hamstring stretch

Hamstring Stretches

Hey Everybody! Andrew here, coach at EarthFIT, bringing you your amazing hamstring stretch, done the right way. This is a technique that I use to get my hamstrings stretched out.

I use them a lot. We all do. They’re responsible for a lot of hip movement, knee extension. If you have tight hamstrings, a lot of people have poor knee extension. Like things like that. We don’t want that. We would use them in squatting, deadlifting, right? All that stuff.

So here’s how we do it. Grab a couch or a chair that’s stable, sturdy. We’re going to get a nice base of support here. We’re not going to be wobbly off balance or have something underneath our feet or anything like that. You’re going to bring your heel up on that surface, toes up to the ceiling to start with, you’re going to have a slight bend in your knee, but if you don’t have any knee issues and you’re okay with straightening out your knee all the way, please do that. It’s going to be a little bit easier to get into the stretch. You’re then tall chest, shoulders back. You’re going to hinge forward until you feel a 4/5 out of 10. In terms of that stretch in the hamstrings, the back of the legs. You’re not going to round your shoulders and bend over to try to touch your toes. That’s the wrong way, the wrong way to stretch your hamstrings. So many people do this. It’s not going to not work on your low back. 

Okay? So hinge forward. Feel that stretch then for the second stretch, all you’re going to do is externally rotate your hips. Your foot goes out meaning. Then you hinge, this is to get your semitendinosus and semimembranosus, the semi sisters. Those are the medial hamstring complex. Hold that, relax and breathe. And then you’re going to internally rotate your hip. Your foot is going to go inside, hinge forward again. I’m going to feel more of that lateral outside of the hamstring, which is your biceps femoris. You got to hit all three cause there’s three hamstring muscle complexes, right? You got to stretch all three of them. Hold for 30 seconds. Do not just do a quick boom boom, in and out. It’s not gonna work. It’s not going to help. You’re not gonna get the results you’re looking for. And then hold for a maximum two minutes per side in, and in the middle so you can get your hamstrings stretched out. I’ll see you in the next video, for your next stretch.

-EarthFIT Coach Andrew