Hamstring: The Forgotten Muscle

The hamstring is probably one of the most forgotten about muscles and that’s probable because they can't be seen in the mirror, so people may think they're not as important as the Quadriceps (quads). Personally, I’m just lazy, so once I’ve done my variation of squats and lunges, doing hamstring exercises are the last thing on my mind.

However, recently I found out that I might suffer from knee problems because my Hamstrings are weaker than my Quads. I know knee problems are quite common in females and after having a read around the problem, I think this might be something a lot of females might relate to.

Before I go any further, I think I should explain the function of the Quads and the Hamstring and how they relate to your knees.

So your upper leg contains two opposing muscle groups, your Quads and your Hamstring. These muscles together, move your hip joints and your knee and stabalise your knee.

Your Quads flex (bend) your hip and extend (straighten) your knee and your hamstring extends (straightens) your hip and flexes (bends) your knee. In most cases, the Hamstring tends to be weaker than the Quads because the Quads are bigger and are used more frequently in day to day activities.

I’ve suffered from ‘bad’ knees for about a year now. I went to physio, completed my rehab exercises and home works and had the all clear to go back to weight training, but things were never the same.

It is important to have a balance between your Hamstring and your Quads because a strength imbalance increases the risk of injuries, such as damage to your muscles, ligaments and joints. As your Quads contract, your Hamstring lengthens and if you’re Hamstrings are too weak, your Quads will pull your Hamstring faster than it can lengthen, which may be too forceful and that’s where the injury starts.

Putting this into context with my own training regime, it all makes sense. I rarely train my hamstrings anyway, in comparison to my quads, so this does not come as a surprise at all *sigh*.

So how can you fix this problem then? It’s simple, train your Hamstring!

There are several exercises that can be done, which I will list below:

1.     Stiff Leg Deadlift 

2.     Lying leg curl 

3.     Good mornings 

4.     Exercise ball curls 

5.     Kettlebell deadlifts 

6.     Glute bridge 

All these exercises should help increase the ratio between your hamstrings and your quadriceps, which should hopefully fix the problem.

G

 

Fitness Myths

Since it’s the beginning of the year, and a lot of people have taken their first steps to a healthy lifestyle, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss the exercise myths; I first faced when I began working out.












Myth 1: Women who lift weights become masculine




Fact: In regards to muscle size, testosterone is a key ingredient. Men have 20 to 30 times more testosterone than women, which is why they bulk up so easily. However, for a woman to reach a masculine physique, she would need to do far more weight-lifting than the average woman, and also have some sort of hormone imbalance (either genetic or induced with steroids). To be honest, weight training helps burn fat and tones the muscles, so it should be incorporated in your routine.










Myth 2: Only doing ab workouts will give you abs




Fact: The truth is you can do as many crunches as you like, but unless you get rid of the fat on top of your abs, your abs will never show through. The more reps you do, just increases muscle memory, rather than burning fat. For your abs to be visible, you would need to reduce your overall body fat because unfortunately you cannot spot- train and pick and choose areas where you’d like to burn fat. By doing cardio eating clean, and accompanying this with core workouts, your body fat should decrease, allowing your abs to eventually show.












Myth 3: You're not working hard enough if you are not sweating




Fact: Sweating does not necessarily mean you are working hard. Some people, like me, have high sweat glands so they sweat easily. I mean I get sweaty just by walking from my house to the station. Sweating does not mean you are actually burning fat. Sweating is a way of your body cooling itself whilst you’re working out. You initially loose water weight after an intense workout, but as soon as you drink fluids, you will replenish the water weight lost.












Myth 4: More hours spent in the gym leads to better results




Fact: Overtraining stops muscle growth. Instead of your body rebuilding its muscle tissues, it'll continue to break it down, which means you'll actually start to lose muscle. The key is to train smarter and not harder.












Myth 5: If you're not sore or in pain, you're not working out hard enough




Soreness can come from many different factors that have nothing to do with the quality of your workout. For example, the type of workout you're doing, what you eat before and after your workouts or whether you stretched after your workouts. A good way to judge the quality of your workout is by wearing a heart rate monitor and working at 60 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate.












Myth 6: Muscle turns into fat




Fact: You can’t turn muscle into fat, the same way you can’t turn fat into muscle. Building muscle and losing body fat are two completely different processes and while this can be done at the same time, it is very rare. Most of the time, you need to focus on one objective before you can focus on another. This is because, in order to gain muscle, you must consume more calories than you burn and, in order to lose body fat, you must burn more calories than you consume so your body will find it difficult to do both at the same time. 












There are too many myths to mention, but these are the most common 'myths' I hear when I'm in the gym, so with that said I will leave it here for now.




I hope this helps.




G

Great hair or great body, which one would you prefer?

 

Have you ever skipped a workout because you didn’t want to sweat out your hair? If so, then this blog post is definitely for you.  Most males probably don’t understand the importance of hair, in this situation, but when you spend on average about £60 (£200+ for you Brazilian babes) for one hairstyle, you want to make sure you get your money’s worth. 

