The hamstrings are directly connected to the lower back. This is why if somebody has lower back pain or hurts there lower back they usually also have tight hamstrings. I don`t think it is possible to work your hamstrings without your lower back getting involved no matter what you do since this connection does exist. If you increased your flexibility in your hams significintly it may not pull on your lower back / glutes so much helping to take away the pain. Who knows until you try it. To stretch your hams without involving your lower back keep your knee’s bend instead of straight.
Apologies if someone’s already brought this up, but one-leg movements–step ups, Bulgarian split squats, single-leg RDLs–are great for this.
The one-leg RDL’s are particularly great for glutes and hams: you can use less than half the weight you’d use for a bb RDL and get a better workout with far less stress on the low-back. Use two dumbells that add up to about half your normal RDL weight.
A few weeks of single-leg only moves will also bring up your performance in the big lifts once you get back to them.
(I realize it sounds like “functional training” voodoo till you try it.)
[quote]dynamicfitness wrote:
Apologies if someone’s already brought this up, but one-leg movements–step ups, Bulgarian split squats, single-leg RDLs–are great for this.
The one-leg RDL’s are particularly great for glutes and hams: you can use less than half the weight you’d use for a bb RDL and get a better workout with far less stress on the low-back. Use two dumbells that add up to about half your normal RDL weight.
A few weeks of single-leg only moves will also bring up your performance in the big lifts once you get back to them.
(I realize it sounds like “functional training” voodoo till you try it.)[/quote]
My SI joint feels like something stabs it whenever I do them on my right side. I can’t squat, lunge, or do any movement that works on my right side without having my SI joint hurt like a mofo. thx for the info though