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Because your body is made up of so many different interconnected systems, it’s not hard to believe that tight hamstrings (or weak hamstrings) can impede proper spinal mechanics1 and lead to lower back pain and knee pain.
Long periods of sitting (in a chair, at a desk, or in a vehicle) put your hamstrings in a shortened position2 and put more strain on your hip flexors. The more time spent sitting, the harder it is for your hamstrings to lengthen fully, even when standing or doing other physical activities.
Whether you have a garage bay packed with the best home gym equipment or you’re a minimalist, you’ve likely experienced tight hamstrings after training. I’m a certified personal trainer, and in this guide to the best hamstring stretches, I’ll walk you through a handful of options that can help you lengthen your hamstrings for immediate lower-body relief. It’s worth mentioning that stretching alone may not offer long-term relief. It’s likely you’ll need to strengthen your hamstrings in addition to lengthening them.
Don’t worry, I got you. Stick around to the end because I’ll provide a list of exercises that’ll help you strengthen your hamstrings, too. Let’s go ham!
Medical disclaimer: This article is intended for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. For health advice, contact a licensed healthcare professional or physical therapist.
What Are Hamstring Muscles?
The hamstrings are a muscle group running along the back of your thighs. These muscles include the biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus.
The hamstrings extend from your hips to below your knees and are responsible for bending your knee and extending (and rotating) the hip3. The hamstrings also assist the glutes (aka your buttocks), which play a major role in running, jumping, and sprinting.
Acute hamstring injuries and overuse injuries can lead to a lack of hamstring flexibility and general hamstring tightness, making it hard to hinge, squat, or rotate your hips and legs. I encourage you to gently ease into each stretching exercise and have patience with your tight hamstrings to prevent strain or further injury.
The 7 Best Hamstring Stretches and Mobility Exercises
- Lying hamstring stretch with a band
- Seated hamstring stretch
- Standing hamstring stretch
- Standing single-leg hamstring stretch
- Happy baby
- Downward dog
- Foam roll the hamstrings
Lying Hamstring Stretch With a Band
Why do it: A lying hamstring stretch is low-impact and allows you to ease into it with assistance from one of the best resistance bands. You won’t have to worry about balance or straining supporting muscles.
How to do it:
- Lie face up on the floor with your legs outstretched.
- To stretch your left leg, bend your left knee toward your chest and hook a long-loop resistance band around the arch of your left foot.
- Hold the resistance band with both hands as you extend your left leg as straight as you can with a flexed foot.
- Adjust your grip on the resistance band to create some tension in the hamstrings muscles.
- Hold the stretch for 30 seconds (or make it a dynamic stretch with a very small knee bend followed by a full knee extension).
- Lower your left leg back to the ground and repeat with your right leg.
RELATED: Best Mobility Exercises
Seated Hamstring Stretch
Why do it: The seated hamstring stretch is ideal if you’re comfortable sitting on the floor. You’ll feel a stretch through the back of your legs, hips, and into your lower back. I also like the fact you won’t have to worry about balance in the seated position.
How to do it:
- The starting position for the seated hamstring stretch is on the floor with your right leg fully extended outward and your left leg bent at the knee with your left foot facing your right leg.
- Slowly hinge from your hips to lean forward until you feel a gentle stretch through the back of your right leg. Flexibility permitting, place your hands on your right ankle, the top of your foot, or hold onto your arch.
- Keep your back straight as you hold the stretch, taking deep breaths for about 30 seconds.
- Slowly lift your upper body back up to sitting , unfold your left leg, and repeat on the other side.
RELATED: Best In-Chair Exercises
Standing Hamstring Stretch
Why do it: The standing hamstring stretch is an excellent static stretch for after an intense training session, especially on lower-body workout days.
How to do it:
- Stand with your feet hip width apart, hinge your hips back, maintain a slight bend in your knees, and fold forward. Aim to touch your toes with your hands.
- Depending on your hamstring tightness, you may not be able to reach your toes.
- Hold the stretch for about 30 seconds while taking deep breaths.
RELATED: Best Hip Hinge Exercises
Standing Single-Leg Hamstring Stretch
Why do it: If you want to take the double-leg static hamstring stretch to the next level, try stretching one leg at a time. Targeting one leg at a time can help you evaluate imbalances and make adjustments to your training routine.
How to do it:
- In a standing position, extend your right leg out onto a chair, bench, or stool.
- Flex your right foot toward your body.
- Hinge at your hips, keep your right leg fairly straight to get the hamstring stretch, and let your left knee bend.
- Only hinge as far as you feel comfortable stretching and hold for 30 seconds while taking deep breaths.
- Stand up straight and repeat on the other side.
RELATED: Best Hamstring Exercises
Happy Baby Pose
Why do it: If lower-body tightness isn’t just reserved for your adductors and inner thighs, this is the mobility pose for you. It can also help relax the muscle groups that cause low back pain.
How to do it:
- Lie face up on your back and bring your knees toward your chest.
- Reach for the outside of your feet and grab and hold with your hands. You can also grip your ankles or hamstrings, depending on your mobility.
- Hold the stretch for about 30 seconds.
Expert tip: While holding your feet and breathing, gently straighten one leg at a time for a hamstring stretch in the happy baby position.
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Downward Facing Dog Pose
Why do it: Downward dog is an excellent warm-up for squats and deadlifts in addition to a full-body exercise all on its own. The inversion position with your buttocks higher than your head can help reduce back pain and lengthen your hamstrings.
How to do it:
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and hinge forward so your hands are reaching toward the floor.
- When you begin to feel a stretch through the back of your legs, gently bend your knees so you can place your palms on the floor.
- With your hips high in the air, walk your hands out in front of you until your body makes a 45-degree angle.
