Raw Muscle Gain

4 Steps To Avoiding Hamstring Injuries

Injury is the cruellest of mistresses, particularly in the bodybuilding/fitness game.

There is nothing worse than watching everyone else go to the gym whilst you get fat and lazy watching Netflix. Sometimes you need adversity to overcome and mistakes to learn from and that’s exactly what I did.

6 months ago I tore my hamstring, it was bad enough that I couldn’t walk for a couple weeks, couldn’t train for a few months and only now just starting to run again, but to lose all my gains from before is disheartening. It’s a painful lesson to learn, and whilst its hard to diagnose the cause exactly I do have my theories:

Overdeveloped Quads

Everyone likes to feel strong and pushing a tonne of weight on the leg press certainly does that for you. Sure I threw in squats and went through the motions of stretching and warming up but I never balanced my quad training with hamstring work and I paid the price for it. So in the interest of learning here are a few things you can do to avoid the same fate:

1. Balance your training

You are doing 3 sets of 8 on the leg extension? Then you better be doing the same on the hamstring curl.

2. Incorporate more full body movement

Full depth squats (both back and front), lunges, Cossack squats any type of exercise that effectively works a number of muscles at once is beneficial for preventing injury. Bodybuilding.com has an excellent database of exercises here.

3. Try some hamstring monsters

There have been some pretty cool hamstring exercises I have found during my recovery. My favourite by far is the nordic hamstring curl which is a popular choice for athletes. Basically someone holds down your feet and you use your hamstring strength to lower yourself down as slowly and as far as you can, giving you an insane pump, stretch and burn at the same time. Most people will fall pretty early but the athletes will go to near touching and bring themselves up again, it is an impressive sight to see.

4. Stretching and Rolling

Lastly we have some options that we all know are good for us but we either don’t do it or phone it in. Our sedantry lifestyle has affected our hamstrings more than any other muscle; anyone sitting for long hours basically has a contracted hamstring position which your body adapts too. Try to sprint after sitting on a chair for a while and your hamstring will go on you. You need to counter this regularly if working hop up every hour or so and do a couple minutes of plyometric strentching. Look at standing desk, stretch daily at home, just do whatever it takes to avoid your hamstrings being too comfortable in their contracted position.

I focused on the hamstrings as it affected me personally but have a think about your training and lifestyle and be conscious of the activities that may lead to injury and make plans to combat them early.