Yoga15. Photo: Fiona Peters / @fionapeters
To truly be at your best in the water, you need to have full mobility throughout your entire body. If you’re tight in your hamstrings from too much sitting combined with years chasing mastery in different action sports, you’re going to feel it when you’re surfing.
Loosening your hamstrings will:
- Increase your range of motion.
- Give you more power and speed.
- Allow you to make quicker and more precise turns.
- Alleviate lower back and knee pain.
- Reduce your risk of injury.
The Root of the Problem
The hamstrings are the group of muscles that run down the back of your leg from the hips to your lower leg, crossing behind the knee joint. They are responsible for hip extension and knee flexion.
Tight hamstrings – as with other areas of inflexibility – are often just one element in a set of inter-related muscular imbalances. And as you may have already discovered, regularly stretching your hamstrings isn’t getting you any closer to touching your toes.
The typical pattern for the lower body is:
- Tight hip flexors, adductors, lower back, hamstrings and calves.
- Weak core and glutes.
When you stretch a chronically tight or overactive muscle without correcting the cause of the dysfunction, you may experience temporary relief, but it’s unlikely to get to the root of the problem and may even make it worse. You need to take a multi-dimensional approach.
The Yoga Prescription
Instead of giving you just one routine to help release your hamstrings, I’ve divided it into two shorter and more accessible morning and evening sessions.
Core Strength in the Morning
In the morning, hold these four core strengthening exercises for at least one minute each: Plank, Side Plank, Locust and Bridge.
Breathe in and out through your nose.
In the evening, hold these 6 stretches for 3-15 minutes each.
Breathe in and out through your nose.
1. Legs Up The Wall: Gentle Hamstring Stretch
Yoga15. Photo: Paul Baker @pbdrone
2. Supported Bridge: Hip Flexor Stretch
Yoga15. Photo: Paul Baker @pbdrone
3. Dead Pigeon: Glute and Adductor Stretch
Yoga15. Photo: Paul Baker @pbdrone
4. Reclining Hand To Toe: Hamstring and Calf Stretch
Yoga15. Photo: Paul Baker @pbdrone
5. Reclining Butterfly: Hip Opener
Yoga15. Photo: Paul Baker @pbdrone
6. Reclining Spinal Twist: Lower Back Release
Yoga15. Photo: Paul Baker @pbdrone
Other Things You Can Do
As well as practicing these routines 3-7 days a week, here are some further recommendations:
- Be conscious of your daily movement patterns so that the imbalance doesn’t reoccur. Try to sit as little as you can get away with and take movement breaks every 30 minutes.
- Foam roll your inner thighs, hamstrings, shins, calves, quads and glutes.
- Sports massage stimulates blood flow, realigns muscle fibers and can help to reduce tension.
Please email me with any questions here. You can find my complete Yoga For Surfers training program here.
