Hope your 2016 is going well. A lot of students have been asking a lot about hamstrings related to handstands, press handstands, and other nifty arm balances.

Truth is, the hamstrings are a pain in the butt to get open. And they actually do cause a pain in the butt if you try to force them open.

Students are more likely to tell me they want to do the splits rather than they want to open their hamstrings.

Student’s tell me things like this all the time:

“My hamstrings are naturally tight.”

“I’ve tried everything but it doesn’t work”

“I stretch my hamstrings for hours at time at Equinox and nothing happens.”

Well ok, if you want open hamstrings do this routine, it works. Here’s a little secret, it doesn’t take hours and hours and hours to open your hamstrings. It takes sticking to plan and doing it consistently. 10-15 minutes a day is more than enough.

How the Hamstrings Actually Open

Here’s the thing about the hamstrings, when you try to force them open, they actually get tighter!

Let me tell you a short story about an overly aggressive student of mine. He was hellbent on getting into the splits. He would come to class and try to “force open” his hamstrings in about 15 minutes before class actually started. And by “force open” I mean getting into the spits as far as you can (mind you not warm at all)  and then have someone press on his knees.

Ouch! Ouch! OUCH!

Can you believe that?

Impatient students don’t like to hear this but, the truth is this:

Your hamstrings have a set point to which they can stretch. And once you’ve hit that point, they CANNOT safely go any further.

Unfortunately, the only remedy for this is time.

Good old time, that thing that heals you and kills you.

Do you know what happens if you go past that set point? Your knee ligaments and your hamstring attachments. You DO NOT want to stretch these. I know. I know. Some teachers will tell you it’s ok to stretch your ligaments %10 or so. But I wouldn’t take the risk.

Ligaments and joints hold you stable. I wouldn’t want to compromise that. By the way, that’s another misconception about about being flexible. Being flexible doesn’t mean being unstable. They are two VERY VERY different things.

Flexibility vs. Instability

Think about it this way, flexibility can be controlled. You can call on your flexibility when you need it, like say for a specific arm balance or transition. Being unstable means your flexibility rears it’s ugly head when you don’t want it to. It’s uncontrollable.

Are you following me?

Good.

Now which do you think stretching your ligaments contributes to?

The Defeated

Let me let you in on an extremely powerful secret of mine. The power of visualization and imagery in your own brain. Definitively, I can say that everything that I’ve *accomplished* in yoga has happened in my head long before its actually happened in reality.

I see success in my head LONG before it happens.

Then it happens.

How about that?

Thoughts powerfully turn the great wheel of progress.

But…

Thoughts can also send you down the deep, dark, spiral of the bottomless abyss. So think carefully. Thoughts power actions. Actions power progress. Progress fulfills your dreams. And your damn wildest ones at that.

Some people are just dreamers. Winners take action.

Winners tell themselves they can rather than they can’t. Now why is it so common for students to tell me they’ve always had tight hamstrings and believe their doomed to always having tight hamstrings?

Where’s the sense in that?

REALLY????

What’s the sense in telling yourself you can’t do something before you even tried? If that’s you, just stay in bed. I’m here to build winners, not whiners.

Why Students Defeat Themselves

It’s one thing to know the solution and not take action. It’s another all together to have no freakin’ clue of what you’re supposed to do. I was there.  I used to think developing flexibility required inflicting some type of self-torture upon myself. I used to think you earn flexibility with brute force.

Flexibility is built, not earned.

You don’t deserve to be flexible WITHOUT doing something.

:::WRYLY SMILES:::

But I also understand what it feels like to be helpless and hopeless. You start inventing the weirdest solutions and you *might* get lucky from time to time, one works and one doesn’t. I don’t want your progress to be left to chance. Nor do I want you to feel hopeless.

If you’re well read here on The Asana Academy, you know that I sing consistency over quantity. It baffles me that people I know won’t cycle for 45 minutes because they believe it’s ineffective unless you cycle for 60. Some students will only do 90 minute yoga classes because they believe 60 minutes of yoga is worthless.

LOL. Ok.

Where does this stuff come from?

I always get a good laugh when I recommend a daily 15 minute routine to someone and their response is, “You can’t learn that in 15 minutes” or “It’s ineffective if you do that for only 15 minutes”. These types of comments make me laugh. Now I’m not saying practicing for 45, 60, 90, or 120 minutes is bad. What I’m saying is, you don’t have to practice that long everyday to get results.

Whether you hit the bullseye with a bow-and-arrow or a bazooka, you still hit the target. So why not take the path of optimal precision and least resistance??? The problem is people are all or nothing. So they believe they must practice at least 60 minutes a day to see results. Then they skip one day and believe they’ve failed and guess what?

They are done forever.

Just like that friend of yours that’s ALWAYS on a diet.

She accidentally eats 3 more grapes and one more handful of nuts than planned. Then guess what? In her head she’s failed. So what does she do? Instead of carrying on, she follows that up with a loaf of bread, a bag full of chocolates, a mixing bowl of ice cream and everything else in hands reach.

Proper nutrition is a topic for a another day. (Because of my history of ruffling people’s feathers, I’m sure I’ll get tomatoes, yoga blocks, and kitchen sinks thrown at me for my views ;-))

How does that fix the problem?

