White Water Method: Stretching Hamstrings Can Make Your Underwaters Slower

Courtesy: Carlos Omana

Many swimmers deal with “tight” hamstrings, which commonly means they may experience “tight” hip flexors and tightness or discomfort in the low back. To address the issue, since it feels “tight”, swimmers will spend time stretching their hamstrings to hopefully alleviate the tightness and discomfort they are experiencing. This approach, unfortunately, usually only makes the problem worse. Let’s dive deeper.

When addressing issues from the core down into the lower extremities, swimmers are notorious for experiencing a dysfunctional position called lower cross syndrome. Lower cross syndrome is defined as a position where the pelvis is tilted forward and the lumbar spine may be hyper-extended due to a lack of strength of the abdominal and glute muscles. These muscles are the primary pelvic stabilizers. Lower cross syndrome places greater amounts of stress on the hamstrings and hip flexors due to their unnatural lengthened positions in order to stabilize the pelvis.

If the hamstrings are in an already unwanted lengthened position, stretching your hamstrings only continues to lengthen them and exacerbates the issue at the pelvis. Now, why is this important for underwater dolphin kicks?

If you watch swimmers with great underwater kicks (Gretchen Walsh, Caeleb Dressel, or Michael Phelps), they have a unique ability to use their pelvis appropriately to generate tremendous amounts of force using their glutes and abdominal muscles. This allows them to propel forward rapidly. This is also the reason why they are able to kick from their hips efficiently and create the desired whip-like effect, instead of kicking from their knees. The role the hamstrings play in pelvic function is to help the glutes posteriorly tilt the pelvis out of the undesired position and facilitate a proper glute contraction.

We can think of the hamstrings as a rubber band. A brand new rubber band has higher tension when stretched which can produce a lot of force when released. Stretching that rubber band over and over again diminishes the ability of the rubber band to maintain its recoil and loses its force production. If swimmers continuously stretch their hamstrings, the hamstrings will slowly lose their ability to forcefully and rapidly contract.

We can also use the analogy of a slingshot. The handle would be the glutes and the rubber band would be the hamstrings. If the handle is strong and stable, then the rubber band can extend back to aim and reach the target. If the rubber band has been stretched and does not have enough recoil, even with the handle being stable, it will be difficult to reach the target.

Swimmers who are experiencing “tight” hamstrings should avoid stretching them, and instead focus on building strength in the glutes and abdominals muscles. This will alleviate the demands of the hamstrings and hip flexors, can alleviate low back discomfort, and allow for more functional use of their hips, leading to faster swimming.

ABOUT CARLOS OMANA

Carlos Omana, owner of White Water Method, trained under Coach Kirk Peppas and at the University of Florida during his swimming career in addition to representing Venezuela internationally after his collegiate career. After swimming, Carlos pursued a career in strength and conditioning. He graduated with his M.S. in Human Performance and received certifications as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, USAW Level 1 Performance Coach, Performance Enhancement Specialist, and Certified Physical Preparation Specialist. In 2024, he started White Water Method which aims to help swimmers and coaches tackle physiological obstacles such as joint discomfort, technique issues, strength, power, mobility, etc. White Water Method is reinventing and improving the old school dryland training that swimmers know all too well.