Category Archives: Idaho

The power of problem solving

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Can you think of a time when your problems seemed insurmountable? In a world where our happiness is so crucial to our overall well-being, behavioral tools can be helpful. If you’re struggling with goals like eating better, sleeping or exercising more or reducing stress, how do you even start? How do you shrink your problems and jump through the hurdles that have been holding you back ?

Experts say that there are two key ways to take the first steps to create change to kick-start your goals.

Shrink the problem

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The problem for some is that a plan of attack for fat loss might be a declaration of, for instance, to eat less, stop eating sugar, or eat clean.

This is a principle, a big word for the framework for our actions. All of our daily decisions, like helping a neighbor or spoiling our children and pets to no end, are principles we live by. When it comes to our overall health, like the goal of fat loss, we know that our lifestyle habits and behavior is determined by what we do, rather than a principle. In other words, you need an action. Eat less desert after dinner, or, set the alarm for 6:30 in order to brisk walk for 45 minutes. By eliminating a principle, such as eat clean, in which you may have no idea how to fit in, in the real world, you’ve relinquished any guilt you might have at blowing your promise over birthday cake, by taking an action, eat less desert after dinner.

When, already?

When you’re struggling, yet desire to make a health change, experts suggest a temporal landmark. Temporal landmarks are big words for any distinct events that stands out from everyday stuff. The landmarks are a social timetable, like the first of the month, a 50th birthday, or wedding. It has been found, too, that a temporal landmark like a Monday, for example, can help you start or restart a new gym habit. This initiation opportunity promotes a focus on the big picture. Behavioral science shows that by psychologically separating you from your past failures, a temporal landmark, like going to the gym on Monday, promotes a clean slate. You’ll become more motivated to think about long term goals and their importance, and your new found priorities, however busy you may be. Here’s to a summer of health, armed with a new behavioral toolkit.

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/fitness-guru-the-power-of-problem-solving/article_9c739ee2-2103-11ee-977b-4f38d6aa1999.html

Save a fall with strength and balance

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We take our balance for granted—until we have an embarrassing fall.

For youngsters, they typically shake off a fall. A young person has no problem slipping a sock on standing up. That’s a demonstration of balance and strength. Those past a certain age, however, usually sit down to pull on socks or sneakers. The fear of falling is a real concern. One of three older adults suffer a fall each year. Falls claimed 60,000 lives in 2012 and 2013. Falls are a serious health concern for older adults, alongside the cascade of other debilitating factors and a loss of independence.

Balance training is the mainstay of a fall prevention program, as well as strength and coordination. Lower body weakness increases the odds of falling fourfold. Unfortunately, there are other risk factors that contribute to falls. This includes foot problems, improper footwear like sneakers or slippers without traction and tight ankles. A limited range of motion in your ankles can affect balance and the simple ability to step up. Vision and environmental hazards in the house, like loose rugs or clutter, can contribute to falls as well.

One of the best things you can do as an adult is to make sure your gluteal medius and gluteal maximus muscles are strong. These posterior muscles are prime movers and important for stability. Making sure your glutes are working well, in conjunction with ankle mobility and stability, will help you move around with grace and confidence, and not fall.

Try to the following exercises every day.

Heel rise rocker

• Rise upward onto your toes and immediately rock back onto your heels as you lift your toes up towards your shins. Aim for 10-15 reps daily. Use a wall for support if needed.

Alphabet

• Stand on your right leg with your opposite foot off the ground close to your right foot.

• Push your hips back slightly, into a quarter squat. Keep your torso engaged, and the weight balanced on the whole foot.

• With your foot in the air, write the letters of the alphabet with your foot using small movements.

• Repeat on the left leg.

Bridging—single leg

• Lie face-up with your arms by your side, knees bent and feet flat on the ground.

• Squeeze your glutes and lift your hips off the ground until your knees, hips and shoulders are in a straight line.

• Extend one leg, foot flexed, and keep it extended.

• Lower and lift your hips 12 times. Repeat on the other side.

