Hamstring Stretching with therabands

[Susanne]

I read the thread about Pavel T and also the other thread in the young dancers forum "too good to be true?"

 

I did some searching and reading on Amazon and the net and found somebody called Aaron Matted who emphasizes Active Isolated Stretching. I guess it is some kind of isometric stretching? (as opposed to static stretching)

 

Stretching site

 

The technique seems interesting. As I'm one of those who has been stretching irregularly for 2 years and almost everyday in 1 year and not seen more improvement than maximum 1 mm in my hamstrings.

 

I wonder if anyone knows anything about this Active Isolated Stretching? And if you do, how to apply it on real life? Because as they show in the hamstring stretch you are supposed to use a band/rope but how do you relax your hamstring in that position? I find that i don't get enough blood in my leg when I hover it up in the air like that. And the idea about contracting the quads doesn't seem too appealing to me. This is almost the same position as grand battement to the front and every ballet teacher I've had has been trying to make us not to involve the quads so much in grande battement to the front.

 

What I know though, is that I've seen dancers do hamstring stretches with therabands. So my actual question is then, how they do it? Do they do some kind of static stretching or do they contract some muscles when they do the stretch?

 

[Mel Johnson]

In stretching an area, you try to release as many areas as is possible in the area being stretched and let some other part (or gravity) do the work. This mini-program looks like it is aimed at non-dancers, specifically to runners, and the æsthetics are different.

[Swiss_Chard]

Susanne,

I have used active isolated stretching in track practice and it did help me improve my flexibility. Whether it would have negative side-effects in ballet, I cannot say. I'm not very flexible myself, so at the time, I welcomed the extra help.

[Susanne]

I'm not very flexible myself, so at the time, I welcomed the extra help.

I'm right "at that time" right now! So I really need all the extra help I could get too. Since I've hardly become any more flexible I would really like to try that stretch. The problem is that I don't really get the idea with AIS. I fail to see how I can stretch my hamstrings by contracting my quads.

 

Now my inflexibility has become a hindrance in my dancing as I progress. As an example: my grande battements dont get any better just because of poor extension. I simply cannot get my leg higher than 80 degrees so developpés are nearly impossible. I find that I have to use too much of my muscle strength due to my inflexibility as I have to "stretch" in the same time as I lift my leg. So those poor quads (and all those other muscles involved) have to work against gravity as well as my hamstrings! There are just too many things in class that I can't do due to my lack of flexibility. This has become very frustrating lately.

[Garyecht]

I’m naturally inflexible so Susanne’s note struck a chord with me. Quite often, in an attempt to get my leg up there with the others in class I’ll totally lose my upper body alignment and control. Invariably I blame my lack of flexibility, though my real problem is that I am losing my alignment in an attempt to look more like everyone else. For those of us who are relatively inflexible, it is easy to blame our lack of flexibility because we know how inflexible we are.

 

Problem is that we tend to misinterpret by going for the easy target. Dance isn’t about how high you can get your leg in the air.

 

As to stretching your hamstrings by contracting your quads, let me say that in general you stretch a muscle by contracting the muscle opposing it. Muscles only contract. They do not lengthen. In the particular case of the hamstrings, if you just stand and contract your quads, your hamstrings will stretch only a little. That’s because the attachments are at the pelvis and lower leg. Contracting the quads lengthens the attachment at the lower leg to the maximum extent possible. To really stretch the hamstrings you also have to lengthen the attachment at the pelvis at the same time. You do that by contracting the abs (i.e., bend over if you are standing). This combination of essentially bending over and contracting the quads lengthens the hamstring attachments to the maximum (i.e., stretches the hamstring muscles the most).

 

In any good hamstring stretch you will think of tilting your pelvis forward and simultaneously contracting the quads. Many people when they stretch their hamstrings will just bend over, bending their backs forward and relaxing their quads. That’s not optimal stretching the hamstring muscles.

[carbro]

Quite often, in an attempt to get my leg up there with the others in class I’ll totally lose my upper body alignment and control.  Invariably I blame my lack of flexibility, though my real problem is that I am losing my alignment in an attempt to look more like everyone else.

Gary, you may be interested to know that a friend of mine who had the opportunity to observe Martine van Hamel in several classes told me that Martine never worked her leg above 90 degrees at the barre. Martine's extension on stage was certainly in a range with most other ballerinas of her generation, beautifully harmonious with her body's proportions. So even with a good range of flexibility, that ballerina's main focus was her placement. And that was extraordinarily correct.