Hamstring Strengthening

[BlackCountryLee]

I’m just working through my second hamstring injury. Nearly there I think and hopefully back to pounding the pavements next week. I’m looking for some exercises to improve my hamstring strength, preferably ones that don’t involve weights and rely on body weight and resistance. I’ve found a ton on the web but wondered if anyone else who has previously had hamstring issues has had any success with any specific techniques. Also interested in views on incorporating some exercise bike into the weekly routine and whether this is a good or bad thing.

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

Try some of these maybe:

healthunlocked.com/strength...

Any strength, stamina, cardio work, etc is helpful. Our running body needs to keep up with the legs...

[RunBrianRun Graduate]

Have a look at eccentric exercises. Most hamstring injuries seem to occur during the lengthening phase so it makes sense to focus on strengthening that phase. I recently twinged a hamstring and I researched the topic to do death (as I often do 😅) and you’re right, there’s so much stuff out there.

I ended up starting with focusing on a Pilates move called the “good morning” which not only strengthened both my hamstrings but it also helped with my glute activation. It’s fairly gentle and is now firmly part of my morning workouts.

It’s important to focus on both hamstrings to prevent imbalances from occurring. I like the Nordic curl especially but I need someone to hold my ankles down or it’s something I do in the gym instead.

My other favourite is the eccentric bridge where I use chair to put my ankles on and lift my butt off the floor. This video explains it better.

youtu.be/jVq7wFhaqyk(Not working as expected?)

Good luck

[BlackCountryLee Graduate in reply to RunBrianRun]

Thanks Brian. I had all of those on my “short list” already so glad I’ve been down the right worm hole 😊. Also have been doing the Good Mornings so good to hear that has some positive effect. Thanks again for taking time to reply, appreciate it.