HAMSTRING CONSIDERATIONS

By Kyle Coogs

Kyle is a strength & conditioning coach residing in Massachusetts. He's spent the past few years working primarily alongside hockey athletes, among others. More recently he had the opportunity to assist with pre-season testing for an NHL organization. He also has some skin in the strength game, having competed in powerlifting for the past 6 years.

Hamstring Considerations

One of the more undervalued and under-trained muscle groups, the hamstrings, can be a complex addition in the programs of most athletes and lifters. In the athletic population, implementation in their programs revolve around Nordic hamstring curls and various stretches. Whereas the hardened lifter resorts to deadlift variations and avoids providing the muscle any relief. Before choosing a training method, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the structure around the muscle group. The hamstrings (which consist of three muscles) originate at the bottom of the pelvis and insert below the knee joint. Although this is an article about the hamstrings, you can’t hold this discussion without bringing the pelvis into play. The pelvis is home to multiple muscle origins and insertions [including much of the musculature surrounding the abdominals, back, and hip]. The hamstrings function to stabilize the knee joint and also the pelvis, by pulling the pelvis out of an anterior orientation. 

In the performance realm, hamstrings are almost always the first muscle an individual will indicate as tight and in-need of stretching. Understanding the structure we discussed above can help us better visualize what position the muscle is in. If the hamstring attaches to the bottom of the pelvis, and the pelvis is oriented forward (or anteriorly), the bottom of the pelvis will be slightly raised - therefore lengthening the hamstring muscles. This puts the hamstrings in a disadvantageous position - if the goal is to stabilize the pelvis and produce force. Because the hamstrings aren’t doing their job to pull the pelvis back out of the anterior orientation; the pelvis will lose its movement capabilities as the femur no longer has as much room to move in it’s socket. For athletes, this means limited rotational abilities and all around movement expression.

It’s not uncommon to see a hamstring tear or strain during sport when it’s maximally lengthened and then asked to produce a high amount of force. This often occurs right after the heel strikes the ground early in the gait cycle, or alternatively right before heel strikes the ground late in the gait cycle. Think of the analogy of taking a rope or band and stretching it as far as it can go, then grabbing the middle of that rope and trying to produce force across the other axis as well. It will likely diminish any additional force output and begin to tear. If instead athletes can use their hamstrings to limit anterior pelvic motion, that will allow access to more range of motion and lower the likelihood of injury.

Aim to begin training the hamstrings in an effective manner by biasing the position under load. Utilizing machines like the seated or prone hamstring curl may be useful for those athletes with a lower-level ability to control the pelvis. It will also provide more external stability to train the muscle in shortened or lengthened positions in your program; alongside your more demanding movements that require more internal stability - such as Romanian deadlifts and other variations. 

Building strength through the hamstrings in order to keep a slightly more neutral pelvic position during high-speed athletic activities will be the key in allowing optimal function. Avoid overstretching an already lengthened muscle, and be mindful in your training approach. Finally, keep in mind that this is only looking at one aspect of the hamstring during motion, a lot more can be said as it relates to stabilizing the knee joint.