Posterior chain tightness

adpowah

adpowah

Active Member
I am not a real flexible guy but I've been working on it. In fact, no one in my family is really flexible. It's so bad I almost instagram'd a picture of me touching my toes with straight legs as a family first. Anyways like i said I've been working on my flexibility and it has gotten a lot better. Additionally I've been making some great gains in my first cycle of HST and I am really enjoying it. My primary lift is the Deadlift and while I work out my flexibility seems great, all other times though, not so much.

I looked up some low back and hamstring stretches and they work OK. I primarily do (using yoga names since it's the most common but I don't do nor am I interested in actual yoga); Cobra (laying on your belly with your arms in like a pushup while the rest of your body bends backwards) and the Standing Forward Bend (standing up straight and bending at the waist to touch your toes). These work fine for post work out or dynamically pre-workout/post warmup but I am still super tight with minor soreness in the entire posterior chain on recovery days and I'd like to be a little looser. While i can expect some DOMs it's just not a relaxed area in comparison to the rest of my body. Any suggestions?
 
There are a wide variety of hamstring stretches. As the hamstrings are one of the largest and often the tightest muscle groups in the entire body.
My favorite is putting one leg up on a couch or table, straighten it out and bend over, trying to reach your toes or beyond. This allows the weight of your torso to push down with gravity and allows an easier stretch of the hamstrings. Of course there are countless other hip stretches also, as the hips are the most important joint in the body to keep flexible, since there are so many large, tight muscles around them.
 
I like a nice easy one;

Sit in a regular chair, feet touching the ground.

Cross one leg so your ankle/foot is on the other knee/end of the leg where it bends.

Lean forward, slowly and controlled, let gravity be helpful.

Swap sides.


As Sci said, gravity is so good :)
 
Thanks I will try both of them. Any suggestions on when to stretch in increase general flexibility?
 
I recommend a active stretch movement like L - sit. You place your hands on the floor or parallel dip bar, raise your leg as high as possible and hold at the top as long as possible. You aim to keep your legs parallel to the floor but going beyond is fine. With this movement you can stretch you posterior chain and contract you anterior chain at the same time.

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