Pick my Brain – Episode 1

Welcome to my new blog segment: Pick my Brain – Episode 1.  I’m pretty excited about this segment because I do get a lot of questions on social media, some that I can’t really answer, but many that I can.  I think it’ll be nice to share some of the thoughts and answers to those questions here on the blog.  If you also want to ask me a question, send me a direct message on Instagram or Facebook, and I will do my best to include it in one of the episodes of the Pick my Brain segment.

When I launched the Pick my Brain segment on social media asking people for questions, the very first question that I got was from Spencer who said “How can I date you?  What should be my max pull up, back squat and handstand hold time for that?”  We said, “Pick my Brain” and Spencer heard “Pick me Up”.  But Spencer is a super fan, so we love him, we love you Spencer, my husband and I.

Hamstring Flexibility?

Next question came from Jean-Philippe who wrote, “I’d be interested in your take on hamstring flexibility, especially in the feeling of restriction we might have in the hip hinge.”  I’m always excited about hip hinge questions because I think the hinge is a fundamental movement.  It’s one of the fundamental movements that we cover in the Level 1 Movement Optimization Course, where we assess lumbopelvic rhythm and the hip hinge.

So, hamstring flexibility.  My first response to Jean-Philippe was: “Do we need hamstring flexibility, or do we need the hamstrings to operate more efficiently at longer lengths?”  I think in most cases we need the latter.  If you are getting that feeling of hamstring tightness, or as Jean-Philippe put it, that feeling of restriction we might have in the hip hinge, to me that means you’re doing the hip hinge properly.  Marc Rippletoe said it best in his book Starting Strength, when he talks about how at the bottom of a deadlift or a hinge, there is a war going on between your hamstrings pulling your pelvis posteriorly and your low back extensors pulling your pelvis anteriorly, and your lower back has to win that war.  As you tilt the pelvis anteriorly a little bit to get that lumbar arch, you are going to put those hamstrings under tension.  So, I think that if you’re hinging and you’re feeling that tension in the hamstrings, you’re doing it right.

A restriction would be something different.  When we look at how someone performs a hinge, what we want to see is that as they hinge the hips back, the pelvis tilts anteriorly.  Because to have an appropriate hinge, you need to be able to create that arch in your lumbar spine, and to do that, you need that anterior tilt.  If you have someone who has a posteriorly tilted pelvis and can’t reverse that, when they hinge, their pelvis will stay tucked under, and they’re not going to get that arch in the lower back.  So that’s what I would consider a restriction, potentially in the hamstrings, that would prevent them from having an appropriate hinge.  But, if you look at posture and you look at the position of the pelvis, I think what people often miss is that pelvic positioning is going to change your ability to hinge.  People who have a posterior pelvic tilt, and as such, a shorter hamstring, are going to start with a different capacity for the hinge than someone who has a neutral pelvis or even an anterior pelvic tilt.  Remember, when you are hinging, you do need to create that arch in the low back, so you do need to an anterior pelvic tilt.  These go together.  Your “neutral” range is going to require some anterior pelvic tilt because you need that arch, you want to the low back extensors to win over the hamstrings.

So, do we need flexibility?  Well, potentially, if someone has a shorter hamstring, like someone who has a posterior pelvic tilt.  When do you use a stretch?  I think every time you stretch a muscle it should be because you have a task in mind that will benefit from that stretch.  We know that stretching will provide an immediate result, so if you foam roll, if you do a PNF stretch, or even a static stretch, you’re going to get a window of opportunity.  You will get an immediate neural response that will increase the available range of motion, and that will also increase tolerance to stretch.  So, that feeling of restriction or tension will decrease.

What About Pelvic tilt?

Some studies have actually shown that a regular regimen of static stretching actually changes the position of the pelvis and results in greater anterior pelvic tilt, something we need if someone has a posterior pelvic tilt.  So, when dealing with a posterior pelvic tilt, in your Mobilization sequence, where the objective is to create space, you will want to apply a stretch to the hamstrings to get that immediate response.  It’s what you do afterwards within that window of opportunity that will be important in creating the behavior we want.

If you were going to do a stretch, you could foam roll, or you could use essentially whatever you like.  What you can do to get a very quick response and an increased tolerance to stretch is a hold-relax PNF stretch.  If you use the classic passive straight leg raise position to apply this stretch, just make sure you only take the hip into as much flexion as it will go without the pelvis tilting posteriorly.  Once you get into a position of stretch, have the individual push against you to contract the hamstring isometrically for 6 seconds.  After 6 seconds, you will get a post-isometric relaxation that will allow you to take the stretch further.  Repeat this 3 times, taking the leg further into flexion after each isometric contraction.

Now you’ve gotten that immediate response.  Remember that with a posterior pelvic tilt, you are concerned with bringing the pelvis into an anterior tilt.  To take advantage of the window of opportunity provided by the application of a hamstring stretch, your Activation sequence should include getting the pelvis to tilt anteriorly.  This can be practiced in standing, quadruped, or even supine, moving the pelvis back and forth into anterior and posterior tilt and gaining awareness and control of that movement.

In the Integration phase, we are concerned with building movement on top of what we have just accomplished.  Namely, we want to get that hamstring to operate more efficiently at a longer length, with the pelvis remaining in a more anteriorly tilted position.  This is where using eccentric exercise is helpful.  One of the exercises that I like the most for someone who needs to focus on keeping the pelvis in an anteriorly tilted position is a staggered hinge.  This can be done with or without a load.  The focus is on pushing the hips back while maintaining the anterior pelvic tilt, creating an increased eccentric load on the back leg.

Hopefully, that answer Jean-Philippe’s question about my thoughts on hamstring flexibility and perhaps related questions on posterior pelvic tilt and hamstrings.

Remember to watch the full video to see all the exercise demos and stay tuned for the next episode of Pick my Brain!

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Mai-Linh Dovan M.SC., CAT(C)
Certified Athletic Therapist
Founder of Rehab-U