Why Stretching Your Hamstrings Doesn’t Work (And What Does)

Alisa Zuravskaja, mobility coach, shows us how to get there, quickly:

Calm your nerves

Quick self-test: do a forward fold to note how far your hands reach, then check your posture sideways in a mirror to see whether your pelvis tilts forwards and your lower back is arched.

If your pelvis indeed tilts forwards (an anterior pelvic tilt) your hamstrings are already under constant tension, so simply holding a stretch doesn’t change the underlying mechanics or how your nervous system regulates range of motion.

So here’s how to deal with that, step-by-step:

• Nervous system reset drill: elevate one foot on a book or small block, and hinge into a good-morning position or half circles, so that your brain receives proprioceptive input that helps your nervous system allow more hamstring length.
• Tissue mobilization with foam rolling: sit with a foam roller under your hamstrings, support yourself with your hands, and slowly roll from just below your glutes to just above your knees, focusing extra on tight spots.
• Sciatic nerve flossing: lie on your back, raise one leg, point your foot away to increase the pull, then flex your foot towards your face, to release tension so that the sciatic nerve glides through the hamstring area.
• PNF hamstring stretching: lie on your back with a band or towel around your foot, gently stretch your leg up, then push your foot against the band at about half effort, before relaxing and pulling deeper into the stretch.
• Strengthen your hamstrings at long length: do either a Jefferson curl (by slowly rounding your spine while lowering a light weight from an elevated surface) or a single-leg Romanian deadlift (where you hinge at your hips while your standing hamstring lengthens under load).

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

Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

Want to learn more?

You might also like:

Tight Hamstrings? Here’s A Test To Know If It’s Actually Your Sciatic Nerve ← in case you weren’t sure about your pelvic tilt, here’s a more conclusive test

Take care!