in this video we're gonna talk about how to fix your tight hamstrings and a few
things that you've probably never heard before that's gonna give you lasting results
yo what's up its Coach E here from precision movement and today we're gonna
talk about how to fix tight hamstrings so the hamstrings are a muscle group
that are commonly tight so many athletes so many regular people have tight
hamstrings and they're trying to do things they're trying to stretch the
typical static stretch where you stick your leg up on a chair you kind of bend
over and you stretch the hamstrings there they're doing that but you're not
getting lasting relief so why is that so we're going to talk about three things
that you need to know to fix your tight hamstrings for good okay so before we
get into that quick little bit of anatomy the hamstrings they're made up
of three different heads of the muscle there's the biceps femoris we're just
kinda on the lateral side at the outside and then there's the semitendinosus and
semimembranosus which are more on the medial aspect here okay so the hamstring
it's a multi joint muscle so it crosses both the hip joint and the knee joint so
at the knee the hamstrings create knee flexion okay and when the knee is flexed
they also rotate the tibia the biceps femoris rotated laterally or externally
and the semitendinosus and semimembranosus rotate it immediately okay at the hip
the hamstrings contribute to hip extension okay so pushing the hip back
so why is that important well that's important because why are the hamstrings
tight in the first place now one reason that the hamstrings are tight in the
first place is because they're trying to pick up the slack for muscles or their
muscles that aren't doing the job and in this case the muscles that are often not
working properly in people are their glutes and the glute maximus okay
the glute maximus contributes to hip extension that's its primary rules to
extend the hip and it's a big muscle and it's very powerful but when we're
sitting on our asses all day okay those muscles can go to sleep they get weak
and they stop functioning properly something else has to pick up the slack
and that's something else is hamstrings but the hamstrings on the
other hand they're a very long muscle like you can see it goes from the knee
right up to my hip ischial tuberosity right on the pelvis here it's a long
muscle they're very skinny they're not designed to do the same work from a
structural perspective as the glute maximus which is a short really thick
strong muscle okay it's built for power so the hamstrings try to pick up the
slack there they can't do the job they get overworked they get damaged they get
sore you can get tendinopathy going on tendonosis high hamstring problems right
at the ischial tuberosity at the sit bones yeah those are all symptoms that
the hamstrings are doing too much and doing work that they're not suited for
so to fix that you got to get the glutes working properly
okay so glute maximus exercises you start off very simple with hip bridges
you know just firing up the glutes making sure they're active squeeze the
glutes and one trick you can apply to this to get the hamstrings out of this
movement is think about kicking the floor that way your feet aren't going to
move but I'm sliding my feet that way to fire up the quads in the extension and
that'll shut the hamstrings off a little bit so you can focus more of this hip
extension movement on the glutes okay so before you do any exercises squats
deadlifts lunges any of that stuff get the glutes firing up shut off the
hamstrings and that will help to reprogram your neuromuscular system so
that the glutes start to do what they're supposed to do and the hamstrings do
less of that hip extension movement okay so that's part one the glutes aren't
working properly part two is this is for people and athletes generally younger
athletes or more natural athletes who are very powerful and explosive they can
run really fast it could sprint super fast but they haven't developed their
hamstring strength sufficient to handle all the forces that go on when you're
sprinting so the hamstrings when you're running they decelerate the foot or the
lower leg from going forward and then they help to pull yourself
forward when you're sprinting okay if you're really powerful you're
running really fast maybe you don't have the speed to or the hamstring strength
and the speed in the reaction time to control that movement to the
deceleration movement okay the other part of this running and sprinting
sports you see a lot of hamstring problems there the other time that the
hamstrings contribute to that is in cutting and rotation because remember I
said when the knees are flexed the hamstrings contribute to the lower leg
rotation okay so if you're running and cutting you need that type of movement
if you're a boxer and you're throwing and you're rotating you need that type
of movement that type of control at the knee joint from the hamstrings so if
they're not working properly and they're not strong enough they can end up
getting strained okay so those are some contributors contributing factors to
hamstring problems in the ultimately hamstring tightness so if the hamstrings
if they've been tired or if they're getting strained over and over and
damaged then you need to restore proper muscle tissue quality okay so one way to
