good and effective hamstring stretches?

[Fiddleman 4,376]

I have a mobility issue with my hamstrings and am unable to completely straighten my legs. Maybe it is not my hamstrings, butI do feel it is tight there and my leg locks at about 170 degrees when trying to stretch it against a vertical bar with my back on the floor.

For the past few months I have been doing some pretty focused mobility exercises to straighten them out because lack of flexibility is holding me back in my cross fit training.

I do not know what has caused this, but suspect it is either from decades of rigid exercise with no concern for stretching or lack of exercise period. My career has been a desk job as a software developer. It could also be caused by a few months of lots and lots of running earlier in the year. I have a PT roller and use it on my upper body daily, but not so much on lower body. Mainly because I do not know how to do it without being uncomfortable. On my back, it is the best massage ever and really deep.

Do you know some really good lower body flexibility exercises that are going to fix this issue? Or a supplement? I already do most of the standard hamstring stretching exercises and do take 2-4 g of very high quality fish oil daily. Any good books on how to fix flexibility issues perhaps focusing on lifting. I have the same problem in my shoulder where my arm will not straighten when doing heavy lifts over head. I am strong enough, but body will not stay straight.

I really want to be hyper flexible!!! That would make some lifting activities so much easier.

[Ah0505 42]

Try using a belt/scarf/strength training tube (typically a Thera Band is best but probably not readily available). Sit on the floor, place the ball of one foot in the center of your "prop" (belt/scarf/tube), grasp one end of the prop in each hand, lie on your back with free leg bent and foot flat on the floor, gently begin to extend the other foot toward the ceiling (using you prop to control and support the leg). Your leg will not straighten all the way if you are very tight in the hams.

*****make sure your prop is nice and long so that you are not overextending those tight hammies****

Take it easy and slow. There are other ways if this doesn't feel right for you.

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Thanks ah0505. Any idea how long this type of stretching would take to fix hammie issues? Weeks? Months? I basically do his type of stretch without a prop, but it is so uncomfortable and I cannot get my leg straight so stop doing it. I will do it again, but how long to hold in place with the prop each time? Thanks for responding!!!!!

[Ah0505 42]

You'll want the length to be a bit longer than your leg length. Try that to start, it's okay if it isn't, you'll just need to adjust your arm bend as necessary. Try to hold it for 15 to 30 seconds, no longer than a minute for each leg. You can do 3 or 4 reps as on option; hold for 10 seconds, release, repeat and try to extend further.

If you don't find this helps at all after a few weeks of daily stretching you may seek out a good sports phys therapist. Your issue is most likely not just muscular tightness, could be ligament or tendon issues as well.

If you find the stretching is beginning to help, get on that foam roller. It hurts like hell but rolling them out provides some release to the fascia, just like a good deep tissue massage. Start on your side with the roller under your hip area, can't do any harm to roll out you IT band (runs from knee to hip). Bend your top/free leg, foot on floor to give yourself some control on how much pressure/body weight you put on the side of the other leg. It will hurt, a lot. Once you've taken a few rolls there start to roll your body so that you are putting some pressure toward the hamstring, continue rolling. I suggest you do your quads also, if you're doing Xfit they are likely tight as well.

Give it a go and let me know how it goes!!!

[Ah0505 42]

FYI, I am not a medical professional... A reformed Pilates instructor is all:-)

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Thanks again for the instruction. It is so helpful! I will begin on it tomorrow morning, I have high hopes and will stick with these suggestions for a few weeks to see how it goes. Cheers!

[Ah0505 42]

Stretching is sometimes harder than a dirty 30 workout!!!

Good luck!!!

[LouiseC 1,031]

You could try hot yoga. It is pretty intense and counts as cardiovascular exercise in its own right, however hot yoga is fantastic for building flexibility and working through problem areas. It compliments the other training you do which tends to focus on bunching the muscles up, this stretches them right back out again.

The heat in hot yoga takes some getting used to. But it is hot for a purpose, your body and muscles relax and stretch more in the heat. The trick for guys who come to hot yoga as I observe is to focus on the stretching rather than the strength. Ego can get in the way and I have seen men try and perfect the pose but they do so at the cost of the benefit of the stretch itself. The idea is to go where you can go, take the muscle to its limit and then breathe through it just a bit more.

If you do give it a go, talk to the yoga teacher prior about the area you are wanting to work on and then they may give you more guidance on this. Also, be prepared to sweat like never before :-D

It isn't for everyone, but I have found it to be the best thing I have ever done for my body. I now understand stretching more than ever before and the breathing techniques help me in all other exercise too.

[junebug38 13]

My CF box used to have us do stretches from mobilitywod.com. You can probably search there for some good ideas.

I would also talk to your coach as it doesn't seem like you are certain it is your hamstrings. They may be able to help you isolate what is wrong and give additional ideas on stretching. Best of luck!

[Fiddleman 4,376]

You could try hot yoga. It is pretty intense and counts as cardiovascular exercise in its own right' date=' however hot yoga is fantastic for building flexibility and working through problem areas. It compliments the other training you do which tends to focus on bunching the muscles up, this stretches them right back out again.