Oh well.

You know how to actually fix the problem?

Fix your mindset.

Start believing 15 minute routines are effective. Start taking them seriously and you’ll see they work. Now let me be the first to tell you THEY DO WORK. I give them to my clients all the time.

Human Psychology Is Funny

I can give a regular yoga student a plan for  an hour of daily self-practice and it’s almost a guarantee they won’t do it and won’t get results.

And it’s for the same reason you wouldn’t order the 4 pound steak on the menu, even though you’d eat some of it, you wouldn’t eat all of it. So instead, you just order something else.

Same thing applies with a prescribed 60 minutes yoga practice. It’s easier to do some of it rather than all of it so instead you’ll do something else. And in this case, it’s watch TV or dink around on Facebook.

On the other hand, I can give a client (who also pays a premium to work with me)  a 15 minute daily routine and low-and-behold, they’ll stick to it AND get the results they’re looking for.

My “Go-To” Hamstring Stretches That Get Results

1. Supine Splits

• Super effective because it allow you to stretch the center belly of the hamstrings without folding forward
  
• Effective even if you suffer from sciatic nerve pain
  
• Makes you focus on spinal alignment
  
• Forces you to keep the hips square

2. Elevated Splits on Blocks

• Useful because feeling a position similar to the splits unlocks the other muscles that you may not think have to work, like the hip flexors
  
• Unlike half-splits, it allows you to free up the arms which allows you to focus on length in the lower back

3. Standing Split Leg Sandwich

• Allows you to gain extra leverage from the wall
  
• Allows you to strengthen up the arms in the process
  
• Helps you keep the hips square

4. Marichyasana A

• Also opens up the shoulders and the hips
  
• Creates optimal extension in the lower spine which forces a more correct forward fold
  
• Helps you square the hips in other forward folds
  
• Helps with your lotus

5. Turtle Pose (Kurmasana)

• Allows for a slightly “deeper than” forward fold
  
• Really challenges the hips
  
• Provides a great opportunity to bind the hands
  

Now Here’s The Complete 15 Minute Hamstring Stretching Routine That Gets Results

Note that 30 seconds is fine for these poses. If you hold all of them for 60 seconds, the sequence will take you a little longer than 15 minutes.

Find 15 minutes in your day to do this. Do this everyday for 2 weeks straight and you’ll see a noticeable difference in your hamstrings.

 As your hamstrings start to open, you’ll be ready for the next hamstring sequence in the series (which I haven’t made yet, but I will, so bother me about it so it gets done faster!)

Supine Splits 2x each side – hold for 30-60 seconds

• Start with the right side
  
• Focus on keeping your left hip down as much as possible
  
• Put your left hand on your left hip if necessary
  
• Draw your leg down until you feel your right knee starting to bend
  
• Stop at that point
  
• You should feel you’re the very center of your hamstrings opening
  
• Focus on always stretching the middle portion of your hamstring and NOT the hamstring attachment or your knee ligaments
  
• You can follow this up with the hip opening variation if you want
  
• Do the other side
  

Parsvottanasana 2x hold for 30-60 seconds each side

• The general distance between the feet is approximately 2/3 the distance of your Warrior 1 stance
  
• Make sure the heels line up
  
• Make sure the back foot is turned in about half way
  
• Start with your hands on your hips
  
• Extend your torso as far forward as you possibly can without rounding your spine (this is key)
  
• As you start to fold lower and lower over your front leg, focus on lowering your chin over your leg rather than your face
  
• This will encourage an upward lifting action of the shoulders which will help keep your spine straight
  

Lizard Pose 1x 30-60 seconds each side

• Start with your right leg forward, the back leg is in a low lunge position with the toes tucked under
  
• Bring your forearms down to the inside of your right leg
  
• Keep your back knee lifted but if you need to place the knee on the ground that’s ok
  
• Really dig the ball of the back foot into the ground as you crawl your front foot forward
  
• This will produce a nice stretch in your back hip flexor, which is incredibly useful for doing the splits
  
• If you still need more, keep crawling the forearms and hands out in front of you as much as you possibly can
  

Elevated Splits on Blocks 2x each side 30-60 seconds

• Don’t think that you have to do the full version of the pose in order for it to be effective
  
• Rest your front hip on the blocks
  
• Doing Lizard right before this will help you to square your hips even more
  
• You should feel your front hamstring stretching and your back hip flexor and quadriceps stretching
  
• Find a comfortable spot and lift your arms up in the air if possible
  
• Remember, you shouldn’t feel your attachment or knee ligaments
  

Standing Sandwich Splits at the Wall 1x 30-60 seconds each side

• Start facing away from the wall
  
• Lift your back leg up against the wall
  
• Place your hands on the ground if you can and press them into the ground
  
• Use the leverage of the wall to “sandwich” yourself in
  
• If you want a bonus challenge, press so much with your hands that your front foot lifts up off the ground!
  

