Hey guys, welcome back to the channel.

If you're new here, my name is Josh I've been a personal trainer for over 15 years and I've been certifying and teaching people in mobility training all around the world for Over eight years now.

That's why today I want to address one of the most common issues I see people struggle with now earlier.

We mentioned that your hamstrings aren't really tight But what do we really mean by that?

While they may feel tight, the way they feel is actually governed by the nervous system Think of your nervous system like a car alarm.

The alarm isn't triggered because there's something physically wrong with the car It's just a perceived threat even if there's no actual danger Just like a car alarm your nervous system can set limits based on perceived risks versus actual physical limitation To fix this you don't need to change the length of your hamstrings.

You physically can.

You just need to rebuild the system That's controlling them by building strength and flexibility.

The good news we can do this in just three steps The first step is to find a passive stretch This will put a small eccentric force which produces a mechanical load on the exact tissues that are feeling tight It is important that we learn to adjust the stretch Everybody has different anatomy and having these little tweaks will actually make your stretch more effective Start by anterior tilting the pelvis away from the knee This will give you an extra dimension of stretch on the hamstring Some people prefer a straight knee where others like to have more of a slight bend Rotate the femur to customize the stretch even more.

This will bias the inner or outer portions of the hamstring Once you have a stretch We need to be there long enough for the car alarm or the nervous system to reduce threat Think of taking a four second inhale followed by an eight second exhale.

You should hold this stretch for two minutes We need that mechanical load to wake up the tissue and respond on a cellular level.

Cellular You might be thinking Josh you said stop stretching in the beginning of the video.

You're right I did but here's the thing when most people stretch they only stretch for a couple seconds and they're not very specific with what they Actually feel this may provide some temporary relief But it doesn't actually fix the underlying issue because if it did you wouldn't be watching this video What we're trying to do is hold this exact stretch for several minutes So we can get really specific with the tissue we want and it's only the first part of the equation The next step focuses on contracting the hamstring.

We want to perform a specific isometric called a PAILs contraction This will help give the nervous system more confidence and build strength in that end range of motion.

To do this press the heel into the ground at a 5 out of 10 effort which should fire the hamstring and give your stretch a Loaded feeling.

Build up to that 80% effort and hold for 30 seconds.

Try not to move at all Just contract your tissues to a near maximal effort.

To reduce injury risk Please build up to this.

Many of you may not feel ready to perform a maximal effort in the beginning But know the goal is to generate as much force in the length and hamstring as possible Our next step to improving tight hamstrings involves another isometric contraction this time of the hip flexors We call this a RAILs contraction and the intention is to give us more control and access to our flexibility As soon as you're done the PAILs contraction Go into a RAILs by squeezing the tissue in front of the hip as if you're going to lift your leg off the ground Do not move your body to do it.

You may even feel a cramp in that area This is okay Tough it out and build up to an 80% intensity and hold that for 30 seconds Once your 30 seconds is up, let go of that contraction and breathe into that stretch position Rest 30 seconds before performing another set of PAILs and RAILs Now you may have noticed that you gain more range of motion after those isometrics.

That's a great start Keep in mind that range is only temporary because we just changed your nervous system.

To make those changes stick You need to repeat those efforts long enough with progressive overload Just like you would if you were doing strength training or if you were gonna add muscle It's all effective training.

To guide you through this We've put together a general weekly progression plan for the next four weeks.

The key is to follow the structure consistently So you're reinforcing the process and steadily improving your hamstrings function and flexibility The strategy in this video can be very helpful for people with neurological restrictions But not all techniques work for every type of limitation And how can you tell which type you're dealing with?

To get to the root cause of your joint stiffness You're going to want to check out this next video