Hey RMA crew!
Hope you had a great weekend! We had crazy fun with the Gold Coast Marathon and it was awesome to catch up with so many running mums on the day. There were RMA crew from Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and everyone there did amazing with heaps of PB’s as well. If you didn’t make it this year put it on your RMA calendar for 2015, it’s a blast! Got a chance to chat with your Nicole about how running bonds and unites us all. It was great to catch up and hear her story.
http://www.rifrev.com/running-injury-free/nicolebunyoninterview
Also wanted to quickly talk about hamstring tightness with running because these guys can be troublesome, especially if you don’t understand them properly. We had a friend who came within a breath of missing Gold Coast because of hamstrings so they deserve your respect. First thing you want to know is some of the risk factors with hamstrings and often a big key is your stride. Commonly if you are overstriding your foot gets out in front of the body and you then use muscle strength to drive the body forward. If you can imagine that foot out in front, the hamstrings are going to absorb some of that impact (breaking your momentum) and then have to lever the leg back. So the first thing you want to think about if hammies are twinging or getting tight is ‘this body is telling me a story of my stride’. We want that story to be a fairytale, ‘It lived happily ever after with marathons, PB’s and running with friends!’ not a nightmare, ‘my hammies tore off the bone and scar tissue means I can’t run anymore!’ Trust me I’ve seen both! So if you’re reading the hammie book, the first chapter would be about shortening your stride slightly, just a touch and see if that helps. The second would be about your position, try to use a small lean which will completely change your mechanics. Hard to be a real heal striker when your lean is right. And third is relax your legs, don’t allow muscles like hamstrings and quads to thrash and bash you forward. The more relaxed you are able to be, the faster and further you will go.
Next would be the chapters on looking after hamstrings even when you aren’t running. Big key is to understand that like any good argument, there is always two sides to the hamstring tension story. The first is like the obvious stuff, muscle tension, the stuff that everyone sees. The second is the complex, the subtle stuff, the nerve tension that almost always gets missed. To get your running ‘happy ever after’ you have to look at both. So check out this video that takes you through 6 different ways to tame the hamstring beast for your running. http://www.rifrev.com/running-injury-free/improverangeforrunning Once you master that I will show you how to get even more subtle and finish the last chapter of your hammie story so you can start to uncover the hidden truth! Stay tuned. Remember comfy at all times guys and if you have any back injuries or anything nasty health wise, get doc to check it before you do any exercises.
Have fun RMA crew!
Talk next week,
Paul Trevethan
Physio
RIFREV.com
bodyleadership.com
Reblogged this on Unguarded and commented:
Remember this please ~ A story about hamstrings!