Clam Shell

• In a side-lying position, hips slightly flexed and the knees bent, raise your top knee off the bottom knee by contracting the hip muscles. This exercise mimics the opening of a clamshell.

• Avoid rolling or rotating your torso as you lift your knee.

Tree Pose

Tree pose develops balance, stability  and poise. It strengthens the muscles of the supporting leg and foot.

• Stand firm on the right leg. Use a wall for support if needed.

• Bend the left leg out to the side, hold the foot and press the sole of your right foot into the top of your right inner thigh.

• Straighten the right knee and press the left knee back, in line with the left hip.

• Try to balance for 20 seconds before repeating on the left leg.

Published in the Idaho Mountain Express June 16, 2023

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/fitness-guru-save-a-fall-with-balance-and-strength/article_dfa2b6ea-0afa-11ee-a111-974c9f3b63a9.html

4 stretches to stay ahead of aging

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We all want to enjoy a healthy work-life balance and have more energy throughout the day. Regardless of your age, the habits of daily living become more important, whether you are in your 40s or 60s. The body, however, has an agenda of its own, and presents unforeseen challenges. You start to notice signs of arthritis; joint stiffness first thing in the morning, knee buckling, or clicking or popping sounds in your joints.

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis; it often emerges slowly and affects everyone differently. Stiffness for a short period of time after a long road trip, too much sitting, or limited reach are indicators of the condition. Women are more likely to develop it, and there is a genetic component to the disease. Osteoporosis used to be thought of as simple wear and tear of tissue. The Arthritis Foundation opines that it is now known as a degenerative disease of the entire joint, including bone, cartilage, ligaments, and the synovial fluid that lubricates the joint.

Though it is more common in individuals over 50, much younger people can also develop osteoarthritis (OA), usually the result of a joint injury, like a torn ACL, cartilage or bone fracture. After such an injury, it can develop within just a few years. Other factors that can contribute to osteoarthritis are overuse, using the same joint over and over in a sport or job, or excess weight. But the good news is that osteoarthritis isn’t a normal process of aging, and some people never even develop it. If you are willing to include daily habits, like getting plenty of exercise, and stretching, you can stay ahead of arthritis and pain.

There is no cure for osteoarthritis, and anti-inflammatory and pain medications can help manage pain. A nondrug therapy, like moving and regular exercise is an imperative part of your treatment plan.

One of the best ways to manage OA is through moving more and regular stretching. Stretching not only feels good, but it will help increase limited range of motion. Here are four essential stretches to energize the entire body and increase your mobility, no matter your age.

Spine Extension

Spine Extension

Photo courtesy Connie Aronson

• Place your hands firmly on your lower back, fingers pointed downward.

• Gently arch the upper back by lifting your ribs. 8 repetitions

Figure 4 Stretch on wall

Figure 4 Stretch on wall.

Photo courtesy Connie Aronson

Benefits: Releases tension in the hips and groin

• Place one foot on a wall, head resting on the floor or a pillow

• Cross one ankle over the opposite leg

• Feel the stretch in your outer hip and inner thigh

• Hold for 1 minute each side

Side-lying quad stretch

Side-lying quad stretch.

Photo Courtesy Connie Aronson

Benefits: Stretches the hip flexors and quadriceps

• Start on your side

• Using your hand or a strap, pull your heel up toward the buttocks

• As you bring the knee back, gently rotate the pelvis under

• Hold for 1 minute each side

Reclining Twist

Reclining Twist

Photo courtesy Connie Aronson

Benefits: Stretches, rotates and relieves tension around the belly, chest, shoulders, hips and spine.

• Start on your back with your legs bent, feet together

• Bring the knees towards your chest. Flatten your sacrum, and lower back, and settle the shoulder blades under so your back is comfortable

• As you exhale, take your legs to the right

• Let them descend toward the floor

• Experiment with moving the knee closer to your head, or your feet, or turn your head to gaze toward the left hand.

