Short Hammies - Help?

[ElyDave]

Conversation between me and a sports injury therapist

"for more specific advice I need to know two things, 1st, when lying flat, face up, how far can you lift your legs, one at a time, and maitain straight leg, give me a degrees of movement and 2nd lying face down, put your hands under your anterior super illiac spines, ( the sticky out bits of your pelvis on the front) and is the weight evenly distributed left /right. then monitor weight whilst you flex the knee and bring one foot up towards glutes, what happens to weight transfer, repeat other side, regards"

Me - "wife reckons about 80 degrees for each, I think left is a bit lower, maybe about 70 degrees

Hands under hips weigh starts slightly to left, as I lift each foot, weight shifts to that side to start, then to other side."

Him - "‎90 degrees is normal for non athletes, your glutes are over active if the weight goes contralateral, you should concentrate on eccentric contactions of the hamstrings and stretching them until they get to 90 degrees, also get wife to press into your glutes with thumb whilst you flex knee, it may hurt a bit but you need to switch off glutes as they shouldnt get involved in flexing knee, cycling keeps hamstrings short so efffective stretching is mandatory Im fraid, its usually a myofascial issue that means the muscles wont lengthen, especially if you drive, fly, travel, sit in airport lounges and offices, leg swinging is a good dynamic way of getting some lenght into the hammys"

So, anyone else have this problem? I'm guessing at least a few of you might.
Exercises I've looked up so far include:

• Straight leg deadlift
• Good Mornings
• Lunges
• Eccentric Hamstring curl (kneeling up, lean forward, use hams to bring you back up)
• Stretching
• leg swings (running motion)
• single leg squats

Anyone have any others?

 

[kozz]

I have a tight left hamstring that defied all stretching for years, then I figured out it was just a symptom of tight hip flexors, and maybe some unidentified lumbosacral issues.

After fixing my posture it no longer bothers me, though it still won't stretch.

I stopped believing in stretching after I learned that range of motion is determined by the central nervous system.

One study I read found that athletes who jogged and stretched ended up with less range of motion than athletes who warmed up by running fast. IMHO nothing warms you up to full range of motion than doing something that requires full range of motion.

 

[migangelo]

yoga is great for lengthening muscles and a good stretching routine. i like to do some post run. problem is i can only do it when i run roads. i've been running trails pretty much all the time since i'm on summer break and by the time i get back home the muscles are too cold for me to do my routine.

i can tell you with doing yoga for five years i noticed an improvement within one month of bfr.

 

[ChasingShadows]

I've recently started pilates (did a few weeks, 4 weeks off which took me pretty much back to square one, been back 3 weeks) & have started noticing significant increases in my flexibility. I like that it's a whole body thing, rather than trying to sort one thing in isolation. It does hurt mind you, my instructor usually does a tough class on a Monday & then a more gentle one on a Thursday, just to top up the pain.
Interestingly, a lot of work for the feet too, actually had some TOFP this week which I really wasn't expecting!
Totally addicted from the first class, so I'll shut up now, as could go on & on!

 

[farmershort]

another vote for yoga dave... it's really helping to sort out my short hammies... and my tight glutes... and my crap tight hip joints. an 8,000 year old form of all-round exercise that has yet to be bettered can't be wrong

 

[ElyDave]

i'm already doing yoga, doesn't seem to be enough

 

[farmershort]

i'm already doing yoga, doesn't seem to be enough

I've found that doing sun salutations for about 20 mins each morning is helping a great deal. I'd say to be sure to check out a few different yoga classes, as I've learned something different from each of them in the past.

 

[BFwillie_g]

A Dorn/Breuss therapist worked with me once and did a kind of "anti-stretching". My problem zone was tight Achilles/Calves, but I think similar techniques would work for the hamstrings. She held my foot so that the Achilles was relaxed ie foot in the plantarflexion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantarflexion) position. Then she used applied relatively light pressure to the area where the Achilles attaches to the calf and just held that position for a good solid minute. That was it. And right afterwards, the mobility in my Achilles had noticeably increased, I'd guesstimate by about 20%.

She sits in full-lotus like it's nothing, and got there using this type of technique. She says that stretching puts muscles into something like "defensive" mode and really works counter to the wished-for results in the long run. One step forward, two steps back, that kind of thing. (Yoga isn't stretching).

I'm going to see her again soon and I'll ask about a technique for hamstrings/glutes. That region of the body is much more complex than than the calves, with all kind of muscles running crosswise every which way and affecting each other. So, different people may well have the same outward symptom but caused by different areas of the body.

 

[NickW]

A Dorn/Breuss therapist worked with me once and did a kind of "anti-stretching". ....She sits in full-lotus like it's nothing, and got there using this type of technique. ..... edited for brevity by the mod squad

I don't know what the full-lotus (or any other lotus for that matter) is, but man I need to find someone to help me like that. I have a neighbor that teaches yoga and his wife is always doing yoga by the pool. I need to talk to them and find out if he is still teaching here at our condo complex or if it's just at his official work place now.