Hamstring strength is ok, but not the cause of tears.
Its about the contraction relaxation phase and a tiring muscle lagging. When you get out of sync the weaker muscle - always the hammie over the quad - 'tears' / strains.
So I'd make sure that you have endurance as well as strength, and I think I'd get out of the gym to do that.
Hamstring exercises in the gym don't go for the number of contractions that you are concerned about in a distance race.
bigjohnsonbikeman--
I pretty much agree with that, although as I noted, the only time I have had ham injuries was when I wasn't doing enough in the weight room--but I was sprinting, not running distance.
Your point about fatigue and number of cycles is a good one, though, which is why I suggested actual running motion with a special, conscious focus on recovery as one of my preferred ham workouts...maybe that would be the best one for distance runners, given the apparent truth of your comment, with which truth I happen to agree.
Step-ups with added weight can also be good to work your ham, along with your adductors. I do them onto a fairly high bench in the gym, usually with a 135-lb olympic bar on my back, keeping the core tight, and the abs flexed. If you focus on keeping your core tight you will get what is actually a pretty great ham workout; I personally find it easier to keep my core tight when using a barbell on the back than when using dumbbells, YMMV.
bigjohnsonbikeman--
I pretty much agree with that, although as I noted, the only time I have had ham injuries was when I wasn't doing enough in the weight room--but I was sprinting, not running distance.
Your point about fatigue and number of cycles is a good one, though, which is why I suggested actual running motion with a special, conscious focus on recovery as one of my preferred ham workouts...maybe that would be the best one for distance runners, given the apparent truth of your comment, with which truth I happen to agree.
Step-ups with added weight can also be good to work your ham, along with your adductors. I do them onto a fairly high bench in the gym, usually with a 135-lb olympic bar on my back, keeping the core tight, and the abs flexed. If you focus on keeping your core tight you will get what is actually a pretty great ham workout; I personally find it easier to keep my core tight when using a barbell on the back than when using dumbbells, YMMV.
Sorry if this is a double post, wasn't sure if it went through the first time.
Geezer, I was a sprinter.
I could bicep curl a hammie like arnold scwarzenegger could do his arms. I did it for fun.
I used the gym to show off.
I still pulled a hammie, but it was because of nerve damage in my back. Strength is important in everything you do, but consistent control and muslce endurance is critical.
A good exercise I did - for the youngsters who don't want to hit the weights - is to isolate the hammie and move it rapidly back and forth.
Stand up facing a wall. Lock the knees together and one leg at a time do fast contractions / relaxations till tired, making sure that the length of action is full. When it starts to go awry, slow down and get it in control. You can do it anywhere anytime.
Romanian Deadlifts (RDL's)
bigjohnsonbikeman makes a good point about "the contraction relaxation phase and a tiring muscle lagging, and the weaker hams tearing in the presence of the stronger quads.
I revived this thread to find the link to post in another thread, but it was fun reading through it again.
I had proximal hamstring tendinopathy for the first 75% of this season, which came from a number of things (mostly sitting too much in front of a computer), but I have completely beaten it--mostly through concentrating on the recovery motion while training.
As a result of training through this injury I have been significantly slower this year than last, about .25 in the 100 and .5 in the 200, but at least I continued to compete, and in an abbreviated way, to train.
The amazing thing is that it was REALLY bad to the point where I basically collapsed going around a turn, and now it is totally gone. Totally. While training and competing!
I think it was tendinopathy (that pain in the butt, the sit-bone, and excruciating pain when doing any motion like straight-leg deadlifts, or hurdle stretches with the knee extended), combined with spasm in the muscle, which was probably a reflexive response of my body to shut down motion and protect the tendon.
I did several things:
1) laid off dedicated ham stretches
2) didn't do anything with a fully-extended knee
3) started doing both azz-to-grass squats with full release at the bottom, and bench squats with full release to work back-side action more, as suggested by another poster on another thread (apologies, I forget who)
4) concentrated on recovery motion in sprinting, focusing on bringing the heel to the butt, then through
5) didn't do any 100% sprinting
6) sat with my feet under my chair, and the hams shortened but not actively contracted, so that they had no tension in them and could hopefully heal better instead of having constant load on the tendon, as well as impingement due to the chair surface.
Worked for me! Hope someone benefits from this.
Sprintgeezer wrote:
Junk Master wins the video link of the year award!
Did I mention getting a workout partner?
I'd still rather do a concentric movement, with concentration of force in the earliest part of the movement, letting-off somewhat as the ROM increases.
But really, who can argue with what is shown in that video?
:)