The Fix for Tight Hamstrings
Tight hamstrings are pretty common. If you’ve suffered from tight hamstrings before you likely also suffer from low back pain and a limited range of motion during some leg movements. The crazy thing is how you can stretch your hamstrings throughout the day, it’ll feel SO good and relieving for a few minutes and then.. it goes right back to how it was before.
So why does this happen?
Is it because you’re not stretching them enough?
Are you baffled and almost ready to give up and accept that maybe they’ll be tight forever?
Well hold your horses. The solution is simple but not what you’d expect.
How to Fix Tight Hamstrings
Tight hamstrings are usually due to having a large degree or anterior pelvic tilt.
What does THAT MEAN?!
It means that your pelvis is tilting forward. When that happens, your hamstrings get pulled tight like an elastic band, your hip flexors are constantly tight and contracted like a ball of stress and tension and your glutes are tight and weak.
Isn’t it funny how none of those causes have ANYTHING to do with the hamstrings themselves? This is typical because many muscle/joint dysfunctions either stem from an issue above or below the site of pain/discomfort.
Here’s a video that helps explain the Pelvic Tilt Situation I’m talking about:
Now that you know what Anterior and Posterior Pelvic tilts are; it’s time to learn how to fix your tight hamstrings!
3 Objectives To Tackle:
Strengthen Abs
Strengthen Glutes
Stretch Hip Flexors
Strengthen Abs
Strengthening your abs are necessary in this case because your hip flexors are too tight due to your weak abs. In turn, this pulls your pelvis forward which contributes to excessive Anterior Pelvic Tilt. We need your hip flexors to “relax” and that can be done by allowing your abs to do it’s job so the hip flexors don’t have to overcompensate.
You can do this in countless ways. However we like to tackle problems from multiple angles. So we’re going to pick 1 isometric ab exercise (Planks), 1 dynamic ab exercise (Swiss Ball Crunches) and 1 Hybrid (Deadbugs) that isometrically contracts the abs but dynamically challenges them while your arms and legs are moving.
Ab Exercises That Can Help Reduce APT
Strengthen Glutes
Once again, we’re going to attack the glutes with a multifaceted approach. The glutes extend the hip and they also externally rotate your legs. So we’re going to pick 1 exercise that primarily focuses on hip extension and 1 exercise that focuses on external rotation
Glute Strengthening Exercises
Stretch Hip Flexors
Do these simple exercise 2-3 days/week to fix your tight hamstrings once and for all!
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