do that double across ball here you sit on
something and this technique I call active self myofascial release so if
you've ever heard of Active Release techniques from a physiotherapist or
chiropractors this is along those same lines the same philosophy and theories
behind it okay so what you want to do is stick the lacrosse ball somewhere under
your hamstring the hamstrings start with your knee flexed and then I'm gonna put
my pressure put the weight on it and then I'm gonna slide my butt forward as
I extend the knee okay we're off the edge there a little bit and then you hit
another area and you do the same thing slide forward as you extend the knee
what this is doing is it's basically with the ball you're locking down the
tissue and then as you slide you're ripping the tissue you're releasing the
tissue and then as you extend the knee you're further releasing that tissue
because you're contracting the quads through reciprocal inhibition the
hamstrings relax a little bit so you get deeper into that tissue and release
it even better than if you're just to do like a passive massage okay so that's
why it's a little more effective to put the pressure on and actively lengthen
the muscle as you release the tissue okay so that's the active self
myofascial release so far we've covered two things that you need to do
you need to get the glutes working properly so the hamstrings don't
compensate and overwork because you'll never get out of tight hamstrings if
they're always constantly working and tightening up because they're getting
damaged just like if you're training your biceps and you rip them so hard
they get really sore they kind of tighten up you walk like this same thing
happens with the hamstrings okay part two is to use some kind of tool go to a
therapist if you want but you can do this to release the tissue okay release
the muscles the adhesions scar tissue anything like that that might be there
okay once you've done that stuff then it's time to increase the length of the
hamstring now that's where static stretching comes into play but static
stretching research has shown not as effective as mobility
exercises and definitely not active mobility exercises I should say and
definitely not as effective as the technique I'm going to show you here
today so here you might have heard of PNF stretching before it involves
contracting muscles on both sides of the joint so here I'm stretching the
hamstrings so what I want to do is I want to contract both my hamstrings and
my quads to deepen the stretch and to also reprogram the neuromuscular system
to say hey I've got strength at this range of motion let me keep it that's
one of the problems with static stretching is you stretch out you get
loose you gain range but you haven't built up the strength there
it's your neuromuscular system your brain is like okay you're not strong at
this range I'm just going to tighten you back up because that's unstable that's
dangerous to be to have range of motion without any strength or control at that
range okay so it's very simple all you do is get into your whatever
hamstring stretch you're doing okay is the single leg up on a chair or a box
so here I've got a little bit of a stretch going so my first move is to
push down and to think of flexing my knee to fire up those hamstrings so hip
extension knee flexion make sure the hammies are fired up okay do that for
about five seconds a good strong contraction maybe 80% and then relax and
then deepen myself into the stretch breathe then part two because I'm here
actively flex the hip and extend the knee so fire up those quads fire up the
hip flexors hold it for five seconds and then relax and go deeper into the
stretch again okay breathing the whole time relaxed and then you repeat that
cycle for two to three times per leg yeah so there you're going to build some
strength in both the muscles that bring you into the range of motion which are
the hip flexors and the quads and the muscles that will get you out of that
range of motion which are the hamstrings and the glutes and that's how you
quickly reprogram the neuromuscular system to accept this new range of
motion okay so that's a technique that you can use to build what I call range
of control and that's what's most important to
active people athletes people are using their bodies and indeed not just the
flexibility but the mobility the strength to get into stabilize and out
of that range of motion all right so there you have three things you need to
do to fix your tight hamstrings hopefully that's open your eyes a little
bit to some things that you may have been missing if you've been trying to
stretch your hamstrings but you haven't had any success and if you found this
beneficial useful and you put it to work for you and it's you're like oh hey this
is working awesome I suggest you check out the hip
flexibility solution at
www.PrecisionMovement.coach/hip-flexibility-solution
I'll throw a link at the end of this video but check that
out because we're going to hit up all the muscles of the
hamstrings quads hip flexors adductors all that stuff loosen them up but also
build that range of control build that strength and stability so you can use it
in your everyday movements in everyday life all right so thanks for watching my
name is Eric, you were watching precision movement at work and hope to see you soon