Having good hamstring length is important for all athletic endeavors and to comfortably do regular every day activities; to bend over to tie your shoes you will need elongated hamstrings. Without lengthened hamstrings, undue stress and strain may occur in the back, hips and knees.
Commonly, people know static stretches to build passive hamstring length. An example of static hamstring stretching would include lying your back while your instructor holds your leg in the air.
This photo illustrates a static stretch for the hamstrings using a wall to support the leg rather than a person
Static stretching will encourage the muscles to relax in order to create elongation, however, because the stretch is done passively, it may create an imbalance with the opposing muscle groups, make the muscle less sensitive to neural messages sent to the it by the brain, which diminishes its’ ability to generate force, and reduce blood flow in the stretched muscle. Therefore, static stretching is not considered a wise way to stretch prior to strenuous activity; a static stretch should only be held for 6-30 seconds, and should be done only preceding a gentle activity.
A dynamic hamstring stretch, conversely, involves actively taking the muscle in and out of a stretch. Since good flexibility is specific to body position and speed, a dynamic hamstring stretch will lengthen the muscle, but also prepare it for quick, ballistic and/or explosive activity. Consider when a soccer player kicks a ball or a martial artist kicks an opponent, he or she requires long muscles that can respond quickly in a variety of positions. In addition, since dynamic stretching increases blood flow to the muscles, it is an ideal way of stretching to prepare the muscles to be able to lengthen during a variety of situations- from playing sports and to doing other daily activities as gardening or picking up heavy objects. Training your hamstrings to stretch dynamically can greatly diminish the risk of tears and other injuries.
There are numerous exercises on the pilates reformer that can be used to dynamically lengthen the hamstrings. Here are three great exercises that can help you create long, strong and responsive hamstrings.
Feet in straps:
The back is stable against the carriage using the abdominal muscles, and all the muscles of the legs are active (gluts, hamstrings and quadriceps) to maintain the extension of the knees and to create resistance against the straps. When the legs are brought towards the body, the hamstrings are elongated, but the opposing muscle groups are active and the spine and pelvis are stable. This exercise begins slowly and can progress to a faster pace (still with control), 8-10 times.
Elephant:
During elephant, the gluts and hamstrings actively work to press the carriage out, simultaneously, the spine is supported in a neutral position. Then, the carriage is pulled in by using the hip flexor muscles. Notice that the upper body remains completely stable while the movement occurs at the hip joint, as if it were a hinge. This exercise begins slowly and may progress to a quicker pace (still with control), 8-10 times.
Front Splits standing on the floor:
In this exercise, the front leg is straightening to push the carriage out and bending to pull the carriage back in. The quadriceps are working to straighten the knee creating a hamstring stretch, then the hamstrings are working to pull the carriage back in. This exercise begins slowly and can progress to a quicker pace (still with control), 5-8 times.
All of these pilates exercises should be executed under the guidance of a certified pilates instructor.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Gday. Nice article and yes, these are good hamstring involving exercises. For early hamstring injuries, lateral slides on the reformer can be a useful way to involve the adductors and hip stabilisers and glutes, and indeed some hamstring, but without significant lengthening. Such a diverse topic, with an evolving understanding. For further reading on the truth behind stretching, check out several articles I’ve written on top of and around the topic, at http://www.sportsinjuryexpert.net/?cat=30
I agree with you, Greg. Very useful article about hamstring exercises. Thanks for sharing.
-Sami
I’m working with a runner who is extremely tight here. She obviously loves pilates but I know that gaining more flexibility is a major goal and the purpose of her choice to try pilates in the first place. It might be just my worried perception that the change is not happening fast enough, but I thought I’d make sure I’m doing everything right too.
In the first exercise described here, I’ve been having her focus on neutral spine and keeping the range smaller, but in reading – it dawned on me that she can be stable in her pelvis in imprint, so what would be the preferred way to work. Will she gain more flexibility by maintaining neutral and performing the stretch, or getting more range with imprinted spine?
Same is true for the other two exercises, with elephant there is no hope of heels down and flat spine…. should we try it as close as she can come to straight. And in the last exercise, what would be the best focus for her? She can’t come close to straightening the standing leg with hips in alignment. If she can keep the hips level (not tilted) but not square forward…is that good enough?
Any other tips for working with runners? She does 12 plus miles almost daily.
Thank you so much
Hi Sue-
Thank you so much for your questions. Runners often have very tight hamstrings and it does take a long time for them to lengthen. Because the hamstrings originate at the ischial tuberosities, it is important to keep the pelvis in a neutral position when stretching these muscles. If the spine goes into an imprint, the stretch will go into the muscles surrounding the sacrum and low back instead of the hamstrings. People with tight hamstrings often have overly flat lumbar spines or the lumbar area of their spine often goes into a flexion give. Learning to stabilize a neutral spine against the pull of a hamstring stretch is very important for this population. As we know, a neutral pelvis and spine leads to better shock absorption which is extremely important for runners.
In terms of how to better stretch these muscles, I think the lower and lift exercise with the feet in the straps would be very beneficial. Try keeping your hand under your clients low back as the legs are coming up to insure that the spine is staying stable in neutral and there is not excessive gripping in the spinal extensor muscles. For someone with very tight hamstrings the Elephant exercise may be too difficult for them to attain a neutral spine alignment. Keep coming back to it though as they continue to lengthen their hamstrings as it may all of a sudden become more achievable. Another way to work on re-balancing the hamstring length is to actively strengthen the hip flexor muscles. Try having them sit on the edge of the cadillac or something of equal height from the ground. While maintaining neutral spine alignment, have your client lift one leg up as far as they can maintain a stable pelvis and spine. Lower and lift the leg slowly or hold it up while focusing on lengthening the spine upward.
Please let us know if you have any other questions and keep us posted on your client’s progress!