(Note: If you suffer from hypermobility, avoid additional static stretching even if your hamstrings feel tight. Babineau recommends adding these stretches pre- or postworkout (or both), in addition to your strengthening mobility exercises. Traditional stretching has its place for tight hamstrings, too. Keep your hips level and squeeze your glutes throughout the movement.| Bonus: Two Stretches for Tight Hamstrings Make it harder: Lift one foot off the floor and perform single-leg bridges. Complete three sets of eight to 12 reps.Hold the top position briefly before lowering your hips back down.Flatten your back into the ground to engage your core and gently tuck your pelvis under squeeze your glutes while you lift your hips off the floor.Lift your toes off the floor, if needed, to shift weight into your heels. Lie on the floor on your back with your knees bent about 90 degrees and your body weight supported on your heels.Targets the glutes while also providing a gentle stretch in the front of the leg for your hip flexors and quads. Babineau recommends performing the following routine two to four times per week, depending on your regular exercise routine. Once you start strengthening your hamstrings, the tightness will likely disappear.īoth hypermobility and hamstring tightness can be addressed with exercises that strengthen your hamstrings and glutes in an extended-leg position. “They’re tightening up because their body is searching for stability,” Schwabe says. Schwabe notes that hypermobile people will sometimes complain of hamstring tightness, but their issue isn’t a lack of flexibility it’s a lack of strength. If hypermobility isn’t supported by adequate strength to stabilize joints, it can potentially lead to pain and injury. People with naturally flexible joints and muscles don’t typically have trouble achieving full range of motion, but they often lack control in that full range, Babineau explains. Weak glutes, which put pressure on the hamstrings to power lower-body movement, can also lead to tightness, adds Los Angeles–based trainer and sports physical therapist Brian Schwabe, DPT, CSCS.Īt the other end of the spectrum is hypermobility. Slowly incline forward at the hips, keeping the back neutral and without flexing. Keep your back straight as you lean forward. Movement: From a standing position elevate one foot on a low block or box. Running, skiing, and other activities that call for repeatedly contracting the hamstrings can contribute to the problem as well. Keep the right knee straight as you lean your trunk forward and reach your hands towards your toes. Prolonged sitting is a major lifestyle factor that causes tightness, says Minnesota-based physical therapist Erin Babineau, DPT. Both are symptoms of poor hamstring mobility, the balance between flexibility and stability. And they are the source of two common fitness complaints: tightness, or lack of flexibility and hypermobility, or the inability to hold tension. Your hamstrings are the large muscles in the back of your legs that run from your glutes to your knees.
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