HAMSTRING INJURY PREVENTION TIPS
Updated: Aug 3
Here is a fresh set of training tips to help support your hamstring health.
Hamstring injuries are still running rampant in sport and training culture today, and it's at the expense of an athlete's goals and showcasing all of the prior hard work and blood, sweat, and tears that were put into practice. Fortunately, hamstring issues can be either prevented or reduced in severity. Here is a fresh set of training tips to help support your hamstring health.
Active stretching during your pre-workout phase
This will improve power and prevent speed reductions by 5-30 percent, so there are no timing issues that could occur. Also, what is the point of static stretching before a workout? Think about this scenario for a moment, if you will, please. Static stretching seeks to relax and inhibit muscles. The complete opposite of what you are trying to accomplish right before training and competition. Leave the slow, boring, routine, and recovery-based stretches well after your workout and in between high-intensity training days if you want to see real results.
Bridge daily
End-range bridge work is your ally in this fight, and it's very low-level. If you can find someone to perform a hip extension test and identify the proper contraction sequence of your same-side glute and ham and opposite-side erector, that would be a great start to test your body's coordination and present state of function. Often, you will witness abnormalities in this pattern, which can contribute to potential hamstring injuries. If you look at the 4 common postures, every single one can involve a weak glute complex. This is the only muscle group where this is the case, so some extra attention should be dedicated to the area, just as some added insurance.
Tanner Quineville, shown above, was the fastest high school athlete RBS ever trained. He recorded a fully electronic 4.51 and a handheld 4.39 seconds. Bodyweight bridging is nice to activate your glutes, but you need heavy bridges to maximize strengthening and MVC, according to research.
Don't forget to train your abs
When you think of the hamstrings, it may or may not be natural to assume that you also need to train your abdominals proportionally, if not more in some cases. The reason being that they serve as a force couple at the hip that anchor one in another in movement. Just know that when your abs are stronger, your hamstrings are going to be able to drive more. Moreover, most injuries occur in rotation, and the hamstrings aren't an exception here as they cross two joints and work in all directions at the same time! This is why training coordination skill is just as important as anything else when it comes to the hamstrings, and research has clearly indicated that they have a unique innervation strategy as well and need plenty of coordination to develop properly, according to Dr. Chris Beardsley.
The loaded reverse crunch targets the lower abdominal fibers that directly appose the upper hamstring muscles and their strong pulling power. Make sure to include a rotational element with this exercise and all others to further target abdominals and assist the hamstrings' ability to control rotation in athletic movement.
Continuing with everything I just mentioned, as well as everything coming next, the Illinois Drill overdelivers in the context of hamstring conditioning and injury prevention. It combines multi-directional joint deceleration and control, fatigue, and lots of coordination.
Start and revisit sled and ramp work
Common causes of hamstring aggravation are over-striding at touchdown and a lack of deceleration in the swing leg, according to research. Both of these can be strengthened and prevented by using a slower tempo/higher resistance when starting a speed or sprint training program. If you have been hammering away at your sprints week in and week out, don't be afraid to implement a phase of loaded sprint work to help emphasize technical weak points, strengthen weaker muscle groups, and still improve acceleration and speed levels as your body's nervous system and muscles recover properly and thoroughly.
Stay and keep fresh
Fatigue onset is a major precursor to hamstring issues, according to research. 1 Speed work should be done twice per week at opposite ends of the week and right after the explosive phase of your warmup is complete. I'm sure you have felt the aftermath of intense Romanian deadlifts in training before. They leave you sore for a week! Recovery rates of the hamstring complex are slow due to its fast-twitch nature and relatively poorer blood flow and capillarization capacity. As such, if you sprint too often, too soon, or for too long without a practical strategy, then you are asking for trouble. Also, keep in mind that injury isn't the only factor to consider regarding a muscle being overtrained. HRV, muscular strength, time to exhaustion, soreness, coordination and body control, and others are also signs that you aren't recovering properly, so don't wait for your body to just completely hit the wall or go overboard before you decide to make the right changes to your training program.
"Fatigue and poor conditioning levels also tend to be associated with
hamstring injuries. According to a 10‐year study that examined the injury outcomes
in NFL training camps, hamstring injuries occurred primarily in the pre‐season
before the 16‐week regular season. More specifically, more than 50% of these
injuries happened during this training period, with a large majority occurring within
the first month of practice. Fatigue naturally contributes to this major problem since the body becomes ill‐equipped and weaker in being able to
withstand and absorb our momentum during sprinting. " 2
SCIENTIFIC REFERENCES:
#1-Feeley BT, Kennelly S, Barnes RP. Epidemiology of National Football League training camp injuries from 1998 to 2007. American Journal of Sports Medicine 36:1597‐1603, 2008.
#2-Feeley BT, Kennelly S, Barnes RP. Epidemiology of National Football League training camp injuries from 1998 to 2007. American Journal of Sports Medicine 36:1597‐1603, 2008.
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