Loosen Those Hammies! – 6 Flexibility Tips For Tight Hamstrings

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Tight hamstrings?

You’re not alone. It’s a common complaint for many people, and we know how difficult it can be to resolve the issue. Flexibility in general is elusive to many people (but not for you, GMB Posse member)! Anyway, it can often seem like there are just two kinds of people in the world – flexible people and those who… well, aren’t. This distinction seems especially noticeable when you fall into the “not flexible” camp.

So what’s the deal? Is it true that some people are just born stiff and tight?

Well, there’s a few factors that contribute to a lack of flexibility, such as:

• Truly tight hamstrings
• Prior injuries
• Decreased back/pelvis mobility
• Overwork
• Improper training

Let’s take a look at some of these factors and some strategies you can employ to improve your hamstring flexibility.

What “Tight Hammies” Really Are

First of all, are your hamstrings really the problem?

This may seem silly or obvious, but just because you can’t touch your toes doesn’t necessarily mean your hamstrings are to blame for your limited range of motion. There can be quite a few structures in your “posterior chain” that are limiting your movement (especially if you have a job that requires you to sit or drive for long periods of time).

For example, your calves (gastrocnemius muscles) cross the knee joint, so restrictions there can make keeping your knees straight harder than it should be. Also, the connections from your deep hip muscles (glutes, piriformis, gemelli, etc.) can affect the ease in which your pelvis tilts, thus affecting how you bend forward at the hip.

Another factor could be the tightness of the fascial interconnections between your muscle groups (picture this as your muscles being “stuck together,” and thus they don’t slide freely beside each other).

Then there’s joint restrictions at your lower back and pelvis, which can cause increased tension throughout your hips and legs. With these, people often feel much more freedom in their motion after doing exercises that limber up the spine (without stretching their legs much at all).

Or it could be a combination of all of the above, which is definitely common with flexibility issues. So, yes your hamstrings may be tight, but that might just be a small part of the problem (an outward symptom) and you’d want to address all of these issues first.

How should you go about doing that?

6 Tips To Get You Started

Here’s a few tips to improve your movement and flexibility now, and get rid of that “ropes in the back of the legs” feeling.

1. Don’t force it.

You’ve heard this advice before (we’re sure) and probably ignored it. You may have thought, “If I just work on it harder and push through, my flexibility will improve.” But the trouble with this philosophy is that when you’re working on flexibility, your muscles (and nerves) aren’t passive structures. So, stretching too forcefully or too quickly will activate a “stretch reflex,” which increases muscle tension and resists the stretch. Don’t fight yourself on this one!

Here’s what you can try instead:

1. Pick a stretch, and rock slowly back and forth into the stretch several times.
2. Focus on having an even, steady breath.
3. Every few repetitions, hold the stretch for a bit and see where you’re at.

After a 30 seconds or so, you’ll likely find yourself further into the stretch with much less strain than before. Easy, right?

2. Bend your knees.

Yup, go ahead, it’s fine. Bending forward with straight legs is great if you can do it, but otherwise it’s not the best choice if you’re having trouble moving even a few inches forward in the straight leg stretch position. So, bend your knees and take the slack off the calves and hamstring attachments at your knees. Focus instead on maintaining a flat or slightly arched back, and keep your chest up and hinge forward at your hips.

3. Work on other areas first.

As we mentioned earlier, the source of your flexibility issues could be the result of the other areas of your body, rather than just your hamstrings. Try working on some simple back, hip, and calf stretches before your usual hamstring work  – you’ll probably notice you have freer motion right away!

4. Don’t hold so long.

The results of many flexibility research studies have consistently shown minimal benefits for holding a position longer than 15 – 30 seconds. This is why we recommend doing shorter holds with more repetitions (especially if you’re just starting out with flexibility work). Longer holds may be helpful if you’re working on a specific issue (and after you’ve already spending some time working on shorter holds), but don’t spend minutes in a position in an attempt to improve.

5. Follow up with active, dynamic movements.

Have you ever noticed that your flexibility gains from an earlier training session seem to disappear once you try to work on the position again? This can be frustrating, and this phenomenon is often caused by a lack of increased movement in this new range of motion. What does that mean? Use it or lose it, of course!

The retention of range of motion requires active use in the new range, otherwise your body reverts back to your old range of motion in that position. Essentially, you need to re-educate your body to move in this new range. Dynamic exercises such as deep squatting, leg swings, full range jumping, and kicking drills work very well. Keep the intensity low and well within your limits, and don’t stretch before any heavy exercise.

6. Try one thing at a time.

The five tips listed above are the best general tips we have to improve your flexibility right now. There are quite a few other methods you can try as well:

• Foam rollers
• Balls
• Contract-relax stretching
• Tack and stretch

There’s nothing wrong with trying any of these methods, but beware of trying everything at once. If you try out too many methods at once, you won’t know which method in particular works best for you, or worse, you won’t know which thing could possibly set you back. Give one method a shot by itself for a couple of weeks and recheck.

Now, get those hammies loosened up!

Want to Improve Your Stretching and Flexibility?

Photo via Keith Allison

Jarlo Ilano

GMB Content Manager - Jarlo is our resident Physical Therapist, Board Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist, and martial arts instructor. He writes articles and manuals and keeps us clear of any BS.

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