PUBLISHED 12/13/2006
You've seen it a zillion times-a runner with one leg up on a car/bench/fence, reaching for his toes. But this classic hamstring stretch is doing more harm than good. When you try to lengthen your hamstring with this pulling motion, the muscle protects itself by contracting. This defeats the purpose of the stretch and increases your injury risk. What's more, this stretch puts pressure on all the muscles from the ankle to the back. However our "active-isolated" method targets just the hamstring to ensure you are getting an effective stretch without harming other areas of your body.
Don't do this:
Reach for your toes. It will:
--Strain the back
--Stress and contract your glutes
--Tighten your hamstring up in an eccentric contraction
Do this:
--Stand on one leg with knee slightly bent.
--Hold your other leg under your knee so that your hamstring is parallel with the floor.
--Contract your quadriceps while extending your heel straight out in front of you.
--Hold for two seconds, then bring your heel back under
your knee.
--Repeat 10 times on each leg.