• Repeat on the other side. 3-4 repetitions

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/fitness-guru-4-stretches-to-stay-ahead-of-aging/article_9c5617ba-f4e8-11ed-ba58-a351f6d58462.html

Want a strong core? Skip the 3- minute plank

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Recently, I walked by a packed evening kettlebell class, a room full of participants doing a terrific plank variation—slowly sliding a heavy weight in front of them from left to right, and vice versa. A plank is one of the gold standards for working the core in which you assume and hold a position. Sit-ups and crunches are no longer the norm for a great set of abs. Traditional core training sought to isolate a single area, such as the six-pack, which is problematic.

All movement originates through the core. The core is an integral part of the protective mechanism that relieves the spine of harmful forces during activities. Deep stabilizing muscles allow a protective mechanism for posture control and athletic performance.

The main reason sit-ups don’t help you is that they can damage the spine. The traditional sit-up, writes Dr. Stuart McGill in “Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance,” imposes about 730 pounds of compression on the spine. Those participants in the evening workout were shown ways to retire old concepts and learn from a great coach, in her presentation of fresher research: plank variations.

Secondly, planks recruit a balance of muscle from the front, sides and back of the body, as the core goes far beyond a six-pack. Even though Cher boasts about holding a three-minute plank, you don’t need to hold a plank that long. There are better ways to get strong. Once you can perform a 20-, 30- or 60-second plank, you can advance from a stability level to light loads and additional stimulus in a plank.

Here are two simple stability tests to determine your core strength before you add additional stimulus, as in that kettlebell class.

Forearm plank, 20 seconds

Forearm plank. All photos by Connie Aronson
  • Lie on the floor, with the feet flexed, toes towards the shins, and the elbows and forearms under the chest area. To begin, lift the body off the floor in a position in which the arms are perpendicular to the floor, and the elbows directly under your shoulders, hands under your face.
  • Brace the core, lock the knees and tighten the glutes.
  • Have a friend or partner place a long stick or broomstick in line with your spine.
  • Start the clock only when you are in straight body alignment.
  • Hold for 20 seconds.

Fail is any part of the body sagging away from the stick.

Pass is if your torso remains in full contact with the stick for 20 seconds without any noticeable quivering.

Anti-rotation Bird Dog

  • In a kneeling position with hands on the floor, have a friend or partner place a stick or broomstick in line with your spine.
  • To begin, raise the right arm up and extend it parallel to the floor.
  • Simultaneously raise the left leg up and extend it backward, also parallel to the floor.
  • Touch both the arm and foot back under the body to touch left elbow to right knee.
  • Return to the fully extended position for six repetitions. Repeat on the other side.

Fail is if at any point during the test, the body sags away from the stick, or it rolls off the back.

Pass is if you the body is in contact with the stick, and control is maintained throughout the test.

Straight arm plank with feet elevated

Example of an advanced plank, with increased involvement of the stabilizing muscles of the core.

Check out Idaho Mt. Express –

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/fitness-guru-want-a-strong-core-skip-the-3-minute-plank/article_72f3c06c-ded5-11ed-aea5-7f0302c07a5a.html

Why you need inner leg work

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All movement at the hip joint involves powerful muscles in the thighs. The hips are a ball and socket joint that allow us to flex and extend our legs in the forward swing of walking. Most of us train the quads, the most powerful of the thigh muscles, and the massive hamstrings muscles of the back of the thigh But the muscles of the inner thigh, the hip adductors, are often overlooked in training, or at best, managed at a machine like the Thigh Master or Pilates Ring. To develop strong muscles that function well, the adductors need exercises that are even better than ones done on a machine. That means performing exercises that lengthen the muscle, in the way that happens when lunging or with side-to-side moves.

The longest muscle in the human body runs across the front thigh and crosses both hip and knee joints. This long, slim muscle is called the sartorius. It originates in the upper leg at the iliac spine, and wraps like a sash across the front of the thigh, attaching below the knee. The name originates from the Latin word sartor, meaning tailor, and is often referred to as the way in which early tailor’s sat. If you sit in a cross-legged position, it’s easy to see or feel the muscle. If the muscle is tight, you probably are unable to lateral rotate the thigh properly to sit comfortably cross-legged. Though not part of the inner thigh group, it flexes and outwardly rotates the leg and flexes the knee.

