The BEST HAMSTRING EXERCISE to Prevent Injury, Gain Strength, and Improve Flexibility

Ah, the hamstrings. Most of us don't really think about them that often unless they're really, really tight or they're injured, but they are so important to focus on, and not only for making sure that they're not tight but also to strengthen them. But be sure to stick around for this full video because I'm going to be showing you guys one of my favorite exercises to do to help bulletproof your hamstrings and get those guys stronger. The hamstrings are mainly responsible for hip extension as well as knee flexion, and that's why they're really important for maintaining our torso position as well as stabilizing the knee joint. As an athlete, that means that focusing on strengthening your hamstrings can really help to increase your speed, your change of direction, your agility, as well as prevent injuries. And even if you're not an athlete, strengthening your hamstrings can be really important to make sure that you have good posture and to be able to continue to do everyday living activities like standing up out of a chair or bending down to reach for something or going up and down the stairs. The thing is, most of us have overactive quads and underactive hamstrings, which creates the perfect storm for injuries of that group of hamstrings. So hamstring strains, for example, are one of the most common injuries amongst athletes and everyday active individuals, and they can tend to reoccur. They don't get rehabbed properly all the time, and they tend to reoccur over and over again, which is no bueno. If you have ever had one, they are not fun. The other thing that happens when we have overactive quads and underactive hamstrings is we tend to feel like our hamstrings are tight. And what do most of us do when we feel like our hamstrings are tight? We try to stretch them out, but there's a reason that when you do static stretching for your hamstrings that you don't really see much long-term improvement to your range of motion and how flexible your hamstrings are, right? You've probably spent a good time trying to static stretch your hamstrings and only to realize that by the next day or the day after, you're back to square one. You see, the cool thing is that the human body's neuromuscular system will always try to protect itself from getting injured, and one of the ways it does this is to make those muscles feel stiff or tight to prevent us from getting that full range of motion, hence protecting us from the perceived risk of injury. However, it's very rare that the tightness you're experiencing is actually due to a physical shortening in the muscle, but rather the brain not allowing the muscle to stretch due to instability or weakness, and therefore trying to prevent an injury. Isn't that so cool? Like, our neuromuscular connection is so amazing to me that our brain is literally trying to look out for our muscle tissue and being like, yeah, that's a little weak, I wouldn't stretch that too far, I wouldn't do that motion because we're not really, we're not really prepared for that, so we're going to make it feel like it's really tight to prevent prevents you from over, overexerting that muscle or utilizing the past range of motion that we think is safe for you. So it's kind of like an override. So if your brain is telling your body that a certain area is not stable or feeling weak, and that's why it's creating some feelings of tightness, then what would be the resolution to that? Strengthening it. Now, in this particular video, we're focusing on the hamstrings, right? And there is a huge body of research focusing on eccentric movements for hamstring strength and preventing injury versus concentric Concentric movements can definitely be beneficial where you are shortening the muscle tissue and strengthening it through the shortening range. But a lot of the times the injuries in hamstrings tend to happen while we are in that lengthening phase and trying to exert power through the lengthening phase. Thinking about a sprinter, right, when they are changing their gait and they're really reaching one leg forward and trying to plant that heel down or that foot down onto the ground and push it forward, the hamstring is in a very stretched out phase. That tends to be where a lot of athletes will develop those types of strains. So strengthening the hamstring through a lengthening range of motion is actually going to be extremely beneficial to help get it stronger. And that's where my favorite hamstring exercise comes into play, which is the Nordic hamstring curl. In one recent study, having athletes do Nordic hamstring curls actually reduced their injury rate by up to 51%. So what is so great about this particular exercise? Well, like I said before, it's an eccentric exercise. So as you are moving your body forward, you're actually increasing the load into the hamstrings. Therefore, the load is increasing more and more and more as you are lengthening the hamstrings more and more and more. So you're actually building length, mobility, flexibility into the strengthening motion at the same time, which is fantastic. So this particular movement is creating more work for the distal musculotendinous junction that is working eccentrically during this movement, while the proximal musculotendinous junction is working isometrically. And while I love, love, love the Nordic hamstring curl, and I think it is the number one exercise to help prevent injuries and strengthen the hamstrings, I do think it's actually best combined