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Stretching ham string muscles to Warm Up or Cool Down

Ham string injuries can keep you out of action for a long time, and it is important to stretch your ham string muscles during warm up, especially for running. This helps to avoid the onset of injury during training.

The following stretching exercises should be used for stretching hamstring muscles to warm up or cool down after exercise. It is important that you do this both before and after exercise as ham strings can be damaged during exercise if not warmed up, and can become tight if not stretched during the cool down phase.

When stretching ham string muscles

stand vertically, and cross your second leg in front of the stretching leg.
keep your back stretching leg straight at the knee. Avoid bending your knee.
make sure your foot on the stretching leg is flat on the ground, and pointing forward.
bend down gently and place your hands on your knee. You will feel your ham string stretch on your back leg. Stretch it gently and don't overdo it.
do not bounce when stretching. Stretch your ham string in a steady gentle movement.
repeat the process with your other leg. You can repeat the process with both legs until you feel your have given them both a reasonable workout.