The heat in hot yoga takes some getting used to. But it is hot for a purpose, your body and muscles relax and stretch more in the heat. The trick for guys who come to hot yoga as I observe is to focus on the stretching rather than the strength. Ego can get in the way and I have seen men try and perfect the pose but they do so at the cost of the benefit of the stretch itself. The idea is to go where you can go, take the muscle to its limit and then breathe through it just a bit more.

If you do give it a go, talk to the yoga teacher prior about the area you are wanting to work on and then they may give you more guidance on this. Also, be prepared to sweat like never before :-D

It isn't for everyone, but I have found it to be the best thing I have ever done for my body. I now understand stretching more than ever before and the breathing techniques help me in all other exercise too.[/quote']

Thanks for the hot yoga suggestion Louise. I am ready to get back into yoga again (had to drop a couple months ago because of time commitments). It so happens a brand new hot yoga place opened close to where I live AND my CF trainer endorsed it and will be going herself to it. I am psyched about hot yoga again, especially if it gives me the mobility I am after!!

[Fiddleman 4,376]

My CF box used to have us do stretches from mobilitywod.com. You can probably search there for some good ideas.

I would also talk to your coach as it doesn't seem like you are certain it is your hamstrings. They may be able to help you isolate what is wrong and give additional ideas on stretching. Best of luck!

Thanks a lot for the link. I am definitely going to bookmark that one and spend some serious time on there. My trainer is very good at identifying mobility exercises to help me. We spend a good 10-15 minutes each time before and 10 minutes after WOD, just stretching. I am looking for more help in this area!!! Tight everywhere. I want to be Mr gumby so I can clean jerk or straight leg dead lift without be held back by rigidness. Thanks for any additional thoughts!!

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Louise - i went and checked out the hot yoga facility yesterday as an information gathering exercise. It looks fairly enticing. Timing is excellent as they offer a lot of their classes at 6:30 pm or later. It is a 10 minute drive from my house. I liked the facility as it was really clean and has very fashionable interior design.

The monthly dues are kind of high so that would be the only negative. However, it is less then the other yoga studio i attended a couple months ago due to grand opening. I do not see myself going every day. In fact, I would probably go only 1-2 days a week, max 3 days a week. For this reason, it might be better to purchase a set of classes rather then paying a monthly due for unlimited access. What do you think ?

I like their mission statement (on the home page of the link below):

http://sparkhotyogastudio.com/index.php

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Ah0505- I did not find any bands in my home gym area. I could have sworn I had some. Instead, I used my wife as a prop. First she made sure my leg was straight as i lay on my back- and slowly raised it until the intensity was enough. We are going to work at this stretch after my at home workout as that would be best in terms of warmed up hammies. I see a limber future ahead!

[Ah0505 42]

Ah0505- I did not find and bands in my home gym area. I could have sworn I had some. Instead, I used my wife as a prop. First she made sure my leg was straight as i lay on my back- and slowly raised it until the intensity was enough. We are going to work at this stretch after my at home workout as that would be best in terms of warmed up hammies. I see a limber future ahead!

Great idea having your wife help. Assisted stretching is great. Couple of suggestions to try, see what works... 1) don't worry about having your leg completely straight, slight bend in the knee may end up being more effective in the beginning 2) There are schools of thought that resistance/muscle contraction can help to improve flexibility. So, do your stretch, hold 10-15 seconds, then press your heel into your wife's hands to contract the hammies, hold 5-10 seconds, stretch again... See how that feels. If it ends up causing muscle cramping during the contraction, abort the mission and revert back to your original plan!

[LouiseC 1,031]

Louise - i went and checked out the hot yoga facility yesterday as an information gathering exercise. It looks fairly enticing. Timing is excellent as they offer a lot of their classes at 6:30 pm or later. It is a 10 minute drive from my house. I liked the facility as it was really clean and has very fashionable interior design.

The monthly dues are kind of high so that would be the only negative. However' date=' it is less then the other yoga studio i attended a couple months ago due to grand opening. I do not see myself going every day. In fact, I would probably go only 1-2 days a week, max 3 days a week. For this reason, it might be better to purchase a set of classes rather then paying a monthly due for unlimited access. What do you think ?

I like their mission statement (on the home page of the link below):

http://sparkhotyogastudio.com/index.php[/quote']

Looks good, I agree that purchasing a set of classes is the best way to go if you can't commit to at least a couple of classes a week. The way the studio I go to is structured, it is only economically viable to register for monthly unlimited if you do a minimum of two a week and I think most others are similar anywhere you go. I try and do a minimum of three classes a week which can be challenging on my schedule especially to fit in around the workouts and classes at the gym. But I love what the yoga does for my body and my mind (and the heat of the studio is addictive too I think!)

For your stretching, the Yin class would be the best option. It is really low paced, couldn't be called cardio at all as it really is just using the heat to stretch you to your limit and maybe just a bit beyond

For a good workout that gets you blood pumping, the flow class looks good.

They all look good actually!

Will they let you do a taster class to see if it is for you before you commit to a bigger purchase?