Hamstring stretches for runners

A Commonly Hurt Muscle

Our hamstring is actually a group of three muscles spreading from our hips to our knees, located on the back of our thighs. Some of these muscles may get hurt during overuse or overstretching. This is why this hamstring injury is quite common among athletes. Excessive running or any physical activity involving stretching your legs too much, may result in hamstring injury. However, a thing which can greatly contribute to preventing this injury from ever happening is proper stretching. There are several different exercises which can serve as a great foundation for any later hamstring activity, reducing chances of getting hurt quite significantly.

How To Boost Your Hamstring Performance

There is an easy exercise you can perform while sitting in your office or at home. All you need to do is sit on a chair, preferably a wooden one and do the following. First, you need to exercise each leg separately. For example, start with your right leg, bending it in the knee a bit. Then, bend your body over, so as to apply pressure on the hamstring. Keep it such for about 10 seconds and then swap the legs, repeating this procedure 5 times for each one.

Next exercise involves using an exercise ball. Lie down on the floor and place your heels on the exercise ball, making sure your legs are completely straight. Then, raise your hips, moving your support onto your shoulders. Once having this done, bend your knees until the ball comes closer to you. Upon doing this, return to the initial position. Five repetitions are optimal.

Alternatively, you might use exercise machines in order to activate your hamstrings and stretch them a bit. These devices involve sitting on a bench and placing your legs on wings which have their angles adjustable. The machine then forces your hamstrings to stretch, providing you with a good quality warm up exercising.

Finally, if you have experienced having your hamstring pulled, you know that this action can deliver quite a serious amount of pain in the knee area. In such situations, you might benefit from performing the following exercise. Namely, you are to sit on the floor with your legs straightened and wide open. Then, bend your body forward, directly in front of you, in order to stretch. Also, you might consider having only one leg straightened while keeping the other bent at the knee. Then, try to stretch by slowly grabbing the toes on the leg you are keeping straight. After completing this for several times, swap the legs and do the same thing again.