The tendons at the back of your knee..

[Harpoon]

Sort of a dumb question, but how do you strech them?

[YODA]

Hi Harpoon

 

Tendons are pretty much non-elastic - so you don't stretch them. Even if you did it would not be a good idea!

 

Muscles are what you stretch.

 

The tendons that have insertions at the back of the knee are the following...

 

The hamstring group

 

The Gastrocnemius (Calf)

 

The Soleus (Deep calf)

 

So - stretch those muscles!

 

 

[SaiFightsMS]

Harpoon if it is in relation to something you really want to know - there are no dumb questions.

 

You never know how many other people will benefit from responses to your question.

 

 

[YODA]

There are no dumb questions - only dumb answers

 

 

[kicker]

um well what if you don't really strench those muscles

 

 

[spinninggumby]

Like Yoda said above, those tendons behind your knee are not meant to be stretched (well you can, but I have read in many places that it is not good to). It is your muscles (in this case, your hamstrings) which need to be stretched. When you are younger (like say, from 5-10 years old), those tendons and ligaments are more elastic and more responsive to stretching. However, once you get past that age, stretching ligaments and tendons does very little and results in miniscule progress and does more potential harm than good. But that is okay though because if your muscles are flexible you will be able to perform any gymnastic or martial arts technique without trouble (I guess my point is that if you run into flexibility problems, it won't be because of an understretched tendon or ligament). I think that many people, when they try to stretch their hamstrings, make the mistake of tensing the foot so that the toes point toward them while they lean forward. This puts the tendons behind the knee and the calf muscle into part of the stretch and does not isolate the hamstring, which is why it is important to keep the foot relaxed and to keep a straight back when you lean forward and try to touch your chest and stomach (not your head) to the floor. The relaxation of the foot does not seem to be a very common way of doing it but I have found that it works a lot better for me after reading it somewhere and hey if it works then who am I to argue. :smile:

 

 

[Harpoon]

Ok thanks... I just have a problem with snapping out my leg (front kicks, etc...) to full extention, especially with my left leg (because I'm right footed)

 

Will the leg strech where you support your entire body weigt on one leg as you bend it to the floor and lower your hips down as far as you can while keeping the other leg extended help this? (Don't know what it's called)

[spinninggumby]

Wellll, I have read that it is impossible to isolate the hamstrings from a standing position (probably and partly because the tendons tighten and are activated when you reach down), and putting your leg up on a bar while leaning forward is also detrimental since it places stress on your hips and pelvis BUT so far it hasn't hurt me yet and even though I usually try to get my info from reputable sources, (I don't follow everything I read to the letter, I prefer to listen to my body and see what works from first hand experience) in all honesty I still do the leg-on-bar stretching but to find middle ground I usually do my hamstring stretch in a seated position. Although the front splits are 'impressive' to some people, they are actually not a good stretch for isolating the hamstrings either (although the hamstrings definitely are stretched) since a lot of muscles are stretched at the same time (same with the side splits. but both types serve as a benchmark to display how flexible you are and don't really isolate one group effectively). I guess to sum it all up I would sit down with one leg straight out in front and the other leg, um, just somewhere else I guess, and just lean forward and aim to touch your chin to your foot or your chest/stomach to the ground and don't arch your back. That has always worked for me from the beginning but it might be different for some people. When reading stuff from experts I usually gravitiate towards their advice but I only keep it if I find that the results are satisfactory or higher for my particular body. Once again nobody is built the same so there shouldn't be universal advice for every situation.

 

 

[ad]

squat-thursts, -best excercise to beef up your knees, do them every day for a minute, and monitor how you increase every week, im sure you will notice and increase in muscles around you legs and adn enhance your tendons

 

 

[three60roundhouse]

On 2002-02-10 07:39, ad wrote:

 

squat-thursts, -best excercise to beef up your knees, do them every day for a minute, and monitor how you increase every week, im sure you will notice and increase in muscles around you legs and adn enhance your tendons

 

Squat thrusts bring back VERY BAD memories of an instructor I had once...Captain Punishmant he was!