Hamstring flexibility is, without a doubt, one of the most sought after goals in dance, circus, gymnastics, yoga, many areas of the fitness world, and even martial arts. While traditional, static stretching will improve hamstring flexibility to begin with, most people will hit a plateau. If you’ve been stretching for awhile, but not getting the results you want, continuing to push into the same hamstring stretches is not going to help.
This post isn’t about a thorough lesson on the science of flexibility. However, to understand why most of us will hit a flexibility plateau, it’s useful to understand some basics. (This really is a very condensed version of flexibility science just to help you understand how to improve your hamstrings – the full version of flexibility science needs it’s own full post!)
Flexibility is controlled by our nervous system, and our nervous system is all about injury prevention and self-preservation. When you feel a stretch, this is actually your brain and nerves telling your muscles to contract to stop you from moving any further. This contraction is what is called the stretch reflex and is designed to stop you from injuring your soft tissues, joints and muscles. Your brain and nerves have developed over your lifetime a set length for all of your muscles that is deemed ‘safe’. So, when you are training your flexibility, you are actually training your nervous system to accept that a longer muscle length or joint position is safe. However, if you only stretch to the end of your range, you will just continue the same cycle of the stretch reflex.
To break through a flexibility plateau, you need to convince your nervous system that you have the strength to safely support a longer length muscles.
There are loads of other factors that play into flexibility, including neural tension, muscle activation, and soft tissue mobility, but for the sake of this group of hamstring flexibility exercises, I’m going to focus of 4 main principles.
Flexibility Training Tips
1. Strength in the hamstring muscles – As I alluded to above, you need to convince your nervous system that your hamstrings have the strength to safely support a longer range of motion. The foundation of more flexible hamstrings is simply to get them stronger!
2. End range strength – This is strength when the muscle is at it’s maximum range of motion. By improving the strength when the muscle is at it’s longest, you help your nervous system to accept that you can safely support this extended length.
3. Recipricol Inhibition – This an anatomical principle that states that when you contract and shorten one muscle, the opposite muscle must relax and lengthen. In this case, a strong contraction in your quads and hip flexors will help your hamstrings relax and lengthen.
4. Neural mobility – This is not actually about strength, but rather about the ability of your nerves to move easily and lengthen. When training hamstring length, neural mobility mostly involves your sciatic nerve. If your sciatic nerve is getting stuck or impinged, you won’t be able to progress your flexibility.
Hamstring Flexibility Exercises
In this video, I teach 4 effective exercises – based on the science of flexibility training, that will help you to break through that flexibility plateau and improve your hamstring flexibility effectively and safely..
This really is a whistle-stop tour of hamstring flexibility training, and there are many more useful ways to improve your flexibility. However, these 4 exercises address the most common flexibility limitations I see in my practice. These exercises are safe and effective for most people, and are easy to fit into your training today!
If you are struggling with your flexibility, book a free introductory session with me to discuss how I can help.
Any questions about the exercise, leave a comment below or message me.
Happy Dancing!
