GAA players can be plagued with tight and sore hamstrings in-season, and hamstring strains that recur once or twice or more every year.
If this sounds like you, and you’ve been putting up with this every year, you need to get to work and do something about it.
Sometimes, stretching the hamstrings can provide no relief, and players are left frustrated and confused as to what to do to sort this out.
There could be a few reasons for this but the most common one I see is that players have a combination of:
· tight quadriceps and hip flexors in front of the thigh
· weak or inactive glutes
· an excessive forward tilt of the pelvis
I see this a lot in players that sit at desks at work all day or spend a lot of time behind the wheel.
The glutes and hamstrings both serve to extend the hip, e.g. in a vertical jump, as the hips drive forward before take-off. Where the glutes are weak or inactive, more pressure is placed on the hamstrings to get the job done.
Over time, with the hamstrings under more pressure, they become very tight and short (hypertonic).
So now we have a player with:
Tight Hamstrings + Tight Hip Flexors + Weak Glutes = DISASTER
This all adds up to make for a player that can’t run jump or perform at anywhere near their potential, and puts a player at high risk of having hamstring strains two or three times a season. This kind of player tends to have zero confidence in competitive sprints and is more injury prone in general, missing lots of pitch and gym training time.
If you are a player that has “bad hamstrings”, “bad ankles” or a “bad back”, I recommend you get up and go in search of the reasons underlying your problem.
Don’t just give up and presume that you’ll always have this problem. Go and talk to a good strength coach or a good physical therapist, or ideally a combination of both, and get yourself sorted.
Here are three exercises that, when performed in sequence, will help solve this problem;
1) Kneeling Hip Flexor/Quad Stretch - 30 sec hold (Ten Slow Breaths)
This stretch will lengthen the quadriceps and hip flexors. Through a trick known as reciprocal inhibition, as one muscle relaxes, this will drive nervous energy into the opposing muscle group. In this case, it will serve to fire up the glute muscle and get it working properly. Pull the foot to the glute to emphasise the quad stretch, or tilt the pelvis back to stretch the hip flexors (imagine pouring water out the back of the bucket if your waist-line was the rim of a bucket).
2) Foam Roll Hamstrings - 20 Rolls
This will relax the hamstrings and provide relief for tight, sore muscles. If we were to simply stretch the hamstrings, in my experience this will only serve to aggravate them further. When a hypertonic muscle is stretched, often the muscle will respond by becoming even more tense and sore. Foam rolling on the other hand will act like a gentle massage, and relieve excess tension.
3) Glute Bridges - 12 reps
Glute bridges will serve to activate and strengthen the glute muscles. Make sure to push off the heels, not off the toes. Pause at the top and squeeze glutes as if your holding your last euro coin 'tween your cheeks. If you are someone with “bad hamstrings”, your hamstrings may cramp up when you try to hold a glute bridge. I see this as proof that you fall into this category. Your glutes are not pulling their weight, your hamstrings are put under pressure, the tension builds and builds until CRAMP!!!. Work on the first two exercises, and perform all three in sequence as a tri-set for 1-3 sets of each, once a day and in the warmup before every gym or pitch session for two weeks or until your situation improves.
Once your hips are healthy again, drive a nail in the coffin by getting your core muscles (glutes, abs, lats, lower back) back into muscular balance and strong as hell so you never have this problem again.
If you need help with this feel free to email questions to vaughan.barry@gmail.com or ring 0863126918 to book a coaching session,
Hope this post helps some of you,
Barry
Barry Vaughan BSc CSCS IAWLA
VB Sports
