Stop Stretching Your Hamstrings!

I know, they’re tight, or at least they feel, look and present tight and your PT, trainer or doc did a test (a most likely inaccurate test) and told you that they were t-i-g-h-t….  Not to mention how much you love laying on dirty floors with straps and bands relentlessly pulling your unwilling limb… but trust me, it’s most likely not what you think.

Most hamstrings I test are actually normal length and tight, or LONG and TIGHT.  Please, please, please… for the love of …. Don’t stretch these puppies… just stop.  Seriously, stop.

Most commonly, roughly 95% of the cases I see… the tightness is not the short / tight typical length tension that most people understand, but rather a Neurological tension that the brain is using to solve a problem higher up the chain of importance.

Your dysfunctional diaphragm is the powerhouse that your hamstrings are working to balance.  Not only does your diaphragm have more mechanical advantage and control over how the body loads over its base of support then almost any other muscle, it also provides structural integrity and should be primarily responsible for the roughly 23,000 respiratory repetitions that you accomplish on a daily basis.  This is a seriously essential muscle…I mean, nothing I’m aware of can live without a diaphragm, how many muscles can you say that about?!!!!

Please address your diaphragm’s tension and/or dysfunction as a priority, before you shred your actively contracting hammies with a stretch or foam roller, they will NEVER let go.

I know, how the heck do you stretch a diaphragm?  How many of you even know what this GIANT central, essential  muscle looks like or does? (it flexes your hips and tightens your back for one thing…but that’s another story for another time).  The only way to release it is to fully and completely Exhale, something most of you actually cannot do…not even close.

I’ve watched more hamstrings return to full or normal length (often they need to shorten to feel released) by CONTRACTING them while a client fully EXHALES to release the diaphragm.  Seriously… no joke, way more success.  Yes, I said that ‘contracting your hamstrings while you exhale fully is far more likely to restore normal length to your hamstrings, regardless of their starting length’.  

Using some techniques pioneered by The Postural Restoration Institute such as the 90/90 Hip Lift or Standing Wall Supported Reach, as well as keeping my SAFE meme in your thoughts throughout the day, will go a long way toward releasing that diaphragm and balancing those pesky hamstrings for good… I promise.... see me and I’ll prove it.