Hey Sprintgeezer you seem knowledgeable about sprints, and I was wondering what ways I can strengthen my hamstrings before I start a hard Outdoor season at the end of March.
I've already been doing Nordic Hamstring Curls and Hamstring curls in the gym. What else can I do that relates to sprinting/middle distance?
Bend over and touch your toes, I'll give you a drill.
Contrary to popular belief, you cannot maximize hamstring strength with hip extension movements alone; you really need a specially designed leg curl machine and the knowledge of how to use it correctly. Most leg curl machines have backwards resistance curves and are bordering on useless - if it's not a Nautilus, MedX or RenEx machine, you're wasting your time. Absent proper equipment, your best bet is to stick to standard compound movements like the squat, leg press and deadlift.
Squats to below parallel and lunges.
First of all, I'm flattered. I know I will get roasted by the regulars for your having called me out, but what the heck.
Second, if you do dedicated ham stuff, make sure you do it in balance with other stuff; balance of forces about the knee is very important. Also, the ham is a 2-joint muscle--it actually inserts in the upper part of the lower leg, and therefore crosses the knee joint--and is thus important for knee joint stability.
Third, about stretching--I know some people who respond very well to ham stretches (me), and some who respond very poorly, seeming to come out of the stretching period tighter than they went in. Maybe they don't know how to stretch, maybe they just have different physiology, I don't know--all I know is that if you do stretch, make sure that it works, and feels good. If you feel like your ham is knotting during or after the stretching, FORGET IT. Do some light dynamic stretching instead, in that case--light jogging, leg swings, etc--nothing dedicated to the hams.
Then, the actual exercises. Since you said you are already doing ham curls in the gym, I would recommend that you do them on the machine where you are lying on your front, if you can--as opposed to the machine where you are sitting.
Before I would recommend anything in particular, I would ask how old you are, what level of running/training you are at, if you have a reliable workout partner, what particular events you want to do, if you have had any relevant surgeries, and if you experience any recurring injuries relating to your lower body, or your hams in particular, and what facilities you have access to.
In general, ham curls can be good, back extensions, straight-leg extensions on the right machine, etc.. One of the best exercises I have seen involves a machine that allows you to start with your upper leg parallel to the ground, with the pad under the lower part of your upper leg, which you then press downward and rearward--it is actually a hip extension. It simulates a running motion very well if adjusted properly, and it works not only the hams but also the glutes and the adductors, at the same time, in a pretty balanced way.
As far as ham curls go, I personally find that they can be great for preventing injury, especially if you can exert most of the force in the range of motion from when the leg is fully extended to halfway flexed, then ease off on the force applied the rest of the way...don't try to get a dense "ham pump" from the exercise--in fact, don't "try" to pump through the whole range of motion at all.
More later, I have to go, but something to chew on in the meantime. I'm sure others will chime in and tell me how wrong I am in the interim!
sprintgeezer, good point about not doing full range of motion hamstring curls. This type of muscle (pennate shaped) is designed to produce a lot of force with a limited range of motion.
I'm also in need of better hamstring conditioning. I'm mostly into marathoning, but dip down to 10 and 5k as well. I was interested in your comment about the hamstring giving stability to the knee, because that is where, I think, my weak hamstring is messing me up. It seems that other muscles are compensating for my weakness and, somehow, making it difficult for my right lower leg to extend prior to ground contact while doing strides or faster intervals.
I don't have access to any equipment and have just started to have a training partner help me do curls by holding a towel around my ankles while I lay on a bench face down. It seems effective, but then I've just started and have yet to do too much in the way of strides or quick intervals recently. The strides I did do went alright, but it took several before I could loosen up and get any real turnover going. I had basically given up on strides over the last couple of years because my knee would almost totally lock on me (from the back side), causing me to come mighty close to eating track!
Keep the Nordic Hamstring/Glute Ham Raises and add Deadlifts if you cant DL do Standing Single Leg Curls instead of the lying stuff. If your too weak might be a good idea to leave GHRs alone for now since the minimum weight you have to lift is BW so it may be too much for early gpp. You may also want to introduce power clean for hip power once the general anatomical prep. phase is over. Also as mentioned go deep in the squat.
Hammy Hamster wrote:
Hey Sprintgeezer you seem knowledgeable about sprints, and I was wondering what ways I can strengthen my hamstrings before I start a hard Outdoor season at the end of March.
I've already been doing Nordic Hamstring Curls and Hamstring curls in the gym. What else can I do that relates to sprinting/middle distance?
HH-
The key is seed and speed endurance training. You gold is not the 100 meter dash.
Coach Carnegie wrote:
Hammy Hamster wrote:Hey Sprintgeezer you seem knowledgeable about sprints, and I was wondering what ways I can strengthen my hamstrings before I start a hard Outdoor season at the end of March.
I've already been doing Nordic Hamstring Curls and Hamstring curls in the gym. What else can I do that relates to sprinting/middle distance?
HH-
The key is seed and speed endurance training. You gold is not the 100 meter dash.
Speed and speed endurance is what you need.