Just inside the sartorius is a group of inner thigh, or adductor muscles. These muscles all work together to bring the hip and leg towards the midline, outwardly rotate the leg and also help to flex the hip and leg. The adductors also play an important role in preventing a tendency towards being knock-knee.

Inner thigh anatomy

The adductor group includes a small flat muscle called pectineus, the important adductor magnus , adductor brevis and longus, and the gracilis that crosses the knee joint and attaches just below the knee. Straining or overstretching this muscle group is called a “pulled groin”.

To avoid straining the adductors, here is a great daily hip adductor stretch.

Kneeling Side Lunge stretch

Kneel on the floor with one hip externally rotated so that the foot is pointed toward the side. Lean your body weight toward the supporting foot.

Here are 5 examples and variations of lunges and squats that strengthen the adductors:

Side-to-side lunge

Side-to-side lunge

Side lunge with weight

Side lunge with weight

Side lunge with arm swing

Side Lunge with arm swing

Four o’clock sumo lunge

4 -o’clock sumo lunge

Stand at 12 o’clock, with or without a weight.

Rotate into a sumo squat at Four o’clock. Keep both knees directly over second toes in your landing squat.

Skater bounds

Skater bounds

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/fitness-guru-why-you-need-inner-leg-work/article_146723f0-c8db-11ed-b14d-7feb425581b3.html

Break old habits to fix an achy back

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Healing a sore back requires breaking some old habits and forming some new ones, says Dr. Stuart McGill. If you’re living with an achy back, getting your swagger back, as McGill, the most recognized spine researcher in the world, states, is different from a knee or shoulder problem. The knee and shoulder, particularly in the early stages of rehab, both do well with full range of motion exercises—think of arm circles. Fixing your low back pain is different and more nuanced, as your spine needs stability, not excess motion. This means that you don’t want excess curves in the spine. A goal for a healthy back is to maintain a neutral spine position during your prescribed program, as well as in daily activities.

The emphasis throughout the day and during workouts is to focus on proper spine stability, rather than more movement in the lower back. Do you slouch when you sit or have too much curve in your lower back while standing? Do you bend over to lift a large object, which is problematic for the posterior back disks? Poor movement habits, repeated throughout the day, can result in a sore back. Stretching and strengthening are important, but not the whole answer. A key to a healthy back is retraining how you position your back during activities, lessening excess spine curves.

Move mindfully with the abdominal brace

McGill likens the abdominal brace as a mild contraction of the abdominals as though you are preparing to get punched in the belly. But it’s not in extremes, like “sucking them in.” Like a dimmer switch gradually adjusts light levels in a room, the abdominal stiffness during your activities isn’t an on/off switch, but works in relationship to what you are doing. You would use less ab bracing during walking and more for lifting a heavy object, for example.

Wall test for excess low back curve

Photo by Connie Aronson
Try the wall test to check for excessive lumbar curve

The abdominal muscles connect your ribs to hips along the front and sides. When you use your abs, they pull the ribs and hips closer. When you stand up, for example, and don’t use your abs, you allow your ribs and hips to be too far apart, creating back sway. Over time, this can contribute to movement flaws, soft tissue stress, or disc problems.

If you can’t stand back with your back against a wall with your heels, hips, upper back and the back of your head lightly touching, without arching your back, you probably have weak abdominal muscles. Remember, our goal is to reduce the excess curves of the spine. Try this test at home.

• Stand with your back to a wall, with heels, butt, shoulders, and head comfortably touching the wall.

• Keep your feet in a neutral position and legs straight.

• Have a friend place a hand behind your low back, or use your hand.

Results: If you can put your whole hand behind the space in the lower back, you have too much back sway.

Ideally, if you know how to brace your core, you wouldn’t be able to put your hand behind lower back !

