I did my own high intensity stretching routine focused on hamstrings. This are my results after one month. (x-post r/Flexibility)

phalbert

New member
First of all, a disclaimer. I am not an expert. I'm just a guy who read too much posts. This routine is quite intense, so it can produce pain. I got a lot of DOMS from doing it and if you follow it, you may get injured or your postural issues could get worse. Obviously, I deny any responsibility if any of that happens. Be careful.

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Second of all, the pics, or didn't happen:

Progress pics


Routine​


This is the basic template, when I started:

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Nerve flossing (sliding)12
Nerve flossing (stretching)12
High kicks12-15
Knee extensions12
End of range leg lifts, no hold12
[url=https://youtu.be/z5ByuvT-zCg?t=21]Lying hamstring stretch (Contract-Relax)[/url]2 cycles, ~90 seconds each
Standing pike pulses70 (bilateral)

Exercise
Reps (per leg)

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How did I came up with that routine? Well, I just added all the techniques I had read regarding hamstring flexibility: dynamic stretches, active mobility, nerve flossing, end of range drills, PNF with contract-relax protocols and ballistic stretching. I ordered from least intense to more intense and voilà.

Because of my impatience, at the end I was doing closer to 15 reps of each exercise, plus I started doing the hold at the end of range leg lift (5 s hold and only 4 reps per leg) and replaced the knee extensions for this harder kind of knee extension. The pulses also went to around 90 reps.

Frequency​


I stretched 5 days a week (sometimes 6), alternating between intense and light days. On intense days, I'd do the whole routine. On light days, I just did static pike stretching instead of using the lying hamstring stretch, and no pulses. The idea was to maintain a high frequency and to give my hammies some rest at the same time.

Background and measurements​


I have to be honest, this is not the first time I stretched. I've been stretching on and off for years, never with too much success. Even when I started this experiment, I already was doing a similar stretching routine after months of no mobility work. So, the first picture already shows some of those gains. Besides, I've been a little more flexible than in the before pic in past years, which means that I regained some range of motion. However, I've never been as flexible as in the after pic. For example, now I'm able to kiss my knees with my straight legs, something that I never did before.

I took the pictures already warmed up. The warm-up is just the first 5 exercise of the original routine. I'm also stretching as hard as I can. I did it this way to eliminate possible variations in intensity or muscle preparedness. Sadly, it also means that's not my cold flexibility.

BTW, I know the angle I drew isn't the correct hip angle. I just picked the most reliable way to draw an angle that allows me to make an objective comparison.

EDIT2: To clarify, if I let my back to round, I can place my whole hand on the floor, at ease. I took the pictures with a straight back to isolate the hamstrings.

Other comments​


This kind of intense stretching always leaves my back and hips feeling weird and weak. To counter act that and to prevent my APT from getting worse, I performed isometric ab exercises and hip flexors stretches at the end of every session. I feel like those exercises return some balance to my body.

Also, there's the DOMS. At first, it was pretty intense, so I had to do some hip thrusts and kicks in order to warm-up the muscle thoroughly before even starting the routine. As the days went by, the soreness became less intense and the nerve flossing and high kicks were enough to avoid stretching with pain.

Sometimes I also lacrosse-balled my quadratus lumborum. It really helps release my tight lower back. Now I think I should've add foam roalling in the warm-up, but I didn't want to make it too long.

Conclusion​


In all my years stretching on and off, I never progressed this fast. It was hard, but it was worth it. I don't know if doing all of that was strictly necessary, but at least I know it gave me good results.

I hope you find this useful!

EDIT: Two "first of all". I couldn't live with that.
 
@phalbert This is the dumbest point forgive me, but you wrote DIC instead of DEC on that photo, so you may want to correct if you share anywhere else.
 
@logeen Damn, my native Spanish is leaking! I'll have to leave it as it is, since I uploaded the image directly in a Reddit post.

Thanks for the correction!
 
@phalbert Great progress! I'm super into stretching my hamstrings right now so I'm very interested in your post and also the discussion it will hopefully generate. Thank you very much!
 
@phalbert I opened this sub slecifically to look for hamstring flexibility threads. You are a freaking king.

I was trying to improve flexibility for over a year on - off, but without any success. I would always get too sore and stop, or lay it off until I l lose all the progress. Aynways, I cut the crap now, and am going to stretch every day, floss, and do good mornings. Progressively, working up to being able to perform head to toe ballistics and weighted good mornings, aswell as jefferson curls, but every day. Every daaaaaay. Let's see what happens. Good post btw, I like it.

I got two questions tho:

1) Have you noticed your posture moving towards lumbar lordosis?

2) Do you think you would make such progress if you were working towards front splits, or even front and side split together. In other words, do you think such focused and simple routine is responsible for such quick progress?
 
@dawn16
I opened this sub slecifically to look for hamstring flexibility threads. You are a freaking king.

Thanks!

I was trying to improve flexibility for over a year on - off, but without any success. I would always get too sore and stop, or lay it off until I l lose all the progress. Aynways, I cut the crap now, and am going to stretch every day, floss, and do good mornings. Progressively, working up to being able to perform head to toe ballistics and weighted good mornings, aswell as jefferson curls, but every day. Every daaaaaay. Let's see what happens. Good post btw, I like it.

My two cents:
  1. If you take measurements and structure your routine, maybe you can make post like this one. I don't think this is science, but I do take the main ideas: a pre and post test in equal conditions and a single intervention to take credit for all the variation. If everyone did this we all would have a pretty good idea on how to progress fast.
  2. Rest is necessary. Rest at least once a week, or if you just can't allow that, make sure to vary the intensity to allow the muscles to recover.
1) Have you noticed your posture moving towards lumbar lordosis?

You could say so. My posture didn't actually get worse, but I could feel how maintaining proper posture became harder. My abs had to work harder to compensate my stretched hamstrings and my tight lower back. As I wrote, I did hip flexors stretches and core exercises to ameliorate this effect.

2) Do you think you would make such progress if you were working towards front splits, or even front and side split together. In other words, do you think such focused and simple routine is responsible for such quick progress?

I don't know. I don't think so. Maybe if the split routine would involve exercises or postures where the hamstrings had to contract hard, it could cause interference. But stretching other body parts shouldn't cause a detriment by itself.

What I do think it helped was the fact that I wasn't doing resistance training. That would have tired and damaged the muscle, slowing its recovery.
 
@phalbert Ohhh that one about resistance training is huge. I support the claim that contracting the muscle you want to get flexible would interfere with that goal. That being said, strength training is not much different.

I now believe firmly in periodisation. But I still wont take it to such extremes that I ditch strength training completely. I will, however, focus just on hamstrings, and worry about fixing even worsened ATP later :p
 
@phalbert Thanks so much for sharing! I have terribly tight hamstrings and it's been limiting my acrobatic abilities. I'm going to follow this religiously and hoping for success!
 
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