The 10 Best Hamstring Stretches to Relieve Tightness (Because You Feel Like You’re About to Snap)

Yesterday, you decided to finally tackle that workout video you’ve had saved on Instagram for weeks. You did deadlifts, glute bridges, plank jacks, the works. You felt amazing afterward, posting a sweaty selfie while sipping on your favorite protein shake. But this morning you woke up feeling a weird pain in the backs of your thighs. What gives? Your hammies, that’s what.

Your hamstrings are made up of three posterior muscles that connect your hips to your knees. These muscles work in tandem to help extend the hip, flex the knee and rotate your lower leg––actions we all do on the reg. From running to sitting to walking up the stairs, the hamstrings are involved in almost every move we make. Unfortunately, this means they’re also extremely susceptible to injury. Caring for your hamstrings involves both strengthening and lengthening achieved through exercise and stretching. But you can’t master a deadlift if your hamstrings are tighter than a rubber band. What’s worse, you could strain or tear them in the process (but more about that later). Lucky for you, we’ve rounded up the best hamstring stretches you can do just about anywhere. When maintained consistently, these stretches will help relieve pain, decrease tightness, increase mobility and even boost strength.

Before diving in, we chatted with Daniela Malkowski, STOTT certified Pilates instructor and personal trainer, to take a closer look at some of the symptoms, causes and prevention methods associated with tight hamstrings.

Unsure if your hamstrings are tight? Try a flexibility test (we promise, it’s easier than it sounds). Can you touch your toes? How far down can you go and how does your farthest point feel? Do you have any sharp and shooting pain, or is the sensation dull and constant? Answering these questions will help you gauge your current flexibility. In this case, dull is good. It just means the fibers in your muscles and connective tissue are beginning to lengthen. A sharp and shooting pain, on the other hand, could be a result of a muscle strain or injury. If you experience this while stretching, back off and consult a doctor if the sensation continues (that goes for all muscles, not just your hamstrings).

But the thing about our hamstrings is that they don’t know how to keep to themselves. Tightness in any of those three muscles can result in a number of other aches and pains, throwing your whole body out of whack due to muscular imbalances. Suddenly, that twinge in the back of your knee radiates up into your lower back. And then out of nowhere, your hip flexor seizes up. These are all symptoms of tight hamstrings. Because the hamstring is attached to your pelvis as well as your knee (which then attaches to your foot), any shortening of the muscle due to tightness can cause pulling on your hips and tendons leading to achy knees, bothersome backs, plantar fasciitis and (oof) sciatica pain.

More often than not, poor stretching (or none at all) before a cardio or strength training workout is the main cause of tight hamstrings. But even if you’re not hitting the gym twice a week, you can still experience similar symptoms. Observe your body throughout the day. Are you sitting at a desk from nine to five? Sitting for extended periods of time can create similar symptoms to exercise-induced tightness. “Over time, sitting actually shortens and weakens the hamstring,” Malkowski explains. And this shortening results in tighter muscles that are unable to extend properly during exercise (which is why you felt that pain post-workout). When your knees are bent in a seated position your hamstrings are both flexed and shortened, two things this muscle really doesn’t like to do for eight-plus hours a day.

Other culprits of tight hamstrings include pelvic alignment problems and tight hip flexors. This goes back to how interconnected our bodies are. “If you continue to overwork the hamstring without stretching, it will start to pull on the pelvis which can cause tension in the lower back as well as weakened hip flexors and abdominals,” Malkowski notes. Your pelvis connects everything from your spine to your big toe, so any uneven pulling on your hamstrings caused by a posterior tilt (where your hips go back and up) will result in pain and tightness.

On the other side of that coin, you’ll find your hip flexors. Stiffness in the hip flexors can actually create an anterior tilt (stay with us) that pushes your pelvis forward and down resulting in, once again, tight hamstrings. Think about it: If the hip muscles in the front of your body pull your pelvis forward, your hamstrings will naturally flex to follow and protect your lower back. This is essentially the same movement we make when engaging in deadlifts, but who wants to hold a deadlift for hours on end? To correct—and avoid—this tugging, balance needs to be restored to the body.

Stretch, stretch and stretch some more. Pain as a result of hamstring tightness can range from mild to “um, I can’t move,” so check in with where your mobility is at and tailor your stretches accordingly. Strengthening through bodyweight and free weight exercises targeting the hamstrings and surrounding muscles (quads, hip flexors, abdominals, etc.) will also keep them from tightening up. “It’s so important to look at the body as a whole and focus on balancing it out,” Malkowski says. And remember, although tightness and shortness in the hamstring cause similar symptoms, they each have their own prevention methods. “Shortness could indicate a need to strengthen the hamstring, whereas tightness indicates a need to release tension.” Bottom line: Both strengthening and stretching are vital to maintaining healthy hammies.

Ready to loosen up? Here are the ten best hamstring stretches you can start doing right this second.