A Hamstring Stretch for The Tightest People on Earth

I’m always surprised by how many people come to my stretch class and complain that they are “so inflexible,” because once we get going, it’s clear to me that they are not.

First, there is the matter of understanding the difference between tight and inflexible. Tight is what you feel and inflexible is what you are. Very flexible people feel tight the same way inflexible people do. The flexible ones just have bodies that go farther. Tight is tight and it happens on a relative scale. Flexibility, on the other hand, is more about how far your body folds.

For you folks who are, in fact, truly tight and inflexible, we have techniques that we will help you go farther, even if you are convinced you’ve maxed out your stretch.

Let’s take the hamstrings as a good starting point since they affect not just your legs, but your back, hips and neck as well.

Begin this stretch by lying on the floor.

Put your legs up on the wall resting them on your heels (the back, not flat foot on the wall) and make sure your butt is far enough away from the wall so that your legs make a diagonal line from your hips to your heels, aiming somewhere between forty five and ninety degrees.

Lightly press your heels into the wall to gently press the back of your knee straight.

Then flex one foot without bending your toes. Your foot needs to flex back flat without bending at the ball of your foot. If your knee buckles, keep the foot flexed and press again through your heel and flatten the back of your knee.

Do one leg, then the other leg, then both legs together at the same time.

Once you are able to do that (it could take days, weeks or months), start inching  your butt closer to the wall and repeat. You’ll be amazed at where your butt ends up if you do this gradually and religiously. The goal is to get your butt as close to the wall as possible, over time.

You can also try our next level hamstring stretch by checking out this blog.

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