Baddha Konasana 1x hold for 60 seconds

• This is a hip stretch but it compliments the following forward folds nicely
  
• Start sitting
  
• Bring your feet together and your knees wide apart
  
• Actively push your feet together
  
• Bend forward as much as you can
  
• Don’t round the back
  
• You can use your hands to press the inner thighs down a tiny bit more
  
• Don’t press on the knees
  

Marichyasana A 2x 30-60 seconds each side

• Start sitting with the legs out in front of you
  
• Bend the right knee and place the right foot down on the ground
  
• Make sure there is enough space between the inner arch of your right foot and your left inner thigh for a grapefruit or softball
  
• Reach the right arm inside the right leg and wrap it around your shinbone
  
• Clasp the hands behind the back if you can
  
• Then fold forward as much as you can
  

Seated Forward Fold (Paschimottanasana) 2x 60 seconds

• Start sitting with your legs out in front of you
  
• Fold forward as much as you can
  
• Reach with your hands and grab hold of the your big toes or wrap your hands all the way around the feet
  
• Squeeze your inner things together here
  
• Make sure you don’t round in the back
  
• Again, the goal is to keep the spine as straight as possible
  

• You an also put your hands on your hips
  

Please try this for AT LEAST 2 WEEKS and let me know how it goes. I’m sure you’ll be pleased.

On another note….

Active Vs. Passive Flexibility

I’m going to connect this all to press handstands for you in a second, but let me explain the difference between the two.

Passive Flexibility – Since we’re on the topic of hamstrings here, let’s use the splits. When you do the splits it forces your hamstrings to stretch, ie. you feel the hamstrings stretching. The important thing here is not that you can get your body into a shape that resembles the splits, it’s the feeling in your hamstring that the splits teaches you. That’s what I call passive flexibility.

Active Flexibility – Now here’s where the magic happens. Imagine that feeling in your hamstrings when you’re doing the splits? Imagine trying to create that in one leg or both legs by simply standing up. It’s like trying to engage a whole new muscle! It’s much harder. You must actively use engage your muscles without a shape or position forcing them to engage. Kinda cool, don’t ya think?

So how does this all relate to Press Handstand?

Well, in this article and this article I talk about the mechanics of a press handstand. One of the mechanics is being able to get your hips in the right position (over the shoulders). If your hamstrings are tight, it’s difficult and nearly impossible.

Your hamstrings have to be open enough to do this.

Here’s The Feeling

As you’re shifting forward, your hamstrings have to lengthen in order for your hips to move up and forward. If you can actively lengthen both of your hamstrings similar to how they lengthen in the splits, you’re on the right track to mechanically sound, effortless press handstand.

Mastering Press Handstand is all about mastering the micro-movements and micro-feelings and taking charge of the inner workings of your body.

While we’re on the topic of press handstands…

Core Strength Anyone?

While hamstring flexibility is a key component of press handstands, core strength is a crucial component.

And quite frankly, not having enough of it will stop you from ever lifting up even if you have all the other necessary components.

I spend a lot of time interacting with my readers. In fact, if you email me or leave a comment on my blog, I’m guaranteed to answer. So if you’ve written something on Facebook or Instagram and I haven’t responded try one of the first two.

One of the common threads amongst many people I’ve spoken with is they don’t believe they can ever do a press handstand not because of all the “fancy” micro-mechanics involved, but simply because they don’t have enough core strength.

Further, students have told me that their confident and self-belief would go way up if they had a stronger core. So last year when mulling over the first product I should create, it was a debate between a press handstand course or a course specifically designed to strengthen your core, more specifically, to double your core strength in 30 days or less, I chose the latter.

Pre-Purchase Opportunity for The Double Your Core Strength System (Now Closed)

Edit: If you’re interested in purchasing the course, please be sure to get on my email list. You’ll hear all the details about the official launch of the course there.

While I’ve had people testing the course behind the scenes for months now. The course is almost ready for launch and I want to make sure I’m not missing anything. Now you have a chance to become an early adopter.

I’m looking for 15-20 more people (that haven’t seen it yet and who are serious about actually developing superhuman core strength) to do a final comb-through of the course with me, essentially being a final beta tester.

This requires a couple of things:

• Looking over the entire course and giving me feedback on what you like and what you think is missing (if anything)
  
• Giving me feedback on the learning modules
  
• Getting into skype with me and answering some questions
  Trying every one of the sequences and reporting back
  
• Eventually going through the entire 30 day program and documenting your results
  

If you’re interested, I’ll give you a private link to pre-purchase the course at a discounted rate for helping me put all the final touches on it and for believing in me from Day 1. And as a thank you, I’ll also give you a free private session to work with you on whatever you want ($200 value), which can be recorded for you to keep forever. To pre-purchase the course and be a final beta tester just click the link below and sign up:

Sign Up For The Early Adopter Program Here!

This “Early Adopter” price represents at least a 50% savings off the full price of the lowest tier of the course (The course offers 3 tiers). This price will be $147. So, if you’re willing to put in the work and you’re serious about doubling your core strength and helping me out the same time, just sign up here and you’ll get access.

This is truly a one-of-a-kind course that walks you through every step, every exercise, and every detail to double your core strength.

FREE Download: The Press Handstand Master Checklist (A step-by-step press handstand blueprint)