The Underdeveloped Hamstring
Hamstring strain injuries can occur in a number of sports, especially team games and those that involve sprinting. In fact, just about any activity or sport involving running and jumping can cause a hamstring injury. The main causes include; muscle weakness, poor flexibility, muscular fatigue, previous injury, age, inadequate warm up, and shorter optimum angle for peak torque. The causes are many as you can see, but at least they are easily remedied!
The important risk factor I am going to highlight today is strength imbalance between the quadriceps and hamstring muscle groups. Firstly, weak hamstrings can rip or tear under heavy loads created by the contraction of dominated quadriceps and momentum from the hip flexors. Secondly, if you are an avid runner, you may experience slower speeds because of the hamstring operating inefficiently. Finally, weak hamstrings can fatigue faster than the stronger quadriceps and therefore your risk of injury increases alongside the fatigue of the hamstring. If you believe you may have underdeveloped hamstrings then this should be a focus of a strength-training programme to decrease the risk of injury.
So how do we train hamstrings? One of the most common exercises is the Romanian Deadlift (RDL). I have provided a link to a twitter profile at the bottom of the page to a Lann le Meur (@YLMSportScience), a sports scientist who creates great infographics that summarise the latest research into bite size and understandable terminology. I highly recommend giving this man a follow as he provides insight into the latest sports science research topics such as; nutrition & supplements, biomechanics, sports, endurance and strength training. That’s just to name a few, so check it out and I am sure at least one of his infographics will be beneficial to you! I’ve even incorporated one of his recent tweets into my own training, and I am sure it will benefit anyone looking for a well-rounded and structured training programme to improve hamstring strength.
Below is the infographic posted by Lann, and it shows the Electromyography (EMG), which shows the muscle activation of two of the muscles in the hamstring group, of different exercises. Basically, the greater the EMG activity, the harder the exercise is. I would suggest starting off with exercises such as deadlifts and kettle bell swings, progressing onto the slide leg and TRX. These exercises are great to improve our hamstring strength and therefore reduce the chance of any hamstring tears or injuries.
Thanks for reading and give these exercises a go in the gym! Any questions, feel free to ask me or book a personal training session to go over it in more detail!
Matthew Fish