If you can only get the first knuckle in your hand behind the lower back, congratulations, you have excellent abdominal bracing skills!

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/fitness-guru-break-old-habits-to-fix-your-achy-back/article_b0a8b022-b336-11ed-9db5-5b0e14ef4dc1.html: Break old habits to fix an achy back

Quick fixes for your squats

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All winter sports require strong leg muscles, good balance and core support—all benefits of doing regular squats. The squat is one of the most common and basic exercises performed in strength training and offers a tremendous bang for your buck.

There are many reasons you should be doing squats, if you aren’t already doing so. Getting out of a car, climbing stairs, skate or ski, all depend on strong legs. Squats strengthen your leg muscles, especially the quadriceps, glutes, and core, burn calories and help prevent injury. The inner thigh, hamstrings and calves are all challenged. Additionally, the erector spinae serve as stabilizing muscles in a squat. They help strengthen your core and promote good posture.

Form is so important in squats, and there are four common problems you often see; excessive forward lean, low back arching, low back rounding, or a lateral hip shift. Muscle imbalances, like tight hip flexors and calves, or weak core support, are often the culprits here. Lacking the mobility in your hips or ankles, forgetting to use your core muscles, or weak gluteal strength all contribute to problematic squats.

A fun and humbling test to improve your squat would look like this: Crawl on the floor for a few paces, rock forward, and without using your hands, stand up. This effectively demonstrates ankle and hip mobility, and core and lower body strength needed to transfer your weight up into standing. This drill exemplifies strength and mobility, important qualities in a squat.

Let’s look at two quick fixes to improve your squat technique.

Hip hinge with Dowel

The hip hinge is one of the most important cues to think of when you perform a squat. Hinging at your hips, in any type of squat, saves the spine stress and strain, as the motion is focused on the hips, not the back. The dowel teaches you to maintain a tall spine, without the head falling forward, a common mistake. The dowel exercise also helps correct excessive forward lean, or the lower back rounding.

Hip hinge with dowel
Photo by Connie Aronson
The dowel must remain in contact with these 3 points throughout your hip hinge range.

• Place a dowel, or broom stick on the base of your skull, the thoracic spine –your upper back, and the sacrum.

• The dowel must remain in contact with these 3 points throughout your hip hinge range.

• Think of sinking your hips backwards, and return to start position.

• Your legs can be straight or a slight knee bend.

• Do 8 x, slowly.

Squat with heel lifts

If your calves are tight, or you lack ankle mobility, try placing gym plates or a wedge under you heels in a squat. This will help you bend at the ankles (ankle dorsiflexion) an action that brings the shin over the foot. Improving your ankle flexibility will also help you flex into your ski turn more dynamically!

Squat with weight
Photo by Connie Aronson
Squat form: Squat down by bending hips back while allowing knees to bend forward, keeping back straight, knees in line with toes. Descend until thighs are parallel or just past parallel. To rise back up, contract glutes and pressure through whole foot. 
Perfect squat form ( with overhead arms )

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/fitness-guru-quick-fixes-for-your-squats/article_118dc396-9cdf-11ed-ac22-6babf844dcdc.html?fbclid=IwAR2w_aB0sjZrmDfKmS_PnBv4Rlz5oPKQ99yz3u1YrxdOMyVse5pkaAIcRbc

Five everyday movements you need

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Good habits contribute to optimum health. When it comes to your health, preventing injuries in any sport or activity you enjoy is crucial. No one likes being injured. With a New Year fast approaching, here are five injury-preventing moves to help you get fit without getting hurt. Whether you are a seasoned athlete, or just want to stay in shape, incorporate these moves into your day.

Activate the Core

Include daily core exercises! The core muscles help stabilize the spine and support movement. The following 2 core exercises activate the core in different ways to help initiate all movement, and contribute to strength capacity.

Side Lying Hip Lift

Side Lying Hip Lift -The core muscles help stabilize the spine and support movement.

• Lying on your right side with knees bent (or straight for advanced variation), place right elbow under right shoulder. Push shoulder away from ear to engage shoulder girdle ) .

