Time for some sweet hammies

If you ask me, really well developed hamstrings are a benchmark of a great athlete. If I see someone with great hamstrings, I begin to assume a bunch of things:

1.      They know what they’re doing

2.      They are a great athlete.

3.      They look awesome

4.      They’re very fit.

Might just be me, but because so few people have good hamstring development, I use it as one of my indicators of fitness and exercise knowledge. The reason most people lack hamstrings is because they never get them anywhere near their shortest position. I watch people on a daily basis yank their

butts in the air, not knowingly actually taking the hamstring out of the movement as they do so!

The minute your butt goes in the air at all, less tension is placed on the hamstring. In order for maximum tension and maximum shortening, the hip must be extended; i.e., your butt needs to stay locked down.

Next time you do a lying leg curl, try to do it with NO/MINIMAL butt movement. It will probably feel impossible at first. This can be a tough one to get into because a large portion of the population lacks flexibility so this might be a bit tough at first. Give it a try though; the contraction will blow your mind.

Execution:

Lift your chest off the pad as much as is comfortable while leaving your hips pressed against the pad. The goal is to try to align your shoulders, hips and knees in a straight line (or knees slightly extended behind your hips). Maintain this position without extraneous movement throughout the entire set. This, in fact, shortens the hamstring muscles from BOTH ends, thereby getting it maximally shortened. The feeling and contraction is unreal!

In fact, if you want to feel it for yourself right now, stand up, and hold onto something for balance. Keeping your chest up and without leaning forward at all, I want you to simply extend one of your legs behind you until you feel your glute contract. Got it?

 Now, curl your leg (bring your heel up toward your bum). Do not change anything else. It’s important that that knee stay behind your hip and your glute stays contracted. (If you have a hard time contracting your glute in that position, your hip flexors are way too tight and this is too advanced for you right now.) If you got that right, regardless of your current fitness level, you are going to be saying “Wow! I’ve never felt a contraction like that in my hamstrings before.” The crazy part is, it may also appear to be a rather short Range of Motion, right?

“WICKED STUFF, BPak!”