$h!* you should know...How to stretch your hamstrings

Stretch your hamstrings.

We have all heard it. Some of us think we know what it means. Few can correctly identify where our hamstrings are located. Rarely does an individual perform a hamstring stretch with good mechanics.

These are the truths. Now here are some facts.

Our hamstrings are a muscle group located on the back of our thigh between our butt and our knee. The hamstrings are a group of 3 muscles called our semimembranosus, semitendinosis and biceps femoris.

We often can feel a stretch in these muscles when we reach forward in standing to touch our toes. Or we can feel a stretch when sitting with our legs in front of us while reaching for our toes.

However, it is easy to put unneeded stress on our lower backs, and the back of our knees if we stretch like this.

To maximize your hamstring stretch and safely target the three muscles in the back of your thigh instead perform the stretch standing. Place the leg to be stretched either on the ground in front of you or on a slightly elevated surface. Surface height should not prevent you from maintaining an upright back, without curving forward.

With leg in preferred position, you are ready to stretch.

Keep a slight bend in your knee (imperceptibly bent)

Toes can be pulled back or pointed.

Lean forward with your chest, hinge from your hips sit your hips back.

Stretch should be felt in the back of your thigh where it attaches near your butt, anywhere along back of thigh and into the back of your knee.

Hold stretch 30 seconds.

Come out of the position for a count of 3 and return to stretch position for a second rep.