with another hamstring exercise. And that would be the contralateral offset Romanian deadlift. And why would that be? Well, it's because it actually flips the loading. So like I said, the Nordic helps eccentrically load the distal musculotendinous junction. The contralateral Romanian deadlift is going to load the proximal musculotendinous junction eccentrically, while of course the distal is then put in an isometric hold. So you're basically flipping the loading between the two, and you're still focusing on an eccentric movement in both exercises. However, you're loading both junctions of where the hamstrings are positioned, from the hip to the knee. So if you can combine those two hamstring exercises, you can seriously bulletproof your hamstrings. But I'd say if you're going to start with any one exercise, start with that Nordic hamstring curl. So let's keep talking about the Nordics. Personally, I've been working on my Nordic curls for probably 8 months now, and it has taken some time, guys. Give yourself patience. This is not going to be something you're going to be great at right off the bat. You will get DOMS, or delayed onset muscle soreness, from this because you are going to be really effectively tearing some of those muscle fibers and rebuilding them because you are strengthening through a length of motion. So you're going to get way more sore than you're probably used to if you've never done any kind of eccentric hamstring training before. So definitely definitely keep a lookout for that. But it is something that has been really great to incorporate. I've been doing that Knees Over Toes program. If you've watched any of my previous videos, I have a whole playlist on it of my progress throughout that program. It's been something that's been incorporated, you know, pretty regularly throughout the entire program. And now that I've moved into the Standards program, it's still part of it, so I'm still working on it. And the Tibar guy was kind enough to send me one of his Nordic weight benches to try out, and I have been absolutely loving it. It's actually one of my favorite designs for a Nordic bench that I've seen thus far, and that's because you can regress the movement very easily with this bench. So not only is it a full bench that you can use for other things like doing chest press, shoulder press, um, trap 3 raises, and basically anything that you'd use a normal bench for, but the fact that it hinges up and that you can create an incline with the back part of the bench is so great for regressing the Nordic movement. For me personally, I have not been able to get a full Nordic in yet. I'm still working on it. So having that part of the bench being able to come up and being able to regress the movement until I can get myself down farther over time is so, so helpful. The other thing I want to point out about this bench that's really cool is that the part that you put your knees down for the Nordic curl is actually a little bit wider than the other part of the bench, and that just helps you make room to spread out your knees and to get comfortable in an optimal Nordic hamstring curl position, but also still keep the bench functional for other movements because the back portion of the bench where you'd be laying down if you're doing a chest press, for example, is still narrow enough to allow your shoulders to drop and your arms to drop by your side to get a full range of motion. So it's really designed being keeping in mind there's like a multifunctionality aspect of it, which I so appreciate. I live in a small apartment space. So it's really great to have something that can be adaptable for multiple uses of different types of exercises. It's also incredibly sturdy and just doesn't teeter. It's like really well made on top of also being incredibly lightweight, super easy to pick up and move around, which I absolutely appreciate. Again, having an apartment and needing to move equipment around all the time, it's really nice to just be able to pick that up super easily and carry it to the next room without really stressing about it. I highly, highly, highly recommend getting this Nordic weight bench if you are doing any types of Nordic exercises or really want something that's multifunctional that you can use for different types of things if you have a compact space that you really need to get the most bang for your buck and make sure that you're having pieces of equipment that you can use for multiple things, right? So highly recommend it. If you do want to order this Nordic weight bench, I put the link down below in the description. I'll put it up above somewhere in this video as well, um, and you can also get 10% off if you use my discount code, which is Victoria S. Dorsano. And again, that's Victoria S. Dorsano for 10% off. And thanks again to the TIBAR guy for sending this bench. I am thoroughly impressed with all of his equipment. Definitely peruse, check around some of his other stuff he has going on. I have another video that I've made about his, um, solo TIBAR, which has been another game changer and another great thing to keep around if you have a small space and want to kind of build out your gym in a way that's not going to take up too much space. So highly recommend checking out some of his equipment. And as always, if you liked this video, please give this video a thumbs up, subscribe to my channel. I would greatly appreciate it and hope you guys have some happy, healthy hamstrings after watching this. And until next time, I will see you guys later. Bye!