Q&A – Hamstring Inflexibility

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Hey Justin,

Basically, I have poor hamstring extensibility.
The test I have used for this is to put my feet together lock my back in lumbar extension and bow forward with my knees locked. I get to just above 45 degree from the horizontal.

I am concerned that this may be causing problems with my DL and Squat. I was missing a few DLs, usually with my back losing extension in later reps. Also on squats I buttwink, but also I really don’t feel the bounce at all, which could be another problem all together.

The short run would be: is poor hamstring extensibility a big deal? Do you find it inhibits your trainees DL & squats? Are things like barbell assistance (RDL, SLDL) exercises better than good ol’ stretching?

I appreciate any words you can muster.

Regards

Cormac

Hamstring extensibility is the same thing as flexibility. A good definition of flexibility is
having sufficient range of motion (ROM) around major joints to meet the demands of every day activities as well as any other activities that are participated in. This means that flexibility is relative to the individual and what they do. For example, I like to strength train and compete in Olympic weightlifting, therefore I should be sufficiently flexible for both. I am not, however, a gymnast/dancer/ninja, and therefore do not need the flexibility to do a split for any reason.

The hamstrings are a group of muscles on the back of the thigh that always get a bad rap of “being tight”. While it’s true that it is farily common to have inflexible hamstrings, it isn’t as big a problem as it has been made out to be. The squat (AKA low bar back squat to those of you who aren’t familiar with Starting Strength) is a wonderful exercise to stretch the hamstrings.

The hamstrings attach at the ischial tuberosity (on the bottom of the pelvis) and wrap around the knee (condyles of the tibia, head of the fibula, etc.). When you squat properly (reference the squat chapter of Starting Strength), you set your knees by pushing them out, which angles the femurs parallel with the feet, and then you sit back with your hips so that the hamstrings (and adductors) are stretched out. These are requirements for the “bounce” to occur out of the bottom of the squat. Each time you do a full ROM squat, it is like a PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation) stretch. A PNF stretch is essentially placing a muscle in a position in which it will elongate while intermittently contracting the muscle to improve flexibility (for more).

The problem is that you must do the squat correctly and through a full range of motion, and not everyone is capable of teaching themselves this complex movement (it is one of the hardest lifts to master). If you consider yourself to have poor hamstring flexibility, then you need to first think about shoving your knees OUT and then sitting BACK. If it feels normal, then you’re doing it incorrectly. If you have never felt a full stretch on your adductors and hamstrings, you should know the first time you do.

Another factor with squatting/deadlifting and hamstring flexibility is that it may take you a few sets to get the muscles warm enough to go through the correct ROM. In such a case, you should make sure to incorporate a general warm-up and extra warm-up sets into your training session.

I’ve never had a problem with getting anyone to do a full ROM squat the first time that I teach them, and Rip has always said it is never a problem at all of the seminars he has done over the past few years. The best solution is to find someone that can coach you whether it be at a gym locally or at a seminar (the Starting Strength Seminars are utilized for reasons like this all the time).

Until you have squatted correctly, it is a waste of time to try anything else to loosen up your hamstrings. The squat will not only improve hamstring flexibility, but it will also (re)teach the hamstrings how to undergo a stretch reflex and also strengthen the muscles throughout the full ROM.

As for Cormac’s lack of extension in his back on his deadlifts, I don’t have enough information to have an opinion. He could be using bad form, is really skinny, attempting too much weight, or is doing everything correctly and having the natural curvature of the back on a heavy set of five. However, judging from his seeming hamstring inflexibility, I place the fault on the form on both his squat and deadlift.

The butt wink he references is over-hyped, and this is probably due to the CrossFit community branding it in their “air squat”. A butt wink is not that big of a deal assuming the squat is otherwise done correctly. It may even be anthropometry that looks like a butt wink — people that have a long pelvis and short torso will appear to be rounding their low back when it is actually the iliac crests of their pelvis. Besides, if the butt wink exists because of inflexibility, proper squatting will make it subside and disappear over time.

Again, a proper warm-up and squatting can cure common hamstring inflexibility and trying anything else is a waste of time until these are addressed. Barring any limiting pathology, the inflexible will become flexible.

What do you guys want to talk about?

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Look, I really don’t have anything to post. I have lots of medium length posts that I have to write, lots of lifters to induct into the hall of fame, lots of Olympic lifting to cover, lots of people to feature, but none of that is a quick write up, and none of it is happening tonight (Sunday night). You’ll always get my honesty.

We had a small group at the 70’s Big Workshop in Allen, Texas. I’ve mentioned that the workshop will adapt to the crowd, and this one shifted into the benefits of strength training and ways to incorporate it into training programs. If you want to host a workshop, e-mail me.

On a similar note, Chris graduated from college this past weekend. We had a little shindig and congratted him. To celebrate, here is the following video.



So, somebody strike up an interesting conversation in the comments. You guys are always welcome to send me links to stuff that you consider 70’s Big (it makes for entertaining posts, like last Friday’s), send in photos (although sometimes they don’t make it on the site), or send in videos. Maybe somebody will come up with something good. Happy Monday.

Tidbits

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Well my friends, PR Friday is upon us once again. Sure, we’ll have all the same kind of stories where people rip their pants, lift something relatively heavy, or eat plenty of food, but I want to call out the ladies this weekend and have them post some PR’s. Hey, a PR is a PR, and it doesn’t matter if that weight is great or small, it still matters to me — I wanna hear about it. So c’mon ladies, let me hear your stories. Dudes, get your ladies postin’.
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Avi sent me an amusing rugby video that is a wonderful display of why you don’t want to be 90’s Small on the pitch. He tells me the larger player is 6’5″ and 135kg while the smaller player is 5’11” and 83kg. Click play to see what happens (sorry about the wide frame, but it’s HD, yo).


