Anyone know of a good hamstring stretch without having to bend at the waist? I’ve been nursing a sore back which is now quite tight and I’ve having trouble doing my normal hammy stretch because my current back flexibility prevents me from bending far enough to really engage the hammy (current I sit, one leg straight, one leg bent in to the straight one and rotate my upper body to the straight leg side that I’m stretching on).
Started to feel a hammy on the run today in a way I don’t want to!
Lay on your back and use a long towel or belt to wrap around you foot and then do a straight leg raise while holding the belt or towel in your hand (keep knee straight) and it will stretch your hamstring. You can also dorsiflex the foot (bring toes toward your nose) and that will deepen the stretch by bringing in the gastroc. Leave the other leg flat on the ground.
this is one recommended by many good PT’s. but put a small pad/pillow/rolled towel under your lumbar spine. this will keep the lumbar curve and keep more stretch tension on your hamstrings as well. if you can do a lower intensity stretch for a long time (like 10+ minutes) you will get more results than a typical 30 sec. stretch
http://health.yahoo.com/topic/back/living/article/healthwise/popup/hw208009
Saw this one recently. It’s along the lines of ‘active isolated stretching.’
While standing, raise one knee to waist level, or higher if you’re flexible, then straighten the leg smoothly and hold for 2-3 seconds, lower the foot and repeat about 10 times.