Hamstrings picking up the slack for weak glutes is what physical therapists call synergistic dominance: a backup player being forced onto center stage. Instead of springing into action when you sprint or jump or go for a max-effort deadlift, they may shirk their duties, forcing the hamstrings to take on a load they weren’t built to handle. That’s a lot of tension passing through a single muscle group, and one reason the hamstrings cramp and tear with relative frequency.Īnother reason: in our couch-sitting, desk-working world, the glutes-whose primary job is to extend your hips-get overstretched, weak, and, consequently, have a tendency to get lazy. When you use the hamstrings’ two functions at once, such as when you’re sprinting and you drive one leg behind you, they do double duty: the two ends of the muscles pull toward one another, like the ends of a stretched-out exercise band. At the lower end-near the back of your knee-the hammies bend your knee joint, pulling your heel up and back. At the top end, the hamstrings work with your glute muscles to extend your hip (picture the movement of standing up out of a chair). They cross two major joints-the hip and the knee-and shorten at both ends. The hamstrings, however, are twice as complex. Flex your bi’s, or do a dumbbell curl, and you can see how it works. The top end of your biceps, for example, affixes to the front of your shoulder, giving its lower end a stable point from which to pull. Most muscles work like a winch system: they pull a load toward a fixed point.
Hamstring curl machine how to#
You’re about to get a full tutorial on how to stretch, strengthen, and otherwise bulletproof your hamstrings to prevent injury and improve performance. A study in Isokinetics and Exercise Science showed that imbalances in quad and hamstring strength were associated with non-contact leg injuries.īut don’t worry, we’ve got your back… er, legs. A 2017 study of college students found that 82% of the subjects had tight hamstrings due to prolonged sitting -and these were young adults with a mean age of 20.įinally, if you’re a gym rat who’s long made the mistake of focusing your leg training on the fronts of your thighs-hitting the hammies as an afterthought-you’ve already lit the fuse that can lead to a hamstring blowout.
If you’re a desk jockey who spends most of his/her day sitting at a computer, you may be even worse off, especially if you’re planning to get in shape or be more active again. If you’re an athlete, or a weekend warrior who likes to run fast, jump high, and train hard, your hamstrings are at risk.
Hamstring curl machine pro#
The numbers are similar in pro soccer, basketball, and among regular people in recreational sports ( 1, 2 ). A study on NFL players reported 1,716 hamstring injuries over a 10-year period, which breaks down to roughly five or six injuries per team, per season.
The hamstrings-a collection of three muscles extending from your sit bones to the backs of your knees-are among the most frequently injured muscles in sports.
0 kommentar(er)
