/ Anterior pelvic tilt thing and how it can affect your hamstrings.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/hips_dont_lie_fixing_your_force_couples

You raise an interesting point about Lordotic curve. Its something that I think I suffer from. You get to the point where you begin to think "well, that sounds like my problem" to just about everything condition out there.

My GP reckons that it's not a Lordosis issue rather that I tend to suffer from pretty bad bloating which makes me feel like my stomach is almost hanging out.

Overall I'm not overweight (well at least I think I'm not) - I'm 5' 9" and about 155 - 160lb. However, because the bloating can be quite bad my stomach can sometimes look huge (which it's actually not when I can get some decent bowel movement!!).

Hanley

Don't look at your stomach for lordosis, look at your lower back. It should be fairly obvious.

Stand with you back and ass against the wall, have somoene slide their hand in between the gap at the wall and your lower back, can the make a fist, can the move their hand in and out while in a fist without punching you in the back?

Shane732

Hanley wrote: »

Don't look at your stomach for lordosis, look at your lower back. It should be fairly obvious.

Stand with you back and ass against the wall, have somoene slide their hand in between the gap at the wall and your lower back, can the make a fist, can the move their hand in and out while in a fist without punching you in the back?

It I put my the heels of my feet right against the wall as well then you can slide your hand through but when you make a fist it will hit my back.

You certainly can't move the fist in and out without hitting me in the back.

As I move my heels of the wall the gap gets tighter.

d'Oracle

A great deal of people are in Anterior pelvic tilt.
If you sit down all day, there is a good chance you are dealing with it.
It is really very common indeed.

With respect to Hanley's post, it might fall down if you have a small ass and it leaves a bit open to interpretation. Its a quick test and if you think too much about it then you could make meal of it. If you can pass the fist through there at all with forcing your way past your lumbar erectors, then its probably a fail. Specially if you think that you may be there already.

And while I'm not diagnosing it or anything, it could be that you have both excessive lordosis and bloating issues.

Also there is a lot you can do to fix the APT and if you do, well direct ab work and hip flexor stretching is quite often a good idea for most. And Glute activation is what makes a lad into a key lad.

Hanley

d'Oracle wrote: »

A great deal of people are in Anterior pelvic tilt.
If you sit down all day, there is a good chance you are dealing with it.
It is really very common indeed.

This.

With respect to Hanley's post, it might fall down if you have a small ass and it leaves a bit open to interpretation. Its a quick test and if you think too much about it then you could make meal of it. If you can pass the fist through there at all with forcing your way past your lumbar erectors, then its probably a fail. Specially if you think that you may be there already.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand this.

Barry.Oglesby

Okay now we're overthinking. He might just have tight hamstrings. Simple.

OP a good session will include some form of mobility exercise for the hip complex. So rather than focusing all your energies there, do a good mobility warm up that takes in everything.

JJayoo

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/surprising_reasons_why_youre_tight_and_weak