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The Smart Hamstring Stretch for Tight Hamstring Muscles
The Problems with Common Hamstring Stretches
When your hamstrings feel tight, it seems obvious that they need to be stretched. (Or do they? You might want to watch this video on Hamstring Stretches – When You Shouldn’t Stretch Them – See more at: http://dailyvitamoves.com/hamstring-stretches-when-you-shouldnt-stretch-them) A very common way to perform a hamstrings stretch is to sit on the ground with your legs straight in front of you and bend over to reach for your toes. The issue with this is that most people round their back too much and overstretch weak muscles in their low back which could be detrimental to the integrity of the spine.
Another common hamstring stretch is to stand on one leg and prop the other leg up on an elevated surface like a bench and again reach over and try and touch the toes. The problem with this is that you can easily overstretch and risk straining your hamstrings if you’re not careful enough or don’t have enough body awareness to know where the appropriate limit is. The tendency is to be too aggressive in doing any of these common hamstring stretches.
How To Stretch Your Hamstrings the Smart Way
As you may know, I’m a big fan of doing things that take less time and that gets more things done. So if you had the option of doing a full body exercise that releases tight hamstrings AND helps to develop better balance, strength, and better posture, would you want that instead? Of course you would!
The hamstring stretch I show in this video is not only for getting more flexibility in your hamstrings, but it’s also designed to “kill 5 birds with one stone”!
Contracting your quad muscles to straighten your knee sends neurological signals to calm your hamstring muscles down and allow it to stretch as you raise your straight leg upwards.
Arching your foot of the standing leg helps to build strength in the little muscles of your feet that tend to get weak.
Contracting the glutes of your standing leg activates strength in your hip extensors and hip stabilizers.
Keeping your hips from moving forward helps with building upper body trunk stabilization.
Turning your arms outward and making reaching them “long” behind you helps you develop better posture.
Yes, there’s a lot of stuff going on and you might have to watch this hamstring stretch video a few times to make sure you get everything.
Why only try and stretch your hamstrings when you can do so much more and do it more quickly?
Here’s to making moves that nourish your life!
Quickly & effectively releases tightness in hamstring muscles
Helps build strength in the arches of the feet and buttocks
Increases the ability to create full body stabilization
Helps develop more upright posture
Stand with feet hip-width apart
Shift your weight to balance on your right leg and lift your left leg forward
Straighten your left knee as much as you can
Simultaneously, you will also be performing ALL of the following:
Exaggerate the arch in your right foot by making a “cupping” shape on the bottom of your foot
Keep your hips from moving forward by intentionally reaching your pelvis backward (without arching your back or tilting your body forward)
Make a firm contraction in your right buttock muscles by thinking as if you were making your leg long into the ground
You'll notice that this will assist you in lifting your straight left leg higher
Make your upper body long headward as if there was a string pulling the top of your head skyward
Keeping arms straight fingers spread wide, turn both of your arms outward and keep turning to point your thumbs backward as far back as you can
Lift your left leg higher and hold all of these muscle contractions for 5 seconds
WHEW! Then do the same on the other leg!
You will be working to keep the leg straight and lifting it higher throughout this entire movement
Perform 5 repetitions on each side
Try to contract more fully each repetition
