Unless you've experienced a hamstring injury, chances are you are ignoring this muscle group during your workout.
The hamstrings play a major role in leg function and stability. Located right under your butt and the back of your thigh, their role is to move your leg by flexing the knee and extending the hip. And just like any other muscle group in the body, you want to keep them strong, healthy and flexible for everyday movement.
"It is important to keep the hamstrings flexible because tight hamstrings can be a major cause of lower back pain," says Jessica Slonski, Pilates instructor and owner of Form Body Lab in Vancouver. "Often hamstring injuries occur when we're trying to lift too much weight or when participating in high intensity exercise without being properly warmed up."
Slonski says you're also more prone to injured hamstrings if your hamstrings are particularly tight — you can solve this issue by making sure you stretch out. And as Web MD notes, always stop exercising if you feel any type of pain in this muscle group.
Below, Slonski shows us nine ways to not only strengthen our hamstrings, but increase flexibility as well.
- Engage your abs by pulling your belly button towards your spine
- Squeeze the ball between your ankles and keep your legs extended (avoid bending your knees)
- Reach your legs long and lift them up towards the sky
- Pulse and squeeze the ball three times
- Lower your legs
- Repeat 10 times
- Squeeze your abs, engage your hamstrings and glutes to lift your pelvis off the floor and up to the sky (don’t let your abs pop out or your ribs pop up)
- Extend one leg (keep thighs parallel)
- Pulse your pelvis up to the sky five times
- Bend your knee
-Repeat on the other side (keep hips lifted and even from hip to hip)
- Lower your pelvis
- Repeat five times
- Put your ankle through the strap so the resistance is on the back of your ankle
- Stand up tall and engage your abs
- Engage your hamstring to pull your leg further behind you (keep leg straight and don’t let knee bend)
- Replace foot to parallel
- Repeat 10 to 20 times each side, do three reps
- Engage your abs (spine doesn’t move); lift heel to sky, keeping leg parallel (knee faces floor)
- Replace your knee to start position but do not let knee touch floor; repeat 30 times, then do other side
- Reach one one leg behind you
- Squeeze hamstrings and glutes to press up straight and bring legs back to parallel
- Repeat 30 times, then do the other side
- The top leg is parallel (knee faces forwards). Lift your waist line off the ground and keep your abs engaged
- Repeat 15 times, then do other side
- Place a stability ball between your knees and gently squeeze it
- Push your butt behind you as you bend your knees and keep the spine neutral. The knees should never pass the toes
- Engage your hamstrings, glutes and abs to straighten your legs
- Repeat 30 times rest and repeat
- Start on your back and keep your spine straight
- Bring your feet back towards your pelvis
- Repeat leg reaches five times, then lower pelvis to the floor
- Repeat the entire sequence five to 10 times
- Keep knees supported and soft
- Repeat as many times as you can, but be careful not to put too much pressure on your knees
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