The other kids used to laugh at me in high school P.E. When you’re a kid, you’re supposed to be flexible, but I never was. While everyone else was easily putting their foreheads on their knees, I couldn’t even touch my toes.
And when I started rowing on the crew team in college, my coach yelled at me nearly every day to stretch my tight hamstrings that were sabotaging my technique and slowing the whole boat down.
Stretch I did, but no matter what I tried those tight hamstrings just wouldn’t let go. What little flexibility I gained from a session of good ol’ fashioned static stretching usually disappeared in a few hours or days, leaving me just as stiff and tight as before.
My legs wouldn’t even go straight because my hamstrings were so tight, keeping my knees permanently bent.
Fast forward to today and while I wouldn’t claim to be the most bendy person in the world, I can stretch my legs out in front of me, fold forward and put my head squarely on my knees with my fingers comfortably wrapped around my feet.
Ahhhhh…I can’t even begin to tell you how good it feels to be loose and limber. But that’s beside the point. What I want to share with you is the technique I used that finally got my hamstrings to let go – and it definitely wasn’t just “stretch more.”
Best of all, you can use this technique to increase flexibility in just 30 seconds. Don’t believe me? Keep reading and see for yourself.
Hamstrings are actually three large muscles that originate at the base of your pelvis on the ischial tuberosity, or sits bone (these are the two sharp bones in your butt that get quite sore when you’ve been sitting on bleachers for a long time).
The muscles travel down the back of the leg and attach below the knee joint, making these guys a multi-joint muscle. They both extend your hip (think ballerina doing an arabesque) and flex the knee (i.e. curl your heel up behind you). Hamstrings are the antagonist to your quadriceps, the four large muscles that run down the front of the leg. Antagonist means that they do exactly the opposite movements, so your quads flex your hips – that’s why they’re known as hip flexors – and extend your knee. Think kicking your leg straight out in front of you.
And speaking of, if you can’t extend your leg out in front of you, you’re a victim of tight hamstrings, especially if your back hunches over like Quasimodo when you try to do it. Likewise, if you can’t straighten your leg at the knee, your hamstrings are tight, and probably your gastrocs and soleus muscles as well (the muscles of your calf).
Fortunately, I have a quick fix for you. You see, it’s super important to remember when trying to increase flexibility that your muscles are plenty long enough. It’s your nervous system that’s freaking out, thinking you’re going to tear something or go to far into a stretch and not have the strength to get back out. You have to teach your brain to chill out a little.
The pain or pulling you feel when you stretch a muscle is actually something called the stretch reflex – your nervous system is telling the muscle you’re stretching to contract so it doesn’t get over lengthened, so, in essence, you’re fighting yourself. But, if we use a little trick called proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF), we can override the stretch reflex and safely gain a few inches of flexibility relatively quickly.
This video shows you how to apply PNF principles to your hamstrings, and you’ll see the dramatic results you can get with just 30 seconds or so of stretching this way…
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i have short arms what do i do with the hamstring stretch.
Hi Charles, bend your knees more until you can reach below the bench/stool/stair/whatever you’re using. Or, load up a heavy heavy heavy barbell that you absolutely cannot lift, stand behind it and use that to leverage instead of standing on something.
Hi, how long does this extra flexibility last? Or, how often should one do this stretch? Also, I remember once reading one of your blogs in which you mentioned that stretching can be sometimes not the best thing to use for warming up/increasing flexibility. Would you be able to direct me to that post? Thank you!
Hi Susan,
Done a few times a week (2-3) you’ll be able to maintain your flexibility. Of course, you also need to USE this range of motion, so if you only stretch and then sit on your butt the other 23 hours and 59 minutes of a day, you’ll lose the flexibility. So, make sure your workout routines include movements that work the full range of hamstring flexibility. Full squats are great.
And yes, static stretching is not the best way to gain flexibility; however, this is PNF stretching which trains the nervous system to relax. You can read that other article here: https://wholebodyrevolution.com/why-stretching-wont-increase-flexibility
Thanks!
Sukie
Sukie, without assistance I can just touch the floor with the middle finger of both hands with legs straight. I need to work at it because I'm a regular (when not injured) runner and tight hammies and calf muscles are a no-no.
Peter
Sukie,
As per my facebook post, I can just touch the floor with straight legs with the middle finger of both hands. So I need to work on what feels like tight hammies. My regular running tends to overtighten hammies and calves if not addressed. I have tried laying both legs vertically straight against a wall with torso on the floor for 10 minutes or so, but I guess practice makes perfect.
I cannot straighten my leg due to a knee injury 6 months ago. I am having physio and had an mua where the surgeon got the leg straight. Physio are now saying knee wont go straight due to my hamstrings being tight and not relaxing. Any suggesitons please? thanks Alison
Alison,
As long as your doctor has cleared you for it, try this stretch. You can apply the same contract-relax approach to any hamstring stretch, as well. It might take a while to get your leg straight, but you should be able to make some progress. Again, though, make sure you’ve got your doctor’s okay. You definitely don’t want to aggravate an injury.
Wow! It really works! Thank you!
Wow! It really works! Thank you!
and stretch BEFORE you get out of bed too 🙂
and stretch BEFORE you get out of bed too 🙂
Hey Sukie, where can I get that wooden stretching apparatus you are using?
Shoot, sorry for my previous reply. For some reason I thought you were asking about a different exercise. That bench is a Rolfing bench, not sold in stores. We were given patterns in class and instructions on how to make them, but I purchased mine off an instructor who had some extras. For this exercise, though, just use any bench, stair with a lip or even a jump rope or yoga strap that you stand on. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just stable.
Sukie,
I am unable to reach the floor. When bending i can touch my knees. That is as far as i can go without severe pulling in the back of my legs and calfs. How do i do this stretch?
I can touch the floor and all that but my hamstrings are stil tight. And my lover back aswel. Y is that. I use to play sport but i was playing true the pain so i stopped. I wanted to go back but the pain is still sore when i run.
You can use this stretch even if you’re able to touch the floor. Hard to say what’s going on with your body without being able to do a full posture and movement assessment as it could be any number of things.
Hi Sukie,
Is there any exercise I could do for actually being able to touch the ground as I’ve never been able to touch my toes
Thank you!