This post gets the award for the longest title!
Hamstring weakness and tightness is a significant functional impairment. The hamstrings are a critical sprint power muscle, and long hamstrings are also vital for efficient mechanics at the pelvis and lower back.
The first exercise in this series is one of our favourites: the reverse aeroplane. We prefer the term 'aeroplane' over the classic Romanian deadlift because we use many variations that don't require a barbell or dumbbell, including this one.
Set up in an aeroplane bridge: neutral torso pivoting over one leg - the 'T' shape. Note that the knee should be 'soft' - not locked. Reach down to the floor with your hands and then slowly walk out into a bridge. The unloaded leg remains in the air. Lift the back leg as high as possible and then walk your hands back toward your pivot leg. Strike the heel to the floor and then lift yourself back up into the aeroplane bridge using the hamstring muscle.
The reverse aeroplane involves hamstring stretch and shortening. It's an ideal warm-up exercise and very useful as well in metabolic conditioning. A hamstring muscle that does not cope well with an exercise like a reverse aeroplane is not likely to respond well to repeated high intensity exercise, so it's an excellent assessment tool of functional capacity especially in group scenarios.
The classic barbell or dumbbell loaded single leg Romanian deadlift is an outstanding hip-dominant exercise due to the comprehensive involvement of joints and segments, and the requirement of neutral joint motion for the exercise to function at all - it's very safe!
video: the reverse aeroplane (1leg Romanian deadlift)
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