Don't forget the eccentric component of strengthening the hamstrings.
With weight machine, curl up with both legs but let down with just one, control the let down too. You'll need less weight for this than you are using with the double leg curl. The hamstring being stretched while resisting - eccentric.
Excellent alternative, use a 22 inch Pilates ball, lie on back, legs straight, put heels on top of ball. Bridge (push hips up but not a wrestling bridge) hold for 5 seconds, lower hips to floor, repeat 10-20 times.
Second exercise: same bridge position, then raise one leg 4-6" off the ball while in bridge, lower leg back to ball, alternate other leg, do not return hips to floor until completed 10-20.
Third: from bridge position roll ball back towards butt then back to straight leg again, maintaining bridge with hips at least 4-6" off floor entire time. 10-20 reps. This last one is good for eccentric work when you extend your legs back to straight - the hams are holding you up while lengthening each time.
Of course stretching is important as others have mentioned. Let us know how you fare with any of these. Good health to you!
My favorite ham exercise for runners is the reverse ham/glute raise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa6Ai5ty6oY&feature=player_embedded#
!
To all those recommending deadlifts, squats, cleans, etc., yes, of course those are great, but I consider them to be advanced movements, maybe not so good or safe if the OP is 14 yrs old, or 60 yrs old with a recurring back injury.
I think that ham curls can be valuable even when doing all the big movements.
One thing--I notice lots of people recommending eccentric movements. IMHO these don't translate well to running efficiency; I think the time they require would be better-applied to concentric movements instead (given the right equipment).
Another overlooked ham exercise is running itself, while concentrating on recovery...one can do intervals while making a conscious attempt to particularly use the hams in recovery. It feels strange to start, and you shouldn't work for that "pump" when your heel is at your butt--but you will find a speed, a ROM, and an interval that will work for you, and that will allow you to work the hams very well indeed, with no equipment or workout partner required.
But be careful doing this, don't go overboard (of course). Ham injuries suck. Been there, done that--and they ALL occurred during periods in which I was not paying enough attention to ham work in the gym. That's why I'm such a big advocate of ham work.
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?
Oh, one more thing: if you spend a lot of your day sitting, make sure to consciously sit with your legs extended as much as you can!!!!!
It works as a mild stretch, and will do you wonders.
There are some who believe that the normal sitting position will actually shorten your ham muscle--maybe that's true, but even if it isn't, it definitely doesn't afford any stretch, and gets the ham accustomed to a somewhat flexed neutral position, which I personally find takes longer to "shake off" when you get around to actually running.
My 2 cents.
I don't have any decent video, but for inexperienced lifters, those who workout in home gyms, a simple hamstring plate slide can be useful.
Plate on garage floor, heel over edge of plate, slide plate to glute.
I really like the reverse ham/glute for distance guys, but for sprinters I don't think there's any substitute for deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, and partial deadlifts, combined with alternating sets of simple medicine ball tosses-- just toss as high as you can, as explosively as you can, for 5-8 reps in between sets.
*If you are a distance runner doing the medicine ball tosses, lock out your hips, knees, ankles, but if you are a sprinter, don't.
Hammy Hamster wrote:
I've already been doing Nordic Hamstring Curls and Hamstring curls in the gym. What else can I do that relates to sprinting/middle distance?
HH, the hamstrings are fast - twitch muscles. They react to inferior repetitions and powerful movements. Add some short and fast hill workouts.
Everytime I've stained a leg muscle I've concentrated on the eccentric action involved, 3-4 days max to clear it up. There is much more eccentric action involved in running than you may imagine - might be small range of motion but definitely significant. Disagree with your dismissal of it.
I didn't dismiss eccentric movement for rehab from a strain--in that situation, I think it can be of benefit.
However, I don't think it translates as well to actual running as does the concentric movement.
I mentioned concentrating on the angle from full extension to maybe half flexion, and easing off during the rest of the cycle. When you do that, when you go from full flexion down to half flexion during the eccentric part of the movement, you are coasting somewhat, with very little force applied. As you pass half flexion, you progressively begin to exert more and more force, until it is a maximum sometime around maximum extension, or more likely, somewhere between maximum extension and quarter-flexion during the concentric motion.
This type of cycling works BOTH the concentric AND eccentric parts of the movement, but the neurologic focus is not on the eccentric phase, the maximum force developed likely does not occur during the eccentric phase, and the concentric phase is not eliminated entirely, as is possible in some above-described movements.
It is that cycling that I think is important, and the ability to time the cycling properly--to put maximum effort into contracting the muscle at the range where there is advantageous leverage--is what is critical in running. In fact, in sprinting it is so important that the best sprinters no longer fully extend their lower legs, because the leverage in this position sucks, and torque generated, given the same muscular exertion, is decreased.
So I still advocate for a movement like ham curls, which necessarily requires application of force during both the concentric and the eccentric phases, unless you completely relax at full flexion and just let the weights slam down--which I don't recommend for obvious reasons.
However, like many exercises and drills, the important thing is HOW it is done, not simply the coarse description given to the movement, like "ham curls".
Just my 2 cents.