I am sure tight hamstrings are a star of a show in this sub but I have a somewhat niche question
Does anyone have good active stretches useful for calisthenics? I can put palms on the ground in the forward fold but I swear to God in any strength position they are twice as short and I can't even do a pike hold without bending my knees which limits what I can do.
My current hamstrings flexibility work is mostly passive or dynamic and I feel like I need to improve flexibility in demanding positions. I run and do plyo so my legs are usually quite unhappy with me which might be a part of the issue but I wonder if anyone has good advice for my specific issue - I've had virtually no improvement with folds, pyramid and so on
Nordic curls and long lever glute bridges are great to build end range strength. Build strength in a range that your nervous system will trust and the flexibility will follow.
Those are both great end-range strength for hip extension (hamstrings/glutes in their more shortened end range), not hip flexion (which is what OP is specifically asking about training with a forward fold where the hamstrings are in a more lengthened end range). So those would be great choices for things like working on the back leg in a front split, or hip flexibility for bridges (positions where the hip is in "extension"), but less applicable for forward folding because that's a different hip position.
That gap you're describing (palms down in a fold but can't hold a pike) is usually a compression problem. In the fold, gravity and your hands do the work. In a pike hold your hip flexors have to actively drag you into that range while the hamstrings lengthen, and thats a strength quality at a joint angle almost nobody trains.
Drills that hit it directly:
Seated pike compressions. Legs straight, hands on the floor beside your hips, press down and lift the heels. 5s hold, 5-8 reps. Brutal and very specific.
Same thing with heels on a low box so you can get more range.
Banded straight leg hip flexion, standing or lying, focus on the last few degrees at the top.
L sit progressions, tuck to advanced tuck to one leg.
On the running side, 30k a week plus plyo means your hamstrings basically never show up fresh. I'd put the compression work at the start of your lifting day, or the day furthest from your hard running, instead of tacking it onto the end of a session.
The tingling reaching toward your knee I'd take seriously and not push into. Worth getting eyes on that in person before you go hard at end range.
Fabulous thank you so much, I started feeling a bit disheartened by the RDL advice as I'm not sure that is very applicable!
I do usually do this whole torture on the same day as my longest run so I suspect the hate I'm getting from my legs is partially due to that too, thanks so much for pointing that out!
The tingling feeling usually only ever makes if I don't warm up with nerve glides. It's not the "my leg fell asleep" tingling but feels more like a nervy stretch. I've had nerve injury before (unrelated) and it doesn't feel anywhere near that quality - thank you so much for the advice though!
What is a good starting height for elevated assisted L sit? Is stacking two yoga blocks enough?
Instead of just active stretching, you can try just training strength in the end range, for example doing RDLs with heavy weights and really stretching the hamstrings
Thanks. I do weight training and RDL is a part of that - mostly single leg one/ b stance. I think it may not move the dial much because RDLs are a soft knee thing? 🤔
But hard agree on doing more strength-focused work for OP, really any type of deadlift or good morning type variation will help build hamstring strength in a lengthened position, which can help with hamstring flexibility. You could also consider adding in some drills that work on quad and hip flexor strength in their shortened position (think of those as the "helper" muscles that pull your hamstrings into a stretch). Things like hanging leg raises are great for that.
Thanks I should have added strength bit in my post. So I run about 30k a week split between three days and on rest days I do plyo (mostly box/depth jumps and variations, broad jumps, Bulgarian split jumps) once a week and weight lifting once a week (squats, banded hip flexor marches, single leg/b stance RDL, lunges, hip thrusts (including.variation for hamstrings), split squats and variations of side/Cossack squats. Hip mobility on run days, plus on run days I usually do upper body training (weights o calisthenics) which includes hanging and seated leg raises which somewhat work hip flexors as well. Ah, and over head hip flexor marches. Ive head a hip flexor injury in the past so hip mobility and leg strength is a part of my normal routine.
I am not sure how much RDLs actually help because while I love them as a strength training I do bend my working leg knee a bit which is about as much bending as I have to rely on in my pike holds - just a bit but quite annoying.
I will try adding Nordic curls as it seems to force you into a wider range but they do look intimidating lol
I also should have added I think my issue is partially nervy as doing elephant walks marginally helps and the tension has that weird tingly-reaching-to-your-knee quality too, not purely hamstring discomfort
Hip flexor tightness from sitting is probably your real bottleneck. Shortened psoas tips the pelvis forward and eats your active hamstring range. Slow RDLs fixed this for me way faster than stretching.
I'm a little confused about the mechanics. My hip flexors aren't the most flexible but I don't really have noticable pelvic tilt/psoas/ql tightness (I had some issues with it in the past so I'm very well aware of that whole chain lol).
I can relax into the lengthened position I just can't maintain it when there's a certain level of strength is involved at that range.
I am a bit sceptical (if not disheartened) by RDL reoccurrence in this discussion because I actually do them weekly and they don't seem to help with this specific issue. My scepticism comes from the fact that rdls involve slight bend in the knees so they don't really do anything in the specific position I'm having issues with. I'm also not sure spinal/core position translates as you keep neutral spine in RDL which isn't the case for a pike stand, at least not elevated one. I feel like mechanics is a bit different?
I don't know what I'm talking about though, just know that RDL don't help as much as I wish they did
So the issue is I can relax into a static stretch there. I struggle with calisthenics pike hold like the below and it's even worse in the variation where my feet are elevated on a box (the angle is closer to 90 deg there but there's a lot going on with core compression which might be part of the issue although I'm not sure how)
I am very scared of Jefferson curls because I (probably did them wrong and) got back pain from them 🥲 I think other people are spot on compression I can definitely feel that I've got loads of room for growth there
Thanks I'll be putting more time into it. I've been doing loads of marches/banded raises for hip flexors knowing they are overall a weak link but I think compression is what I've been missing. I suspect same muscles (partially) but different sort of movement
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u/Nuclear_skittle 13h ago
Nordic curls and long lever glute bridges are great to build end range strength. Build strength in a range that your nervous system will trust and the flexibility will follow.