 Welcome back to the school of calisthenics. It is Tim and Jaco and you have landed here because you have got tight hamstrings And you want some help of how to improve them? So we've pulled together some exercises which are going to do exactly that It's not just a matter of doing loads of static stretching. We actually need to take a bit more of a fully rounded approach to this So we're going to look at hip flexor tightness We're going to look at hamstring tightness how we can loosen those off We're even going to get the glue involved in a little bit of balance to create some stability and some strength at end range It's not it's we've made it simple for you way more simple than what I may have made that sound So we're going to go through a sequence of exercises now So you can sit back relax enjoy and then put them into practice after you've watched the video I'd say we will enjoy not even tight hamstrings. Definitely The hamstring is actually a group of four muscles But we talk about it as one and we're going to use the box and the ball to get some pressure on these because we Can get some nice direct force down onto a muscle which sits pretty deep It's the trigger points particularly can be quite deep So we need to get some weight on top of it So Jaco positions the ball underneath his hamstrings and then he's just going to find that trigger point having to hunt around Again, you might find these jump out of the right away or get a bit sort of difficult to pin down So just trap them find a bit of a position where you can hold it in place and then start to work The real one I really like about this is we can be active in this position So we find the trigger point and then we start to work through that's ultimately where we want to be Starting to get some full knee extension in that shape and working that through It's just going to start to strip out some of the tension in that muscle Hamstrings can cause a big problem in the squat and up in our single leg progressions by tucking the bum up underneath And they can also start to just cause particularly the one of the musculature the bifem short head Causing some rotation of the feet so it does start to play around with things a bit Have a hunch around and we've also got the opportunity to hit a little bit of the adductor magnets Which is a big slug of the muscle sits in the adductor complex But it's attaches quite high up onto the bottom of the pelvis So getting the right up on to just underneath your sitting bones in there have a hunch around and see if you can get into some That junk because again that one can play a little bit of havoc It's a bit of a it can be pretty uncomfortable Take it steady if you ever feel tingling or numbness in any of these exercises a self massage you're rolling a nerve So just move off that but again try and relax work through some positions and try and improve that range of movement Next up is the quads and the IT band now We're not going to get too much detail on this one just to keep it simple But we've got a lot of musculature around a thigh We need to get loosened off and moving well because it can start to play around and cause have it with the pelvis So jack up gets the earphone roller and aiming for this top portion of the quad Now because we've got a lot of musculature in there It runs on the front and the side But we're looking to work down the front of the muscle here and then on to the side What we've got in there is the IT band and the quad musculature the four muscles that make that up And we want to be able to start to separate them out They get stuck together stops them from moving so rolling around from side to side is going to help to loosen some of that stuff off You're not going to have to go far until you find the trigger points and the saw bits that are in there Jacko is going to level 2 to advance this a bit by finding one of those trigger points holding it against the foam roll And then starting to move the foot in and out of this position as well And it's just starting to drag that tension through and the point of contact with the foam roller and loosen everything off So hunt around find the saw bits again You've always got an extra level if you want to you can find a little friend to help you Explore it find where you're where you're sore and then spend some time at working out that tension we're going to focus on a active quad and hip mobilization in this position where we're going to be working in and out of two Different positions, but we're going to allow us to focus on teaching ourselves in the brain this relationship between the glutes and the hip flex and if the hip flexes are super tight How they're going to inhibit our ability to actually activate through the glutes So Tim goes into a position first where he's kneeling on the floor knees directly underneath the hip He's squeezing the glue and trying to tuck the pelvis underneath and he's going to feel a stretch at the front There is no point in him arching his back here. He's not going to feel it in shifting his hips forward What he's got to try to do is tuck underneath It's going to squeeze his bum you can check it touch test to check that it's on it should feel nice and tight And that's him in the position there that's position one He's going to hold and squeeze and make sure that's active them feel that relationship in the hip flexor in the glute Then he's going to adjust that front leg Hands come down he pushes the knee out to the side and then he's going to drop the hip in and then he's going to do the Same thing so the hip flexors now on a stretch in here We're slightly lower down you make sure he's squeezing that glute still in that position and he can just to hunt around and Explore what's happening on the hip on the other side if we're wanting to increase the length or range of motion We've got through this hamstring musculature It's important that we're not only taking some of the tension out like we did in the self myofascial release work You did with the ball on the box, but we're also taking this actively through some range So we're going to look at this supine which just means on your back 1990 hamstring stretch first thing is getting a nice body line There's no point in him Tim being in this position and arching his back and when he takes one leg up to 90 degrees The other leg must stay flat onto the floor There's no point in us having a bend in here because then we're just losing control of the hip So that one is splinting back stays nice and flat Fema goes your leg goes straight up vertical in the air So we're on that 90 degree angle at the hip opposite arm goes across and grabs hold of the hamstring behind the back of the knee There that's going to stop the leg from falling out to the side and keep this Leg in a straight position if we've got good range of motion We should be able to go up to the top and create a nice straight line where you've got a completely 90 degree angle going vertically up towards the sky There's an active position so