Front split is not just cool, but also really good for your hamstrings

Hamstrings, the muscles in the back of the thigh, are very important for effective sprinting and powerful running strides on the tennis court. They bend the leg in the knee and straighten at the hip joint. Hamstring injury is a common occurrence in tennis. There are many reasons: insufficient flexibility, poor strength (especially in comparison to the quadriceps muscles in the front of the thigh), or faulty running mechanics.

Our life style with a lot of sitting doesn’t add to the optimal well-being of our hamstrings – they are put in a shortened position and get tight and short even more. For that reason stretching of the hamstrings should be an important part of your tennis fitness and injury prevention regimen.

You should stretch the hamstrings after each tennis or training session. And if you sit a lot during the day, you could fit another mini stretching session later in the day or even before you go to bed.

1. One easy stretch is lying on your back, rise one straight leg up in the air, grab your foot or ankle and start pulling it toward your chest. If you cannot reach, you can use a belt or a towel to hook around your foot, and pull on the belt. It will allow you to stay relaxed during the stretch instead of struggling to hold your foot.
2. The half-lotus stretch (recall the proper technique here) is stretching the outside hip of the bent leg and the hamstring and calf of the straight leg. After you are done with the half-lotus stretch, you can straighten both legs forward, grab on the feet or ankles and lean forward. You probably do already all these basic stretches in your routine.

But how about a front split - could you ever dream about that? Maybe it looks completely impossible to you right now because you think that your body is not “created to do a split”. But it is actually much easier than you think. In a couple of months, you could have well elongated leg muscles while impressing your tennis buddies with the beautiful front split.

Front Split

There are only a few people who have joint restrictions and are not capable of doing front splits. The rest of us have tight and shortened muscles and it is possible to change. Here is a test to determine if you are capable of doing front splits:

Step forward with the left leg into a deep lunge. If your thighs are almost in one line, just like in a split, it means that your hip joints and their ligaments do not prevent you from doing the front split, but rather the tightness of your hamstring, calf muscles, quadriceps and the hip-flexors. That sounds pretty promising, doesn’t it? This is how you do it:

Get down on the ground on your left knee, and extend the straight right leg with the foot pointing up as forward as possible. The left leg and foot should be in one line - don’t point the knee or foot out- or inward. Concentrate on the muscles where you feel the most tension. It could be in the hamstrings and calves of the front leg or in the hip-flexor and quadriceps of the back leg. If you lean forward you will intensify the hamstring stretch, if you lean backward it will increase the hip-flexor and quadriceps stretch. Ultimately, you want to have your body perfectly vertical. If it is hard to stay vertical, you can grab on something for better balance. As you get more flexible and get closer to the ground with your hips, you will be able to support yourself on your hands.

Just keep doing this stretch regularly and you will be surprised how soon you can do a complete front split. A man or a woman – with a stretching discipline, you will be able to do a front split in 2-3 months. How cool is that?

For more info: ex Ms Natural Olympia Suzanna McGee is an experienced athletic trainer, competitive tennis player and a freelance writer. She lives in Venice Beach, CA and online at www.sixftlion.com

 If you liked reading this article, feel free to subscribe with the button above, so you wouldn't miss any future great articles on fitness and injury prevention. Until then, read also tips how to

• Rejuvenate your body in the morning or any time with Sun Salutations.
• Stretch your hips with the Pigeon, Frog, Crocodile Twist, external hip stretch and groin stretch.
• Do the myo-fascial release for your feet, booty, and lower legs.
• Strengthen your legs and booty with lunges, jump squats, windmills and air bench.
• Strengthen your core with the side plank with leg lift, windmill, plank with arm and leg lifts and push up with knee to elbow touch.
• Prevent overuse injuries of your shoulders, wrists and elbows with elbow curls, arm circles and dogs and cats.
• And if the injury happened and you had a knee surgery, here are exercises for your come back.
• Use the beautifully colored kinesio tapes to prevent or heal your injuries.
• Work on your agility, coordination and balance with some fun footwork drills.
• And because the weather and conditions in Los Angeles are very hot, don’t forget to drink a lot of water, because it will increase your performance and well-being.
• Learn how to sleep well to feel good and increase your performance.