About 3 months ago I developed a hamstring ‘niggle’ in my Left leg. I have been to a physio who got me working on core excercises. I have since been able to cycle up to 50 miles with just a bit of tightness. I can run up to 5 miles without much problem, but beyond that it begins to tire and it gets tight.
I can stretch out my hamstring as good as my right side, do squats, lunges, bent leg deadlift, ham curls etc with no pain or tightness, but as soon as I try to run for more than 5 miles it starts to tire and get tight.
Anyone able to advise why this 'niggle won’t go away or give me any suggestions to get it fixed?
Stretch your hip flexors (assuming you already stretch your hamstring). After years of (right) hamstring issues, stretching my glutes, hamstrings, and hip flexors has completely healed it. All at age 48 (now 49).
And for cryin’ out loud, get out of the weight room. The last thing your hamstrings need is stronger/tighter quadriceps.
I came off knee surgery in March and ever since then had very tight hamstring on the same leg as the knee that had surgery. I had to lower my bike seat about 1cm to compensate, felt very weird riding the bike that way. However, as a last ditch effort my physio used a method called dry needling and it worked a treat, massive difference in just one session. Seat went back up and I am now riding a lot better, it was night and day. Maybe you might want to ask about it.
the foundation of the problem was likely a combination of the problem with the knee and over compensation by the hstring but also I suspect being in a caste for 4 weeks did not help either.
Ken,
Thanks for your post. I’m interested in your weight free approach. Everything I’ve read on training suggests supplementing tri training with weight training especially for masters athletes. I would be interested to know why you do not weight train and what has been your experience being ‘weight room free’.
The reasons that I have been told to do strength work are to strengthen the ligaments, joints and compensating muscles that will be used once the main muscles groups get tired.
I second Klehner’s advice on stretching the hip flexors, but add in the quadratus lumborum and spinal erectors.
Hamstring “niggles” are often nerve irritation arising in the spinal column, which is why you can stretch and stretch and do strength work no problem but the issue doesn’t go away.
PM me with an email address and I can email you a series of stretches that might help you out.
I would be interested to know why you do not weight train and what has been your experience being ‘weight room free’.
You don’t want me to go there
Of the three skills, swimming and biking are not strength-limited, they are endurance limited. Getting “stronger” doesn’t help. While running has been shown to benefit from strength increases (notably plyometrics, I believe), those of us who are time-limited will see greater running improvement or maintenance by using that time to run more.
It’s my understanding that muscle loss doesn’t become significant until you are into your sixth decade, and even then so what? At 49, I haven’t wasted away, I can still do hard swim sets with minimal rest, I can still climb pretty well on the bike, and I can probably break 17:30 for a 5km. But that’s anecdotal, so pretty much worthless except that it shows that it is possible for someone to be pretty decent at triathlon, at an advanced age, without resorting to weights.
Here’s a good stretch you can try. Sit in an office chair and turn about 30-45 degrees to the left. Put your right leg up over the arm of the chair and rest it in the center of the hamstring. Press down a bit with your hand on your knee for additional pressure, and roll it around a bit over various parts of the hamstring. This works awesome for me when my hammies start to tighten up.
The other good excersize is with a used tennis ball. Sit on it (lightly at first) and roll it around under you…well I guess just move around on top of it. This works incredibly well for most tight muscles in the butt, upper thigh, hamstring, even the quads. Chances are there are some underlying issues other than just the hamstring. Some of my problems had to do with just a couple of smaller connective rotator muscles that were trying to pull the hips out of position. This required me to overcompensate with other hip muscles, with the continuing downward spiral.
Just a quick note to thank **fefe **for her stretching excercises that she mailed me. I followed the stretching routine for 10 days straight and the hamstring problem seems to have gone. Did an 8 mile run yesterday and didn’t feel any tightness. Of particular note was the piriformis stretch which you can do from a seated position. It also comes back to Klehners post about time in the weight room. With my own training routine I think that extra time spent stretching instead of lifting may be more beneficial.
