This week we are going to talk a little bit about something that I think gets overlooked. The engaging and the recruitment of the hamstrings in our start positions for our deadlifts, cleans and snatches. Lots of people have a hard time setting and using the tension of the hamstrings so their starting positions are strong and ready to help support a successful lift.
Most people are familiar with the big bundle of muscles on the back of the legs. Most people know the hamstrings go across the back of the knee and are the movers when we pull our foot up for a hip flexor stretch, use an old school hamstring curl machine or reach over for a classic touch your toe stretch. What I want to focus on today is the role the hamstrings have with the hip. The hamstrings work in conjunction with the glutes to extend and pull back the legs. If you have ever gone for a long uphill walk or aggressive hike you are probably very familiar with this reality as the back of your legs have let you know this loud and clear. It is easiest to feel hamstring tension for most people in a straight leg type body position. When we are in the bottom position of a squat or a deadlift position it can be hard to feel because the shin relative to the femur is pulled back and the hamstrings aren’t as taught. The way that we want to create tension in the hamstrings is where the hamstrings cross up to the hip.
Being able to recruit and turn over the hip so that it creates tension in the hamstrings can be a hard cue to teach someone. There are lots of things you can say to someone in order to try and elicit this fix. I like to try and tell people to try and point their tailbone at the wall behind them. Getting this hinge to occur sometimes can be one of the hardest things to teach. It is a very isolated movement right in the the part of your body that affects the rest of what goes on. If you can understand that your back and hips need to work together to create good hamstring tension, your lifts will thank you for that! If you are someone that has a hard time with this there is still hope!
There are two movements that I recommend adding to your gym visits to build both awareness/control and strength in the hips. Breaking down and isolating and removing the rest of the system is a great way to pinpoint and fix trouble areas.
Most everyone at Outlier is familiar with the GHD machine. We use it in strength portions fairly often. Typically it is with Hip extensions and Sit up which are great midline builders. Today I will introduce two new movements, the bent knee hip extensions as well as back extensions (which some of you are familiar with). The bent knee hip extensions is one of the best hamstring builders for the beginner to intermediate lifter who lacks hamstring strength as well as glute/hamstring strength. If you are someone that struggles with getting your back set and the coach regularly reminds you… you know who you are. Check out the video below for a review and learn how this movements can increase your lifts!
Coach P