Guiding Question For This Week:

Since I am revisiting my hamstrings, can I try new hamstring stretches and will them help me reach my goal of getting more flexible?

This Week’s Goal:

I had my blog posts set to end last week, that is why I did a full body routine for week 6 but because I needed to do two more to reach the 8 post requirement I decided that for this week I would stretch out my hamstrings again since the last time I did a full hamstring stretching routine was about 7 weeks ago, because of this I decided that I would do all new stretches so although i’m revisiting the same area I will be doing different stretches.

What I did:

  • Standing Hamstring Stretch: Standing, place one heel on the ground with your toes in the air. Bend other leg slightly, hinge forward slightly while keeping your back straight. Repeat on both sides, hold for 30 seconds.
  • Lying Hamstring Stretch: Lie on the ground, with a towel or belt gently pull through lifted leg towards you while keeping it as straight as possible. Do the same on both sides, hold for 30 seconds.
  • Forward Fold With Bent Knees: Stand with feet hip width apart. Bend your knees slightly and fold forwards letting your upper body hang. Then, slowly straighten your knees until they are straight. Hold for 30 seconds
  • Seated Hamstring Stretch: Sit with one leg extended so the sole of your foot is touching the inside of the opposite thigh. Lean forward slightly keeping your back straight. Hold for 30 seconds.

Reflection:

I did these stretches throughout the week of November 17th-21st. The reason I am just now making the post is because I thought that I only had to make 6 posts but I needed to make 8 and I got caught up with school and put making this post on the back burner. I still documented my stretches I just did not have time to make a post until now. Because I had a week gap and haven’t stretched my hamstrings since the first week I thought that I should revisit them. I really enjoyed revisiting stretches that targeted my hamstrings using different stretches that I have not tried before. They all felt very nice although the lying hamstring stretch I found very difficult because I could not being my leg up very high without it bending. I repeated all four of these stretches a few times until I reached 10-15 minutes so by the time I did that stretche for the third time it felt better. Overall it felt very relaxing once I did them a couple time and got into the groove.

Resources:

I was not able to link through videos like I did in my previous blog posts so I will just be putting the channel name and video title below of the videos I used for this weeks stretches.

AskDoctorJo:

  • Hamstring Strain Stretches & Exercises – Ask Doctor Jo
  • Hamstring Stretch in Long Sitting – Ask Doctor Jo

Baptist Health

  • Hamstring Stretch

These videos were very helpful when choosing what stretches I wanted to do because they were quick short videos that explained what they were doing and why which I really liked.

Next Week’s Plan:

Since next week will be my last week I decided that I am going to do another full body stretch as I really like the last one that I did and because it is my last week I thought it would be the perfect time to do a full body routine. I will be hitting all of the areas that I covered over the weeks and do a 20-30 minute routine.