The Best & Worst Stretches For Hamstrings

Flexibility coach Liv Townsend helps us get the best gains for our efforts:

We won’t stretch the truth…

Firstly, some things that don’t work well for a lot of people:

• Seated forward fold: this stretch demands enough flexibility to anteriorly tilt your pelvis, and if your pelvis tucks under in a posterior tilt you mostly stretch your lower back while tugging on your feet may irritate your nerves rather than effectively lengthen your hamstrings.
• Pancake fold: the wide-legged forward fold often restricts people at the start position or is limited by tight adductors, meaning your inner thighs usually reach their end range before your hamstrings do.
• Kneeling half-split: this stretch can work but wobbling increases muscle tension and discomfort in your kneeling knee can reduce how much stretch your nervous system will tolerate (though if you can comfortably do it, it allows both passive relaxation and active heel drive for hamstring engagement).

Improving flexibility largely involves increasing your tolerance to stretch discomfort so that your body feels safe enough to relax and allow more range. Pain or instability elsewhere reduces that tolerance, so here’s a two-parter:

1. Supine hamstring stretch: lying on your back prevents rounding your lower back, isolates your hamstrings, promotes relaxation, and when using a strap the weight of your arms adds gentle load while keeping the stretch fully passive.
2. Romanian deadlift as a loaded stretch: this one (done in a staggered stance) loads one hamstring at a time, takes you to your available end range, and builds strength through that range as you hinge down and actively pull back up.

Why this helps so much: building strength at your end range helps prevent injury, improves how supported you feel in deeper positions, and signals safety to your nervous system so it allows greater length over time.

For more on all of this plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:

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Want to learn more?

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Take care!