Now that you have worked those hamstrings, its time to stretch them out!

Below are my favourite hamstrings stretches for you to try. Again, go easy on yourself, work with your breath and please try not to compare your flexibility to mine, or any of those insta-yogis out there. I've been practising yoga for about 15 years, so if you are just starting out, of course there are going to be differences. Remember, it's all about the journey, not the destination/and about what we do, not how we do it (and other such cliches)

Reclining Hamstring Stretch:

My favourite way to stretch the legs, because its basically lying down - also one of the safest for your lower back for reasons I shall not bore you with, Just trust me.

Pop a strap around the ball of your foot, extend the other leg along the mat. Keep softness in your knee (no locking the joints please!) or even bend the knee if your hamstrings are a bit tighter. Start with 5 breaths (about 30 seconds) here with the foot flexed - heel up, toes towards your face. Bliss.

Then move into a more dynamic stretch - as you inhale bend the knee even more to ease off the hamstrings, then exhale to move back into the stretch..inhale bend, exhale extend. In this way we work with the breath to deepen the stretch, and encourage the muscles and connective tissues to relax and open.

Standing Forward Fold:

Start standing with the feet hip width apart, then roll down slowly with the knees slightly bent. Let the crown of the head drop down to the ground to lengthen the neck. Bring the weight into the balls of the feet and engage your core.

You can hold onto the elbows and let the upper body lengthen, or you can hold onto the big toes (variation shown) and gently draw yourself deeper into the stretch. If your hamstrings are tight, BEND THE KNEES (as shown!). Otherwise it risks putting strain on your lower back and ruining your day.

As with all stretching, you want to move to a place where you feel a stretch and some lengthening happening. We don't want to experience any sharpness or pain. If you are straining, unable to breathe and pulling a face (anything that isn't a smile), it's your body telling you to kindly back the feck off.

Wide Leg Forward Fold:

The next two photos are essentially the same pose, but with different modifications depending on your hamstrings. One is not better than the other, and being able to do something without props does not make you a superior being...soz.

Time to switch off the competitive voice in your head and listen to your body...does the floor seem miles away? Use blocks under the hands. Does my lower back round, hurt or strain when I fold forward? Use blocks. Do my legs shake like crazy when I reach down? USE BLOCKS. Got it? Ok. You will enjoy it more if you use props to help, promise.

Keep feet parallel to edges of the mat & weight in the balls of the feet. The spine is lengthening with minimal flexion (rounding) & core is engaged to support

This second variation is great to work on if you can get the hands to the floor. Grab hold of your big toes (with peace-sign fingers and the thumbs) then gently draw the crown of the head down. The weight stays forward in the balls of the feet, the core stays engaged and there also needs to be a certain amount of activation in the glutes. This will prevent over-stretching and stressing out the connective tissue where the hamstrings insert. Bend the knees as much as you need to and as you draw down, pull the shoulders away from the ears and lift the belly.

Kneeling Hamstring Stretch:

This stretch is technically 'half splits', and can be used as the prep for full splits...or is great simply to stretch out your hamstrings if the splits is not one of your goals for 2017 (or ever).

Kneel, pad up the back knee and extend one leg out in front of you. Again, use blocks under the hands (as shown) if you need to. Keep your hips aligned over the back knee, flex the foot and pull the toes towards your face. Whether you are using blocks or not, you can work with a bend in the knee to send the stretch directly to the belly of the muscle. To increase the stretch, energetically draw the front heel and back knee towards each other.

If you can get the finger tips onto the mat without rounding the spine, send the chest towards the big toe until you feel a stretch. And if the hamstrings are a little more open and the mat is well within reach, try to lay the rib cage/belly onto your thigh, and keep sending the chest towards the foot so the spine stays long.

If you do happen to be working towards a full split, a good prep exercise is to flow between this pose (either hands on blocks or on the mat) and a runners lunge (bend the front knee and sink the hips down). This stretches both the hamstrings and hip flexors, which need to be nicely open to work into the front splits.

Pyramid Pose:

Look familiar?!! This is pretty much what you just did (above)...except this time the floor is a little further away...! Pyramid Pose or Parsvottonasana to the yogis out there, is an intense hamstring stretch and best done when you are already warm and have pre-stretched the legs.

Position your blocks at the front of the mat and start with feet together and hands on hips. Step one foot forward just behind the blocks, and hinge forward over that leg, keeping your belly engaged to support. Then place the hands on the blocks.

Once you are there check your feet! Both feet need to be facing forward (the back toes are slightly angled out), heels down on the mat. Check that the heels are not crossing over - if you draw a line down the middle of the mat, you would have one heel either side of that line. This will help to keep the hips square (super helpful at this stage to have someone check your alignment to make sure you aren't tilting, dropping one side, twisting etc). As before, pop your hands on blocks if you need to or place fingertips onto the floor, and keep the front knee soft, or bent.

The last variation shown here is for those who are open in the hamstrings, and can lay the rib cage on, or close to the thigh. Keep searching for length in your spine, moving the heart towards the big toe, and bring the chin to shin to lengthen the neck. Squeeze. Your. Glutes.

Remember that even if you have lovely long hammies, the knees really do need to stay soft when you stretch... If you lock out the legs (ie: push the knees back into hyper-extension) it sends pressure and strain directly to the lumbar spine and you will not be having a good time. Never just hang out into your joints, engage the muscles to stabilise (core, glutes etc) as you work on your flexibility.

Big love

Emma xxx

(first published in August 2017 & migrated over from emmalouiseyoga.com)

Happy Hamstrings II