Tim is squeezing the quad and he pauses for two seconds at the top under control and comes back down If he really wants to crank this up a little time when he gets to the top He can also bring the toe in and if he pulls the toe towards him trying to create some of that door's friction We get the calf involved there and then we're working some a gastro which crosses over the knee We're getting that calf hamstring complex where a lot of us will be tight behind the back of there If that starts to feel really good Can you get the leg right up close to the chest or progressively close to the chest and then go to stretch You'll see that that's an extreme position So it's going to be super hard to get completely straight there But it's going to target the hamstring a little bit more and then for those of you that have already got decent range and are looking to do some of your Anything for your pistol squats But if you're looking for your press to handstand and things like that Anything that requires you to have really good range of motion of the hamstring We need to be increasing the ranges that we can actively go through and control ourselves In this we're going to look at some floor bridge progressions And what's going to be important here is making sure we're queuing to use the glutes correctly in this position That's going to help stabilize the pelvis. So Tim's starting and dead lying on the floor But we're going to wake him up and he's going to bring his bend his knees He's going to put his feet down by his bum and just check his distance where they should just be able to touch with his fingertips That's him nice and set one of the things that some people get a issue with With the floor bridge is that they'll feel like their hamstrings cramp on because they're trying to do all the work And it's not the glute. They're not actually getting the glute firing first And that's often because of the position to get the pelvis in we want the pelvis starting This nice neutral position. We don't want a big arch underneath But equally we don't want to take under so much that the glute is just fired on and then the hamstring just has to do all the work So he's trying to find that nice neutral position and then from there So we've got a little just there's a soft sort of curve to the spine in the neutral Core is then on engaged to maintain that position Then the job is driving down through the heels to raise the hip up nice and high He gets up and he maintains a nice straight line with the body not arching It's not about trying to get as high as you can because all you're going to do is pop that rib cage up It's about making sure you're making that connection to the glutes. You should be able to check that they're on nice and strong So it's a nice control up to the top pause and then slowly back down Making sure we just kiss the floor before we drive up again When that starts to get easy the job is then to try and go with a single leg in with a single leg The tim straightens this one out and the job is that the whole thing is going to raise at the same time So the cue on the other side is exactly the same the pelvis stay straight It doesn't drop down to one side And this leg is staying in a nice straight line and the bum and the heel touch When it comes down to the floor exactly at the same time You'll see that he's maintaining that top position when he pulls at the top The two thighs are parallel to each other and the hip is staying straight It's not dropping down to one side because he's got the strength in that glute That's working on the leg that is connected to the floor and that is going to stabilize the pelvis and put Your glutes in some great shape to help you control the pelvis The arabesque is a single leg balance exercise But it's going to start to lengthen the hamstring and then start to also incorporate the glute work to come back up But the whole time we're going to be challenging our balance because we are going to be on one leg trying to look like a ballerina So my ballerina tim is going to come forward. He's going to go on to his left leg He takes his arms out to the side Makes a nice straight body line to start with the as he Does a soft little bend in this knee that he's standing on so it just doesn't want it locked out Soft little bend and then he's going to be pivoting down from the hip to create the movement to a position where the leg Is out straight and we're trying to create this nice flat line the leg a tiny bit higher there We go nice flat line with the body and then on the way back up He's driving the glute forward trying to feel like he's cracking a walnut between his blood cheeks So on the way down He's going to feel a stretch keeping that soft bend in the knee and the hamstring and then on the way up He drives from glute to push on back through making sure he's maintaining a good body line throughout What's going to be difficult is you might feel like you're losing your balance Sometimes so you've got to make sure you are controlling that The other things that go wrong is we don't actually get this glute on high Strong enough on the leg that's out and it stays nice and low Or you might find that you arch your chest up and you've lift up and you're sort of going to this Scorpion type position where you're not holding and maintaining that good body line So tim's going to finish with one nice good Or is nice and super straight in that position giving the breakfast off that table And he's driving with the glute on the way back up Final point just to mention is just this knee position so you can see from front on as he goes down He's wanting to maintain the position where the knee stays in line with the toe We don't want to see him diving inwards onto the inside and creating that lateral movement of the knee We want to stay hip knee and toe in a nice straight line as he's going down He's controlling it the whole time it's difficult because we're on one leg But you're going to actually build up more and more control and stability around that hip Knee and ankle joint as you build up that control and as you get a bit better at Being able to maintain your position on one leg Hope your hamstrings are feeling better feeling looser and your hips in general are hopefully Going to be feeling a bit better as well after that If you liked that content is some of those video tutorials are taken from our virtual classroom Where we've got a whole class dedicated to improving your lower body foundation work It's not just about improving squat patterns or running mechanics All this is going to feed into longer term progression around your calisthenics training So have a look we've got so much content in there if you want to learn calisthenics I would say it's the best place to go and do it So if you want to get into the virtual classroom you can click In one of these bit one of them will have decided to put it And they'll it'll be there and you'll be able to take it straight there Let's move on we'll see you in there class dismissed