How to Stretch Hamstrings

Video Transcript

"One of the major muscle groups of the body is the hamstring. And the hamstring not only needs to be strong, but should be flexible as well. This is Alice Monsaert demonstrating for you some great hamstring stretching exercises. One is in a standing position. Place the heel forward, keep the spine in neutral, push the hips back, exhale into the stretch and bend the supporting knee while keeping the straight leg, the front leg fairly straight. Hips should be pressed back. Exhale through the stretch and hold for about ten, maybe sixty seconds but not to the point of pain. Another way to stretch the hamstrings is to have a seat, either on a ball or a char, and it's really the same motion. Heel goes forward, the toe is up, inhale, exhale leaning far as far as you can without rounding your spine, so that the stretch stays concentrated into the hamstring. You probably feel stretch down in that calf muscle too and that's okay. Another way to stretch the hamstring would to be in a supine position. One knee bent, the other leg is straight and you can just hold in that position or you can pull and give some assistance to the hamstring. If that's not enough to increase your flexibility, you can use assistance with a rope by placing the rope underneath your foot, extending the leg up and pulling back and I should be able to get great range of motion in the hamstring. Exhale, hold the stretch just to the point of you feel that sensation. You can also contract the quadriceps which would help relax the opposing muscle group which is the hamstring. So again, very important to stretch the hamstring, a major muscle group, it's one of your strongest muscles, it needs to be strengthened but it also needs to be stretched. This is Alice Monsaert encouraging you to get active."