- You can hold the hamstring stretch here, gently bend both knees, or bend one knee at a time.
- Take deep breaths and hold the position for about 30 seconds.
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Foam Roll – Hamstrings
Why do it: If your hamstrings are feeling particularly sore after a workout or a long period of sitting, foam rolling is like a little massage that drives blood flow to the back of your legs, which can help deliver oxygen and nutrients to your aching muscles.
How to do it:
- With a foam roller next to you, take a seat on the floor with your legs extended and your arms slightly braced behind your torso.
- Place the foam roller perpendicular under your hamstrings and lift your body off the floor slightly so your arms are straight.
- Gently roll back and forth in small strokes until you hit most of the space between the back of your knees and your glutes. Spend extra time rolling over tender areas.
- Roll for at least 60 seconds.
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Strengthening Exercises for Hamstrings
Now that you know how to stretch your hamstrings, let me reiterate that stretching may only offer short-term relief. For most people, strengthening the hamstring muscles is the key to long-term benefits and relief of low back pain, knee pain, and sciatica issues.
- Kettlebell deadlift: An excellent place for beginners to start learning the basic hip hinge. The kettlebell offers an ergonomic handle that’s not as low as a dumbbell and may be easier to navigate than a band for beginners.
- Stiff-leg deadlift: The stiff-leg variation of the standard deadlift allows for maximum hamstring lengthening.
- Single-leg deadlift: Ideal for beginners and experienced athletes alike for addressing left-to-right imbalances and working on loosening one hamstring at a time.
- Good morning exercise: The good morning is a basic hip hinge with the weight at your chest or over your shoulders rather than below your hips.
- Hamstring curls: A hamstring curl offers a true isolation exercise that will target just your hamstrings and develop both the strength and muscle size. Most home gym owners don’t have space for a strict hamstring curl machine, so we wrote an entire guide dedicated to how to do hamstring curls at home.
- Nordic curl: The Nordic curl is like a hamstring curl, but harder. It puts your hamstrings through an impressive range of motion to target the lengthened and shortened position. This is one of the most difficult hamstring exercises and requires you to lock your ankles into the ground. It’s best performed on a Nordic curl bench.
- Jefferson curl: Instead of keeping your back straight like you would in a traditional deadlift, this exercise will have you round your back and let you hinge into a deeper range of motion. You’ll get even more hamstring lengthening in the Jefferson curl than you will in a traditional deadlift or stiff-leg deadlift.
Sample Lower-Body Strength and Flexibility Workout
As a certified personal trainer, here’s my recommendation on how to put together a hamstring-focused lower-body workout with flexibility built-in. I’d start with soft tissue work via foam rolling your hamstrings and initiating blood flow to the back of your legs.
From there, perform a dynamic stretch like the downward-facing dog, followed by a few bodyweight exercises that generally activate your lower body (in this example, I used bodyweight squats and glute bridges).
You can then go into strength-focused exercises like the deadlift and the single-leg deadlift. Then, end the session with your preferred static stretches. In the example below, I chose a standing hamstring stretch and a lying stretch with a band.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Foam roll – hamstrings | 1 | 60 sec |
| Downward facing dog | 2 | 30 sec |
| Bodyweight squat | 2 | 10 reps |
| Glute bridge | 2 | 20 reps |
| Deadlift variation (kettlebell, dumbbell, barbell, etc.) | 3 | 6-8 reps |
| Single-leg deadlift | 3 | 8-10 reps, each side |
| Standing hamstring stretch | 1 | 30 sec |
| Lying hamstring stretch with band | 1 | 30 sec, each side |
Best Hamstring Stretches: Final Thoughts
When it comes to a slight strain or muscle soreness from a workout, the hamstring stretches above are an ideal place to start. If your hamstring tightness is chronic, you may need to consider speaking with a doctor or physical therapist to address the root cause of your pain.
The hamstring stretches I highlighted above may offer temporary relief, but keep in mind that lengthening the muscles is one part of the puzzle. Strengthening the hamstring muscle is an important part of keeping your hamstrings resilient for daily physical activity.
Best Hamstring Stretches: FAQs
What is the fastest way to loosen tight hamstrings?
When experiencing tight hamstrings from exercise, you may consider starting with soft tissue work (like foam rolling) to initiate blood flow before attempting a stretch or mobility drill.
What is the best hamstring stretch?
The best hamstring stretches depend on your ability to hinge or extend your legs. Some folks prefer seated hamstring exercises, while others prefer standing. Depending on how tight your hamstrings feel, you may need more dynamic mobility exercises like the happy baby and downward facing dog versus static stretching like bending over and reaching toward your toes.
Is it good to stretch a sore hamstring?
If you’re experiencing mild soreness from exercise, hamstring stretches may help you loosen the muscle and offer relief to your sore hamstrings. However, if you’re experiencing chronic pain and soreness in your hamstrings, it’s worth seeking physical therapy to understand the root problem and address it with a personalized program.
References
- Tikhile P, Patil DS, Jaiswal PR. Management of Low Back Pain With Concurrent Hamstring Tightness: A Case Report Highlighting the Efficacy of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation, Mulligan’s Two-Leg Rotation Technique, and Exercise Regimen. Cureus. 2024;16(4):e58705. Published 2024 Apr 22. doi:10.7759/cureus.58705
- Fatima, Ghulam; Qamar, Muhammad Mustafa1,; Ul Hassan, Jawad2; Basharat, Ayesha1. Extended sitting can cause hamstring tightness. Saudi Journal of Sports Medicine 17(2):p 110-114, May–Aug 2017. | DOI: 10.4103/sjsm.sjsm_5_17
- Rodgers CD, Raja A. Anatomy, Bony Pelvis and Lower Limb, Hamstring Muscle. [Updated 2023 Apr 1]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK546688/
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