"Go Muscles vs. Show Muscles"

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In strength training the hamstrings are one of the most under developed muscles in the body. The hamstrings consist of the biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and semitendinosus muscles that cross over the knee joint and insert into the posterior region of the lower leg. I usually like to call these the “go muscles” because we all like to work the muscles we can see in the mirror “show muscles” instead of concentrating on what will help us reach our top performance level. As an athlete, our focus should be on the posterior musculature, which includes upper back, glutes, and hamstrings. Rather you are a baseball player stealing second or a basketball player jumping to get a rebound, your posterior chain provides the explosive power to get you there quickly. The largest muscle of the posterior chain is the hamstring, which serves two functions; knee flexion and hip extension. This is why your hamstrings are sore after sprinting and your quads aren’t.

High School to College

One of the most commonly found problems in college freshman coming from high school is the imbalance of strength between the quadriceps (front of leg) and the hamstrings (back of leg). Many strength programs place a major emphasis on exercises that predominantly stress the front of the body such as the squat. While the squat is a great exercise, the athlete must also perform an equal number of posterior movements so that a discrepancy between the quads and hamstrings does not develop.

The hamstrings are key to sport performance and is what helps the athlete apply force into the ground when running. When the ball of the foot makes contact with the ground underneath the hips, the hamstring contracts-pulling the athlete forward. The more force an athlete can apply into the ground the more ground he/she will cover. So weak hamstrings will limit an athletes speed and explosiveness.Furthermore, having strong hamstrings is one of the best ways to prevent knee and quadriceps injuries. Finally, a strong set of hams helps improve posture by preventing excessive lumbar lordosis and hip anteversion (pictures below).

The link to the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL)

Think about this for a second…ACL tears are seen a lot!!!! But why? When the quad is stronger than the hamstring, the leg relies heavily on the ACL for anterior support. This intense reliance on the ACL for anterior support creates optimal conditions for tearing the ACL. So a person, who has strong hamstrings, along with strong quads, has created an optimal condition for an ACL to thrive. Other than the ACL, the hamstrings are the only other major muscle group to provide stability to the back of the knee. So other than the ACL, the hamstrings are the only other major muscle group to provide stability to the back of the knee.

Here are a few videos of exercises that focus on your posterior side:

Physioball Leg Curl/Single Leg Curl

Sets: 3 to 4

Reps: 8 to10