4 Reasons Your Hamstrings Do All the Work! 

So, you wanna know what’s the deal with your hamstrings, what do they do, and what are they actually good for? Well in short, everything! A lot of your movement and balance are reliant on your hamstrings. Let’s discover the functions and importance of your hamstrings. 

Balance

Strong hamstrings are essential for everything you do. These groups of muscles and tendons are in charge of your knee bending. And they play a huge part in your ability to run, jump or move. If properly managed, your hamstrings can even improve your posture and prevent you from injury.

There are three core muscles for your hamstring: the biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus. They control everything from the way you run to how you sit. They are indispensable. 

It is important to note that your hamstrings are responsible for helping bend your knees and draw your hips backwards. It’s a two pronged movement that can get tricky if your hamstrings aren’t up for the challenge. This is  because your hamstrings cross the knee and hip joints when bending to allow you to complete the movement. 

Bending

Your hamstrings are part of the core group of muscles that define all of your movement. From running with your kids to jumping rope, your hamstrings assist you attain speed, power, and agility in a variety of activities, they all require you to bend.

Your hamstrings play a critical role in transferring stress and pressure from your knees as you bend and move throughout your day. Imagine, if it was painful or difficult for you to bend your legs! Life would be difficult and uncomfortable.

Keeping your hamstrings strong and flexible is the key to your best fitness and life.

Slowing Down, Stopping & Speeding Up

Your hamstrings shorten and lengthen in response to contraction. That’s scientific talk for your hamstrings are responsible for you stopping & slowing down. This is made up of two phenomena: bending (remember from above) & slowing. The concentric (shortening) phase of a muscular action allows you to bend your knee, whereas the eccentric (lengthening) phase allows you to manage your body's deceleration. When combined these movements are what allows the hamstrings to stop and slow you down.

When you're jogging downhill, for example, extending your hamstrings can assist you regulate the speed of your fall. This ability to decelerate appropriately relieves pressure on your joints and prevents injury.

What if you couldn't control when you stopped? Now, that would be inconvenient, right!?

(I actually laughed out loud!)

But seriously, you see why you need these things!

Alignment and Posture 

Healthy and strong hamstrings help stabilize your hips and keep your spine aligned. Similar to a chain, if one link is weak then the whole chain is compromised. So it is with your posture and hamstrings. 

Your hamstrings also are responsible for maintaining your knee in proper position. By connecting your knee and surrounding connective tissue in place, your hamstrings are the rubber bands that allow your legs and body to bounce back.

Weak hamstrings are typically tight and can pull on your hips, causing them to tip forward over time and put unnecessary stress on your spine and core. If not corrected, this can impair your mobility and cause you to develop bad posture and other pain.

Your hamstrings also are responsible for maintaining your knee in proper position. By connecting your knee and surrounding connective tissue in place, your hamstrings are the rubber bands that allow your body to bounce back.

The Wrap Up

There you have it. The simple foundation for your hamstrings knowledge. Proper hamstring maintenance and training is critical to having your best life and best body. From how you stand to how you move, they truly are there for you every step of the way. So make sure to give your hammies some extra stretching and be careful in your workouts.

For more information about your health and the overall benefits run through the archive and keep learning how to be qool! And before you go, connect with me! Let me know what you learned and what you did with it! See you next time!