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Kettlebell Tight hamstrings

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Which hamstring stretch do you prescribe your students @Pavel Macek ? The good morning stetch that is featured in your flexible steel video?
 
Bauer said:
Which hamstring stretch do you prescribe your students @Pavel Macek ? The good morning stetch that is featured in your flexible steel video?
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The towel stretch:

zkracene-hamstringy-1.jpg
 
Karl said:
In my 44 years I have never touched my toes. I did yoga for 6 months consistently and was about an inch from touching them, then I tweaked my lower back which put me back to 6 months previous. Since then I've just ignored my hamstrings.

S&s has made me realize I need to work on the 2 pieces of rebar I call hamstrings.

Any ideas other then stretching more, that hasn't helped much in the past.

Karl
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First question: why do you care? Do you care because "tight hamstrings" are causing you some sort of problem in your daily life? Or do you care because you think you're supposed to? What do perceive would be the "worst case scenario" if you simply decided to ignore your hamstrings?

Second question: you did yoga for six months and still never touched your toes. Does this tell you anything about your ability to "stretch your hamstrings" for anything other than a very brief moment of increased extensibility? Have you ever noticed how temporary any effects of stretching are? Ever wonder why your body is so grimly determined to return to its previous state?
 
Bill Been said:
First question: why do you care? Do you care because "tight hamstrings" are causing you some sort of problem in your daily life? Or do you care because you think you're supposed to? What do perceive would be the "worst case scenario" if you simply decided to ignore your hamstrings?
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@Bill Been brings an interesting and valid perspective with these questions. I believe it's important to critically analyze our motives for doing things, and not just do things 'because'.

I'm a big proponent of being flexible and I think that having 'tight hammies' is probably detrimental overall, but it really does come down to definition of what tight is and how 'loose' they should be.

As many on the forum are aware I do a bit of rock climbing from time to time. One would think that this activity would place a premium on flexibility. I have comrades who, to quote Eric Horst, are "flexible as a 2x4", yet they can climb circles around me. Furthermore they climb at such an advanced level, that it is doubtful (in my mind) that increased flexibility would make them perform any better.

That being said there may be certain physical conditions where tight hamstrings may be the culprit. Years ago I was having some hip pain; the physiotherapist worked on getting my hamstrings looser. That did the trick.
 
What Bill and Offwidth are eluding to is why I use the FMS - I don't "wonder" whether someone needs to stretch or where. I screen them and find the "thing" (s) that need to be addressed and the corrective strategies "lead" me through addressing the issues. This is also combined with a thorough history and discussion of training and injury history etc...

Lance Coffel is up in Oregon and could help you out with a screen etc... or you can check the FMS site for someone in your area or Myself and others offer on-line training where we can do sessions via video or Skype to look at what is going on.
 
@Bill Been - I don't really care if I can touch my toes. What I do want is not have tight hamstrings that affect my ability to do work on the fire line. Granted most of my hamstring whoa's are related to work pt's and long hours in the cab of a truck.

@Brett Jones - I'm all in on finding a FMS. I was going to try and schedule a Skype appointment with a FMS this week but I'm on my way to new Mexico for a fire. Maybe on my 2 days off in 16 days.
 
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Great thread, as I'm realizing that my medial left hamstring is giving me grief as well, causing for an uncomfortable left SI, and a constant need to focus on cleaning up pelvic tilt. This popped up recently in my YouTube feed on the subject:

I'm definitely thinking some of my swing issues are coming from this, and I immediately identified the left medial hamstring as a culprit after doing a staggered good morning. As I continued my progression on this, I searched thru the forum and ran across a mention of the windmill. Not sure if the form (with light weight) is identical, but I noted the same stretch isolation, and with a 10-20 lb bell/dumbbell I seem to get an extra stretch similar to the prying goblet squat.

Looking forward to insights from all.
 
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