Strong legs necessitate, among other things, strong, flexible hamstrings. But let's face it, the hamstrings are sort of the ugly duckling of the lower body, and the majority of athletes have underdeveloped hamstrings. Unfortunately, not many of them do, despite the fact that having weak hams increases their risk of injury and lowers the quality of their performance. The quadriceps and glutes will often receive the most of the work in a conventional lower body workout, whereas hamstring-focused movements are either completely avoided or placed last.
There are two errors with this. First off, skipping over the hamstrings will impede a lifter from reaching his full training potential. Secondly, weak hamstrings are more prone to injury, especially when lifting high loads.
Every guy who has trained for a long knows that the body functions as a system of interconnected links, and that when one of those links is particularly weak, the performance as a whole will suffer. This is crucial for both increasing muscular mass and achieving maximal strength. As a result, whenever you decide not to exercise a particular body component because you find it challenging or it doesn't seem vital at the time, you are denying yourself the ability to improve the functionality of the complete system.
Avoid being one of those guys who only works out their favorite muscles, which are usually the ones that are the most noticeable. Instead, make changes to your regimen to ensure that every muscle receives enough stimulation to develop and grow stronger.
It's time to start working with your hams if you haven't already. To find out where to begin, continue reading this article!
Hamstring Function & Anatomy
There is no doubting that these muscles are essential to performance and functionality, despite the fact that they are not the most impressive-looking ones in the human body. Your hamstrings are susceptible to strain and may even rip if they are weak and tight.
The semitendinosus, semimembranosus, and biceps femoris, which are in charge of knee flexion and stabilization as well as hip extension, make up the hamstring in actuality. The hamstring contributes to practically all lower body movements, including walking, running, climbing, and squatting, as well as providing muscular stability and symmetry. It also forms the posterior chain of the leg along with the glutes and calves. As a result, the hamstrings are one of the essential "speed muscles" in the body that allow humans to run quickly, which explains why this muscle group tends to be more fast-twitch dominant than others.
The hamstring muscles also serve as decelerators, thus the more powerful they are, the faster you can stop to change directions or prevent a collision. Additionally, strengthening the hamstrings will aid in maintaining proper spinal alignment and a healthy posture because they stabilize the hip joints. Your quadriceps, calf muscles, and glutes frequently cooperate with your hamstrings. Both muscles will work well together to provide a good output if they are powerful and highly functioning.
However, if one muscle is noticeably weaker than the other, it may have an adverse effect on how the stronger muscle works and lead to strained muscles or torn ligaments. Chronically tight hamstrings can also aggravate back pain and contribute to sciatica pain from nerve compression. In fact, it has been discovered that regular hamstring exercise can lessen or eliminate a number of sciatica symptoms, including leg pain, tingling, weakness, and numbness.
Therefore, hamstring exercise can be essential for reducing the risk of lower body injuries, enhancing ligament health, and enhancing knee joint stability. You need hamstrings that are both strong and flexible for your athletic performance, and hamstring curls are one workout that will get you there.
Seated Hamstring Curl Techniques
Although the hamstrings are trained in some degree by most compound actions that largely rely on lower body muscle groups, hamstring curls are a particularly crucial isolation exercise you should be performing to fully activate this muscle and enhance total leg development.
An instruction manual for performing seated hamstring curls is provided below:
seated-hamstring-curls-1
* Place your back against the pad of the machine with comfort and firmness.
* Place your lower leg against the pad and adjust the lap pad so that it is securely holding your legs in place between your knees and hips.
* Grasp the side grips and position your legs so that they are straight ahead and gently levered into the machine.
* Exhale as you begin the exercise, flexing your knees solely with your hamstrings to bring the machine lever inward. This should be done while maintaining a still torso until the movement reaches the back of your thighs as far as feasible.
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