Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Hamstring Basics

The Hamstring is made up of 3 muscles, the semitendinosus, semimembranosus, and the biceps femoris.

There lots of reasons we want strong hamstrings.  For athletes it helps with acceleration, deceleration, speed, and strength. For the rest of use, it helps prevent injuries, especially in the knees.  The hamstrings help absorb stress that is placed on the knee when walking, running, or doing everyday activities.

I have talked about this before, but don’t forget to stretch those hamstrings too.   Tight hamstrings cause the hip and pelvis to rotate back, which flattens the back and causes pain. This will also have an obvious impact on your posture.
The easiest fix is to focus on stretching out your hamstrings on a regular basis. Both dynamic stretching (Yoga, walking lunges, leg swings) and static stretching (sit and reach) with improve flexibility.

Here are a few exercises to strengthen your hamstrings!!!
Ball Hamstring Culrs (more advanced) = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN7elkWOziw&feature=plcp


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