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Brian sent in this video of a Hooters waitress squatting some 90’s Small guy. Good for the waitress and shame on the not-a-man on her shoulders. What perturbs me more than anything is one of the comments on the video. It reads,

Wow, that has happened too me a few times. I had an Ex-Girlfriend who could pick me up on her shoulders like a feather…Just goes too show that Women are not the weaker gender, and us Guys better start getting used too that, or we will be getting picked up and spun around by Women too.

Uhh…

Look, ladies, if you can pick your boyfriend up “like a feather”, then you don’t have a boyfriend, you have a child-friend. It’s okay to lug him around once in a while, but it shouldn’t be that easy because he should be an adult male. I can’t tell you how many times I hear, “Man, I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed a guy who weighs over 200 pounds better than a skinny-pain-in-the-ass guy until I tried it out” (not a direct quote, but true story nonetheless).

This isn’t a discussion about women’s rights, or their roles in society. It is simply a statement that a ravishing woman deserves man, not a skinny little puke (not to be confused with Johnny Spuke, who is the exact opposite). And fellas, you owe it to your lady to become an Adult Male.

Slow Motion

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I just got this handy camera that I will also use as a coaching tool. It can film stuff at 240 and 600 frames per second. This means that the camera is taking more pictures than the standard 30 or 60 fps, and thus can capture very fast movements (I got it for the Olympic lifts). Unfortunately the 600 fps degrades in quality (the resolution goes down quite a bit), and since the camera is taking so many pictures, you need a pretty hardcore light source to get the most out of it. The 240 fps works pretty well for my purposes in a gym, so I decided to share some of the videos with you after messing around with it on the first day.

It’s pretty sweet to watch the Olympic lifts when they are slowed down, and you can see little deviations in bar movement very well. Sammerr is the subject of our first video — he is a friend of mine that Rip and I have coached since he’s been at the gym. He’s a pretty damn strong 94 kg lifter (I just watched him deadlift 545 for a triple the other day), and was doing some 140 kg cleans. He’s clean and jerked 150 in competition, and these didn’t look particularly hard. His technique is solid in that the bar leaves the floor in a vertical bar path. Also note the shrug at the top of the pull.



After seeing the video slowed down, we thought it was pretty cool. So Sammerr loaded the bar to 90 kg and did a quick power snatch so we could film it. His form is, again, very solid (we finally got his start position consistent). My only nagging point is that he could have shrugged his shoulders a bit more at the rack, but a solid power snatch. It wasn’t that heavy — Sammerr has snatched 112 in competition and 120 in training. If he keeps pulling the bar vertical like he is here, he’ll easily hit at least 120 in competition.



For the hell of it, I also filmed one of my favorite people at the gym, “Peez”. She was power cleaning singles on the minute, so I had lots of footage on her. This was also the first time I coached in real time, then consulted a camera. It’s useful, but I don’t think a coach should be dependent on the camera to verify what’s wrong. Peez has come a long way in the last year and a half and has gotten pretty explosive on her power cleans.



Follow the jump for a squat video.
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HoF Inductee — Ed Coan

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I’m not really sure how you could have made it this far and not heard of Ed Coan, but I like how Joe Koenig introduces to you him:

When you go to the gym tomorrow, I want you to head to the squat rack and load it up with twenty 45 pound plates. That’s right, put ten on each side. Now just stand back and look at it and try not to pee your pants. Guess what? Ed Coan has squatted about 50 pounds more than that. Over the next week, see how much you can squat for a single rep. Then do the same with the bench press and deadlift. Add those numbers up. If you can squat 500, deadlift 450, and bench 300, well, you’re only at about the halfway point to equaling Ed Coan’s total. Scary, huh?



Coan has been touted as the “Michael Jordan of powerlifting” because he has set over 100 world records, has won 12 senior national championships, and 12 world championships. He is one of the strongest lifters in history with a PR total of 2,463 lbs while weighing 218. To put this in perspective, Bill Kazmaier’s best total was 2,425 (although it is very important to note that Kaz was in a different era and didn’t wear any gear whatsoever and moved away from powerlifting to have a long and successful career in other strength sports). Coan moved on with the times to compete in single ply gear, but always deadlifts without a suit. His best competition lifts (he doesn’t max out in the gym) are a 1,038 squat, a 578 bench (long arms), and a 901 deadlift — all while weighing under 240 (he’s 5’6″).

Coan describes himself as a “regular guy who lifts a lot of weight”. He started powerlifting as a teenager after seeing Bill Kazmaier on TV. He started lifting in the 75kg/165lb class and moved up to the 110kg/242lb class by the end of his career because he wasn’t interested in cutting weight and wanted a challenge. He set records in five weight classes in his career — a phenomenal feat because he was amazing regardless of what class he lifted in.

Coan’s huge numbers and total instantly put him in the 70’s Big Hall of Fame, but when you consider the fact that he consistently got bigger (as a result of his increasing strength) throughout his career…well, I don’t know another way to demonstrate a 70’s Big mindset. So he’s crazy strong, has had wild success in every single weight class, and also has had a career that lastedover 25 years (in a sport that eats people up with injuries), and you have an easy HoF pick. His mantra shows through his numerous interviews: keep it simple, and don’t overtrain since it will limit success and make you injury prone. Even though his career lasted so long, Coan no longer lifts due to an injury he suffered while squatting in competition (avoid watching this video at all costs, it is frightening). While his records will fall with with the prevalence of geared lifting, his legendary achievements will live forever.

Here is a compilation of some of Coan’s lifts. Some highlights include squatting 950 for a double, benching 550 for a double, and doing a behind the neck seated press with 400 lbs. Oh, and it has a pretty sweet song:



Coan’s best deadlift:



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