I often get asked how I manage to maintain my hair and workout as much as I do, and seeing as this is something I used to have trouble with, when I first started working out, it just made sense to share my tips.

There are certain things you can do to make it easier to work out and maintain a healthy hair regime.
 
1.       Clean your hair
 
I’m a sweaty Betty and find that my head sweats a lot so my hair ALWAYS looks like someone’s thrown water over me, after my workout session. If you’re like me and you work out more than 4 times a week, washing your hair that often (with shampoo) is not only a lot of effort but it can also cause damage to your hair. 

Why not try rinsing out the sweat from your hair with warm water. If you don’t feel clean without using shampoo, use a diluted shampoo or leave in conditioner. Only use full shampoo or deep condition your hair when your hair has been severely sweated out or soiled, so only on or around the days you do cardio.
 
2.  Plan your workouts around your hair regimen.
 
Do your more intense, sweat-inducing cardio exercises a day or two before your 'hair wash day'. For example, I normally wash and straighten my hair during the weekend. So, Sunday-Tuesday I do my strength training and low impact workouts that don’t leave my hair as soaked. Then during the rest of the week I do my cardio sessions that will sweat my hair out, just in time for my 'hair wash day'.
 
3.  Wrap your hair whilst you work out
 
Wrap your hair when you workout. You don’t have to cover your entire head; you could just wrap the scarf around your hairline, leaving the crown exposed which will preserve the volume without flattening your hair.
 
4.   Keep heat application on relaxed hair to a minimum.
 
I avoid straightening my hair everyday by just making sure I wrap my hair after a workout. If your hair is wrapped properly, this should allow your hair to dry straight. If you need to straighten you hair, I suggest using a heat protecting syrum or oil.
 
I don’t have many tips, but these methods should allow your workout routine to co-exist with your hair without causing damage because no female should feel that she has to choose between improving her health and having healthy hair;  she can do both.
 
G

Marathon vs Sprinter

The way you exercise is important because it determines the shape your body eventually moulds into. Here we have a marathon runner (left) and a sprinter (right). Can you spot the difference in their physiques?

Although both are runners, the difference in their training is important. Cardio is the most effective way to burn fat and calories. However, it can also burn muscle. Whilst doing long periods of cardio, the body has to find its largest resources of calories, which more often tends to be from the muscles. When your cardio is maintained for long periods of time at low/moderate intensity level, a hormone called Cortisol is released which leads to muscle burning.

However, short intense cardio utilises and uses up your bodies stored sugars more (needed for short bursts of high intensity) and has a greater after burn effect. Cortisol is again released by the body but this is also released alongside growth hormones and testosterone, which enhances fat burning and leads to a higher muscle building state.

You tend to burn more fat during high intensity workouts rather than low/moderate intensity workouts because high intensity has an after burn effect. This is basically where your metabolism has been kicked into overdrive and the body continues to burn off calories after your workout. 



Education is key and to be honest as I was reading this I surprised myself with the knowledge that I did know. Sometimes doing your own research and asking fitness experts in the industry is the only way to truly understand how the body responds to different exercises. This way you will always be pointing your body in the right direction as you’ll know exactly what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.

My current goal is to shed body fat without losing too much mass, whilst still maintaining my curves. Although the majority of my training involves high intensity cardio anyway, I will still embark on a few low/moderate intensity workouts to help target my stubborn fat. I will also combat any risk of muscle loss here by ensuring I maintain my weight sessions in the gym.



So next time you decide to do cardio, think about your goals and what you are trying to achieve. If your aim is to achieve lean muscle and get that ‘tight look’ as opposed to just weight loss, think about doing intervals or simply running that much faster so you reduce your time…remember it is NOT about duration, it is about intensity.

G

R.E.S.T

 

So it’s ‘wellbeing’ month at work and my company have quite a few seminars and workshops going on. This week I completed something called a ‘Boomerang Life Balance Questionnaire’ which measures your mental and physical health. I scored highest on my diet and exercise and lowest on my body, sleep and relaxation.

You would think that my lifestyle would mean that I am taking good care of my body, and to be fair I am, but the one thing I am really neglecting is recovery and sleep- which is paramount when it comes to exercise as this is the ONLY opportunity where your body is at complete rest and is able to fully recover and repair itself.

R-ecover E-nergise S-leep T-rain

Recover - Allow your body to adequately refresh itself in order to deliver the same output (if not more) for its required use.

Energise: You will see a MAJOR difference in your physical and mental wellbeing. A renewed energy will allow you to avoid burning out and should help maintain your enthusiasm and fitness goals.

Sleep: Sleep aids recovery and can enhance exercise performance.  Taking at least one day to catch up on sleep will benefit your training more than pushing your body for another workout with a lack of sleep. The majority of your Growth Hormone, which is a highly anabolic substance, is released during sleep. Getting enough sleep provides you with the energy and focus you need to see you through an intense workout. It also provides the optimum anabolic environment for your muscles to recover and grow.

Train: Training is what we all strive for so why not prep your body to train at its best, by simply giving it what it demands...REST!!!

 

So I’m going to take my own advice and get some more rest and I suggest you do too.

G