HAMSTRING ABILITY PROGRAM | started using this routine 4 years ago to help others after hamstring injury, and | have kept sharpening it since. ‘Ahamstring strain can be very frustrating because once you've had one, it's so much more likely to keep giving you problems. Unlike an injury such as tendinitis, which usually builds up gradually, a hamstring strain can come out of nowhere. But this program works for both acute hamstring injury, and chronic hamstring tendinitis alike! Without further ado, here's the strategy I've used to not only get athletes out of pain, but to progress them to enough protection so as to never have issue again. Bonus: you'll get even more athletic in the process, because it will be bringing up the very areas someone with hamstring injury is likely to be weak or imbalanced in! ‘The magic isin the details, so please watch the videos below, most of which | newly shot yesterday in order to give you my best coaching tips. Each exercise below is hyperlinked to video, just clickt The simplest step you can take to get out of pain isto start doing dailyHamstring Sled Drags. This exercise is actually not mandatory, and you thus do not have to have @ sled to achieve the gains ofthe Hamstring Abilly Program. However, | would be doing you a disservice if | did not mention how helpfl this can bein the beginning stages of hamstring recovery | also think this exercise may be able to be mimicked by Using @ Deadmill (unplugged treadmill, so that you have to overcome its resistance), just as we use Reverse Deadmil to mimic Reverse Sled for our knees So, “Step 0" is optional daily Hamstring Sled Drags. 3 sets of 100 meters per set. Step 1 is very specific in its execution, 60 please watch this video: Eccentric Single-Leg Nordic. 3 sets of 10 per leg should be done 3 times per week.‘Step 2 should be done right after the Nordics: ATG-style Romanian Deadlift n this case, your sets and reps are monitored by your abil: + Level 1:3 sets of 50 reps with up to 25% of your bodyweight in load + Level 2:4 sets of 25 reps with up to 60% of your bodyweight in load + Level 3:5 sets of 10 reps with up to 100% of your bodyweight in load + Level 4:6 sets of 5 reps with up to 150% of your bodyweight in load Itis very important to note that for Levels 3 & 4, the weight only "counts" if your lower back isbelow parallel with arch. In the video above, you can see me demonstrate these exact Standards, Itis also important to note that for Levels 2, 3 and 4, you are using the prescribed sels merely to workup fo a top set. Itis very important that you send video clip ofthis top set to us through the app so that we can coach your form, every session. Step 3 is stretching out the antagonist muscles to the hamstrings through theCouch Quad & Couch Hip Flexor Stretches. | happen to have a ‘20 second video which quickly illustrates the ‘why" behind this. 2 sets of 60 seconds should be done on each version, alternating legs and alternating versions, for example: + fightleg quad + leftleg quad + right leg hip flexor «+ leftleg hip flexor + repeat ‘The above steps would represent the main workout, done Monday-Wednesday-Friday. ‘Then ideally Tuesday-Thursday you would work on the following secondary factors. However, there would be nothing wrong at allif you ‘continued right onto these in one workout. Use whichever schedule suits your schedule the best.Hamstring - ATG Online Coaching ‘Step 4 is how | train the hip flexors to help prevent future hamstring strain: Single Leg Reverse Cable Crunch. 5 sets of 20 reps per leg ensures you adequately rash your hip flexors in order to create real muscle and strength increases, so as to rebalance your hip flexor to quad ratio, ‘Step 5 is all about improving your knee strength as it relates to your hamstrings. Watchthis video to see how to progress your Reverse Step Up in @ way that wil reduce strain on your hamstrings, while making you a better athlete. 5 sets of 10 per leg, starting with bodyweight and ‘gradually building up in weight, ensures enough work is given to push strength forward inthis area. ‘When performing any Reverse Step Up workout, your approach is: + first establish the pain-free range + then establish the pain-free strength + ifyou cannot go to strength failure, go to ep failure, For example, you are doing the Patrick Step Up and find 4 inches to be comfortable, but 5 inches causes some knee strain. So in this session, you will use 4 inches. You then use the bar, then add a litle more, alittle more. But you find that at 100 pounds there is more pain than there was at 80 pounds. Thatiis fine. Go back to 80 pounds. Now perform a set until you fail! ‘So even though | would like you to perform 10 reps per set, ifi's not the weight that stops you but rather i's pain that stops you, you can stil take your muscles to failure by going to rep failure at a pain-free weight at a pain-free height. I've seen results in Reverse Step Ups with up to 100 reps in row, using bodyweight alone, at low height. ‘The above strategy applies to any and all Reverse Step Up workouts. Eventually you will get to where 6 inches is pain-free, and even to where your bodyweight on your back with no warm-up is pain-free! But the patient strategy above is precisely how to make such a transformation.‘That is nearly the end of the Hamstring Ability Program, but one final tool is needed: Piriformis Stretching! Stretching the piriformis not only helps you unwind from the Reverse Step Ups (because the Reverse Step Ups work the outside of your glutes very hard!) it also ensures that being tight through the outside of your hip and thigh does not pull your hamstring excessively outward when you run, thus causing uneven ‘mechanics and potential strain. My personal favorite is 2 sets of 3 minutes per side in a Standing Piriformis Stretch (aka the Kadour Ziani) whereby the surface is about as high as your hips. So, the whole program looks lke this: MF ‘A. Optional Hamstring Sled Drag 3 x 100m B. SL Eccentric Nordic 2x 10 per ©. ATG-style ROL 3 x 50 oF 4 x25 or 5x 10 or 6x5, D1. Couch Quad 2x 60 per D2. Couch Hip Flexor 2 x 60 per TUTH ‘A. Optional Hamstring Sled Drag 3 x 100m B. SL Reverse Low Cable Crunch § x 20 per C. Reverse Step Up Progression 5 x 10 per D. Standing Piriformis 2 x 180 per | hope you enjoyed this article! Hyou happen to need this program, you can request it through Messages in the app. But even if you don't need it, fee! free to use it help others who do! ‘Yours in Gains, Ben and the ATG Team