How to do the Hamstring Stretch
Step by step
- Sit or stand with one leg extended and the toes pointing up.
- Keep your back long rather than rounding it over.
- Hinge gently at the hips and reach toward the extended foot.
- Stop at a mild, comfortable stretch behind the thigh and hold steadily.
- Ease out slowly and repeat on the other leg.
The thing people get wrong
Bend from the hips with a long back, not by rounding your spine - and never bounce into the stretch.
Coaching cue
Pull your toes back toward you to carry the stretch down into the calf.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Bend the stretched leg slightly and rest your hands higher up the shin.
- Harder: Straighten the leg fully and reach toward the toes with a long back.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Hamstrings
What to do instead
Same job, different movement — useful if you don't have the equipment or it doesn't feel right today.
Daily Coach builds this into a real weekly plan. It picks the exercises for your equipment and experience, swaps around injuries you tell it about, and tracks what you actually lifted.