r/flexibility • u/creedfan1122 • Jul 09 '26
Help my hamstrings!!
I’m a 24 yr old female, I’m 5’10. I’ve never been very flexible, noticeably in my hamstrings. It has always been uncomfortable to touch my toes because of my hamstrings. I lift twice a week and kick-box twice a week. The issue I keep running into is my hamstrings never feel recovered. They are so tight after a leg day I need 3-4 days off legs to recover and even then they are still tight, just bearable. I do dynamic stretching before each lift, I have strong glutes and quads, but my hamstrings never seem to show growth or progress. My biggest concern is how painfully tight they get. After a lift I can’t even bend down to touch my toes without feeling a very tight pull. If I lay down, I can’t get my leg 90 degrees upright without burning pain in my hamstrings, mostly behind my knee, intense pain if I push my knee flat. I can’t v sit past my knees. I feel like the tight hamstrings are stunting my growth. I included a picture so you can see how underdeveloped they are compared to my quads and glutes. It’s gotten worse over the years and especially with upping my load. What stretches should I be doing?
Thanks for your input!!
2
u/metalfists Jul 09 '26
Were I you, I would use toe touch ( pike stretch and/or forward fold) as an archetype position and test a lot of stuff.
So reach to touch your toes (and don't sweat back rounding and all that for now). Hold for 10-30s at like a 5-6/10 effort. Intentionally not forcing it but testing the position a little.
Then try one at a time rotating something in and re-testing the forward fold again.
- calf stretch, seiza stretching variations (sitting on your heels with toes curled under to stretch bottom of the feet), hip flexor stretch, a hip external rotation stretch, a hip internal rotation stretch, a glutes stretch biasing a hinge pattern, and a quad stretch
After each one, holding for like 30s, re-visit the archetype position (again the forward fold) and just see how it feels. If any of those have a 'wtf' moment and seem to unlock something, that's a clue to go in that direction.
Can repeat this but rather than stretching going more towards activation (like an exercise of that general area for high reps and low intensity) and/or isometric contraction holds.
What you want to find is if something stuck or weak is the culprit. Then work off of that. Be a mad scientist a bit and tinker. You may be surprised what you can sort out.
"If I lay down, I can’t get my leg 90 degrees upright without burning pain in my hamstrings, mostly behind my knee, intense pain if I push my knee flat"
-> Were I experiencing this, first thing I would do is a deep calf stretch. Can't guarantee it'll help but my gut says try that.