• Avoid letting rib cage slump toward floor; maintain natural curve of spine.

• Exhale and lift right hip off of floor, and hold for 3 counts.

• Slowly lower to start. 10-12 reps. Switch sides

Heel-on-Toe Crunch

• Begin with your legs straight, left heel on top of right foot.

• Bring left hand behind your head for support, and lift right arm straight up from shoulder.

• Curl up, raising head, neck and shoulders blades off mat, tightening abdominals.

• Slowly return to start position. 10 reps. Switch sides.

Stretch tight hamstrings

Stretch tight hamstrings -Photo by Connie Aronson

Tightness in the back of your legs may be a sign of instability in your core, causing the leg muscles to overwork and shorten. As well, hamstrings are an important muscle to stretch if you have back pain, as they attach to the pelvis, which attaches to the back. An excellent move to ease the tension and strengthen your torso is the inverted hamstring stretch. This move engages your core muscles to help keep you balanced.

• Stand on your left leg with your arms extended to the sides.

• Extend your right leg behind you while hinging your torso forward, keeping your back straight, and slowly return to standing.

• Do 5 reps each side

Foam Roller Alignment

Foam Roller Alignment- Photo by Connie Aronson

We’re all guilty of bending forward while scrolling on our phones, resulting in a “forward head.” For every inch that your head is forward there’s 10 more pounds of pressure on the neck. Reset your alignment by lying on a foam roller.  Lengthening the lumbar erector spinal muscles helps encourage neutral alignment.

• With your knees bent, lie on a roller, head supported and neck in a neutral position.

• Tighten the abdominals.

• Gently roll side to side for 20-30 seconds

The Sock Test

Losing your balance as you get older is no joke. Research has shown that the ability to stand on one foot drastically decreases after the age of 60, along with a rapid increase of falls and injury. The ability to stand on one leg is imperative for gait and function.

The sock test takes the move a step further, and is a fun challenge to build strength capacity and balance.

• Holding a sock, stand on one leg, knee slightly bent.

• Bring your leg up towards you as you put your sock on

• Lower the leg to the floor and repeat with your left foot.

Include these movements, everyday, if you can, to stay fit and supple. Happy healthy New Year!

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/fitness-guru-five-everyday-movements-you-need/article_35aaaaf4-86d3-11ed-83e5-6b842192aaff.html

Add single -leg squats to your training

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  • Early fall, ski-teamers are working on quad strength for their upcoming competitive season. You should be, too, if you are planning to ski this winter. Even if you’re not doing any type of physical activity, you should at least train your legs to keep them strong. As an exercise, squats strengthen your leg muscles, especially the glutes and quadriceps, and your core, burn calories and help prevent injury. If you’ve been avoiding squats because of knee pain, you are not alone, as over 50% of people experience knee pain on a regular basis. It’s likely that you might not have sufficient ankle, foot or hip mobility to squat well. With specific massage, stretches and exercises you can fix this common muscle imbalance.

The squat is a movement that we do throughout the day, from sitting into a chair or car, to lifting up a child or parcel. It’s also a foundational movement where the feet, ankles and hips have to be working correctly. Leg machines such as the leg extension and leg curl machine are useful, but you could be missing out on building more dynamic, full-body exercises that burn more calories and are fun. A ground-based exercise, the single leg squat, puts high loads on the leg without the need for additional weight.

Consider that in walking or any ground-based activity, the ankle needs to roll in, bend, and absorb weight as you transfer your weight from the right foot to the left. Similarly, the hip should internally rotate as you step forward. Together, there is an accepting and transferring of weight through the entire lower kinetic chain. For example, if the hips aren’t internally rotating in a back swing, stresses may affect the knee, shoulder or back. The knee simply doesn’t have the same mobility that the ankles and hips are capable of, as the knee mostly bends forward and back, with limited movement side to side and in rotation. Without the feet, ankles and hips working correctly, the knee is compromised. It’s important to note that the knee and foot’s (and spine’s) primary function is stability.

