Even if you are a professional athlete, a hamstring strain may develop. Ultimately, strains are caused by a muscle that is overstretched and can occur in any muscle. The hamstrings are muscles that are heavily involved in almost all athletic movements. They help with running, cycling, spinning and jumping.
A recommended way to prevent hamstring strains (and strains in general) is to strengthen the susceptible muscle. Strength training is not a magic bullet or the only form of prevention / treatment, but it can help. Science claims that resistance training could help increase lean bone mass, pulling force, and lean muscle mass , which could aid in the prevention and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal injuries.
We're going to teach you three unique hamstring exercises that you can use to help strengthen the muscle and help prevent possible strains. In addition, we will tell you what is the function of the hamstrings.
3 exercises to strengthen the hamstrings
The hamstring's job is to flex the knee to bring the heel toward the butt, so stresses generally occur during knee flexion (not during extension). It has been shown that eccentric exercises for knee flexors reduce the risk of hamstring due to improvements in eccentric strength of knee flexors and the length of the biceps femoris.
Here are three exercises that will directly and effectively target your hamstrings to build strength and endurance.
Nordic curl
Get on your knees and secure your ankles under a loaded bar or have someone hold your ankles. Keep your chest upright and slowly lower yourself to the floor while keeping your back in a neutral position. Lower yourself with control as far as you can and then drop onto your hands so that you can support your own weight. Use the momentum of your hands to return to the starting position.
Do it little by little. It is an eccentric only exercise, which means that your muscle is only worked during the descent phase. We assure you that it is a challenging movement, so you should progress slowly so as not to notice “pinches” in your hamstrings.
Eccentric curl with hip extension with sliders
Lie on your back with your legs bent at 90 degrees and your heels below the knees. The heels can be supported by a pair of sliding discs or a towel. Squeeze your glutes to lift your hips and lower your heels away from your body until your legs are fully extended. Next, lower your hips toward the floor and flex your hamstrings to bring your heels back and under your knees.
This exercise trains the hamstrings, knee flexor, and hip extensor, strengthening the hamstrings in two ways. It's easier than the Nordic curl and is a good exercise to start with when looking to improve eccentric strength in your hamstrings.
Romanian Resistance Band Deadlift
In this variation of the Romanian deadlift you have to place a resistance band around the center of a bar. Throughout the movement, the band adds resistance and instability as you fight the added tension. When you're setting up this exercise, wrap the band around the bar first and then put the discs on it. Go back until the band is tight. Now you can do the Romanian deadlift.
Adding additional resistance will improve your hip hinge technique and hamstring strength. The band forces you to hook your upper back, lats, and sit on the hip hinge, which forces your hamstrings to do more work as a hip extender.
What is the function of the hamstrings?
The hamstrings are a group of three muscles in the back of the thigh. They are formed by the biceps femoris (long and short head), semitendinosus and semimembranosus. They begin in the lower posterior pelvis and insert medially and laterally below the knee on the fibula and tibia.
The main functions of the hamstrings are:
- Hip extension : squats, deadlifts and hip thrust
- Hip hyperextension : glute kickback
- Knee flexion : squats and hamstring flexion variations
