Some Hamstring Love

Hey guys! Redheadrunner here. Hope you had a good start to your week. After racing a half marathon this weekend my hamstrings took a few days to recover, so I've been giving them some extra attention all week.

How do we recover tight hamstrings?

First, let's talk about why they are tight to begin with!

                                                                                The Pull

When we run, we want to create the least amount of injury on our legs as possible aka less impact. Think about if you're jumping rope. We don't want to hear your feet pounding into the ground every time. WE HAVE to think about the up part, to get our feet over the rope, right? SAME with running. We need to pull our feet off the ground with each step. less time on the ground = less impact= LESS INJURIES.

We use our hamstrings to trigger that muscle elasticity tendon complex. Our foot connects with the ground and soon as we feel that we PULL it off the ground, triggering it almost like a rubber band.  Over time these can get tight and we must recover them. How? I pull out my favorite tool, the voodoo floss band.

Here is a video of some drills you can do either to loosen up your hamstrings and/or prepare them for movement before your next workout.

So what's that red band around my leg? It's called a Voodoo Floss Band, cool name huh?
It adds multiple benefits to your tissues and longevity of your running.

                                                                                 How?

1. It unglues sticky tissues (aka knots or previously injured tissue).
Think of those tight knots that we get, as a dryer sheet, it sticks to everything and it hard to roll it back out. The band tacks down the tissues and through movement, forces them to break up and become unstuck.

2. Compression creates blood flow for faster recovery
The band does add a compression component, like a sleeve that takes your pulse. When we release the band the tissues that's been rubbing together breaks up, releasing the knots and tightness and healthy blood rushes to that area, ushering out the excess scar tissue. AKA RECOVERING FASTER.

3. Inflammation
The compression also helps with inflammation.

Once I do this warmup, with the voodoo band, I feel as if I have brand new legs once I release the band. 

These guys are available on amazon/mobility wod and should be in every runners/athletes bag.

Another fun video below to learn what can happen if we neglect our hamstrings (and my bad acting lol)
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Thanks for reading.
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