The TRX Lunge (photo 3), a single leg exercise, will strengthen your leg muscles and is a great way to dynamically stretch the hip flexor muscles of the rear leg.

Corrective exercise sequence to target the hip flexors

1. Tennis ball rolling on the hip flexor. Justin Price, creator of the BioMechanics Method, likens tennis ball or foam rolling to blowing a big bubble. You first have to chew the gum to prepare it to be pliant enough to blow a bubble! You can use a baseball or any other ball you have during the self-myofascial release portion. Hold each sore spot for 20-30 seconds, for a total of two to three minutes on each side.  

 

Tennis ball on the hip flexor

2. Kneeling hip flexor stretch. Hold for 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side 

  

Kneeling quad stretch- engage the gluteals and core

3. Single leg  lunge. Aim for about 90% of the weight on your front leg.

TRX suspended lunge

Printed in the Idaho Mountain Express October 12, 2022

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/fitness-guru-add-single-leg-squats-to-your-training/article_00966ace-443e-11ed-9418-67966173447a.html

Why you need to stretch your hamstrings

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Tight hamstrings are all too common, as is forgetting to stretch

Does it feel awful when you bend over to touch your toes? Many of us also become acutely aware of tight hamstrings when they cramp, hurt or when we experience back pain. Tight hamstrings are all too common, as is forgetting to stretch. Even if you are devoted to daily hamstring stretching, you still feel as if you’ve made little progress. Quite often the culprit can be attributed to weak gluteals, or “gluteal amnesia.” Gluteal amnesia is when your glutes aren’t firing, and the hamstrings have to work overtime, causing further cramps or strains. Any weakness in the gluteus max can contribute to common dysfunctions such as lower back pain along with knee pain.

Use a two-part plan in stretching your hamstrings. First, strengthen your glutes, followed by stretching your hamstrings. The hamstring group (semimembranosus, semitendinosus, and the biceps femoris) starts at the butt bone and runs down the outside and inside of the leg and attach to the lower leg. These muscles have two important real life functions. First, they help side-to-side alignment of the knee, as these muscles are like a guyline from the base of your pelvis, down the back of the leg, and knee. When you touch your toes, the hamstrings stretch, but more specifically, the lengthening under tension controls the inward or outward rolling of the knee. The hamstrings also act as a big crane to slow down your trunk as you lean forward to touch your toes, thus sparing compression forces on your lower back.

Incorporating both glute strengthening exercises, and isolated hamstring stretching into your routine can help make the way down to touching your toes feel good, as well as combating pain and cramping issues. Here is a daily sequence to incorporate:

Butt lift over ball- a great gluteal strengthener
Standing hamstring stretch. Place your right leg up on a chair or bench, keeping your leg straight and both feet aligned straight. Pull the right side of your pelvis back and away from the right foot. Flex your foot. Rotate the torso to the right by reaching the left hand over the right knee, and vice versa when stretching the left leg. Tip: Actively contract the quadriceps throughout this stretch to release the hamstrings. Hold for 20-30 seconds. Repeat 3-4 times.
Doorway stretch. This is a great home stretch, as you perform it lying on the back, even as you watch TV. Place your foot up on the corner of a wall or on a door- frame. While in this stretch aim to keep the leg straight.
This is a great home stretch for your hamstrings
PNF stretch with strap. Lying on your back, place a yoga strap or stretch strap around your leg. Straighten your leg up toward the ceiling. While in this position contract the hamstring by attempting to lower the leg back toward the ground as the strap resists the motion. Then relax the hamstrings and apply a 10-second stretch by using the strap to pull the leg closer toward the chest. Repeat three times and end with a 30-second static stretch. Tip: Ideally, your leg should go vertically upwards without pain for good flexibility.
PNF hamstring stretch with strap

Published in The Idaho Mountain Express 9/9/2022

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/fitness-guru-why-you-need-to-stretch-your-hamstrings/article_9bee2960-2f05-11ed-8cc5-3729101fea72.html