Schwarzenegger, a great fitness god, commented on hamstring muscle that no matter how great your back is because of the strength of latissimus dorsi, if your biceps femoris is weak, it will also leave a negative impression.
Maybe many people don't know hamstring at all, so let's start with a quick understanding of hamstring!
In fact, hamstring muscle is a general term for the muscles of the posterior thigh, including biceps femoris, semitendinosus and semimembranous muscle, also known as "three-string muscle". This has been marked in the anatomical map above. To tell the truth, it's boring to look at the anatomical map.
You can also directly look at the photos of bodybuilders showing hamstring muscles at the back of thighs, which is more intuitive. It is enough to have a roughly accurate understanding. We're not surgeons. We need an operation.
So what's the use of hamstring muscle? (near fixation) let the calf bend and rotate outward at the knee joint, and let the thigh stretch backwards when the calf is straight; (distal fixation) bilateral contraction leads to pelvic kyphosis. You know, this muscle group behind the leg is one of the strongest muscle groups in our body, and it is also one of the biggest and strongest sources of power.
Because the main function of hamstring muscle is flexion and extension, proper leg flexion and extension exercise can exercise it. For example, sitting leg flexion and prone leg flexion are the most basic exercises. You can also exercise it in squats or lunges. You can also exercise to the back of thighs (including hips) by forcibly straightening your legs or bending forward with a load. The other is the action of stretching and relaxing hamstring muscles.
Action 1: prone leg flexion
This action requires the use of a prone leg flexion training stool, which can exercise the entire hamstring muscle.
In the initial movement, the legs should be completely and fully straightened, and then the legs should be bent back hard. When bending down, the biceps femoris should be completely contracted, and then the legs should slowly return to the initial action in a controlled way.
Don't use too much weight or explosive force, it will make your body leave the bench.
Action 2: Bend your legs in a standing position.
This action requires the use of a leg flexion trainer in a standing position, which can better isolate the biceps femoris.
Hook your foot back to the lever, then bend your calf hard and raise it as high as possible. Bend to the end and then slowly return in a controlled way. Alternate training of two legs.
Action 3: straight leg hard pull
This action can not only exercise hamstring muscles, but also exercise hips and lower back. Hard pulling with straight legs can make the stretching of biceps femoris reach the limit, so as to better carve the lines of the muscles behind the thighs.
Stand with your feet slightly narrower than your shoulders, then bend forward, but don't bend your knees (that is, keep them straight) until your upper body is parallel to the ground. Then push hard, straighten your upper body, pull up the barbell and return to the standing position. Pay attention to the whole process, keep your back straight, and don't hold your chest out or bend over.
Action 4: Positive pressure leg
This is a very basic stretching action. Just put one leg on the waist-high fixture and you can start.
During the operation? Keep both legs straight. When the upper body leans forward, you should move your hips so that the upper body can move forward as far as possible. At this time, the hamstring muscles of both legs will have a strong sense of stretching. It's just that exercisers should pay attention, don't ask for quick success and instant benefit, and step by step.
Action 5: Bend over in front of the station.
This action is more common, but "doing" is much more difficult than "watching".
Inhale in a standing position, then bend forward slowly as you exhale until you can reach the limit. After reaching the limit, you can keep it for 30 seconds to 1 minute, and breathe evenly during this process. Every time you exhale, you can try to bend down a little. After bending down for enough time every time, get up slowly in a controlled way and return to the standing position.
This action is almost the same as the "Panlong exploring the sea" style mentioned in Yijinjing (also known as "Panlong jumping into the sea" style), so it can not only stretch the hamstring muscles, but also stretch the whole spine and meridians. Stretch back and forth for 5 to 6 groups, and the exerciser will immediately experience the comfort and relaxation of the whole body.
Action 6: split vertically.
The hamstring muscle can also be effectively stretched during continuous stretching. It's just that this action is a bit difficult, and almost no one can do it at first.
You can practice more positive pressure legs (action 4) first, and then transition to holding a table or railing to try to open the line. If you can fall to more bottoms, you can slowly open the line.
Friends who don't pursue opening practice can also do more leg straightening instead of doing this action.
Action 7: The foam shaft rolls to relax.
As shown in the figure, sit on the foam shaft and support your hands on the ground, so that the foam shaft can fully contact the hamstring muscle at the back of the thigh. Then push your arms hard, push your body back and forth gently, and drive your thighs to roll back and forth on the foam shaft.
The rolling speed should be uniform. If you have pain points or feel "lumps" in your muscles, you can roll them repeatedly in these places.
This action can effectively release the pain and tension of hamstring muscle, and make hamstring muscle recover faster and more elastic.
Although hamstring muscle is important, it is only one of the components of thigh and whole body muscles. Therefore, strengthening hamstring exercise is not just practicing hamstring muscles. Exercisers should first have a complete strength training plan, including leg training plan, and hamstring training is only one of the important components. If there is a systematic and holistic training thinking, the training of hamstring muscles can be targeted and coordinated with other muscle groups.
For example, the super group can be "leg lift+straight leg hard pull", or you can try "quadriceps squat+prone leg flexion". Of course, other training methods such as decrement and increment can also be used.
Compared with quadriceps femoris, hamstring muscle is difficult to feel. Therefore, in the action of "prone leg flexion", fitness partners can be required to press their hands on the hamstring muscle moderately, which can help the exerciser feel the hamstring muscle force obviously.
Now, are you ready to build a strong hamstring muscle?