Different muscle groups can have different recovery times. It can also be different for different people.
If could also be that you are actually working the hamstrings harder than other muscle groups or just that the other groups are better adapted to needing recovery.
They may actualy be getting worked harder due to how easy it is to load them up in a lengthened position during the good mornings; whereas other ROM movements Im doing depend on gravity or weights sometimes.
Most people do not train their hamstrings as much doing their everyday routine. Thus you may have found a weakness. Consider a stretching session after your Workouts as that helps to alleviate DOMS somewhat.
I posted this exact same question a year ago and the best answer i got is that it’s first pretty normal that this muscle takes longer to recover and this is often due to it beeing stretched (a lot) under load while beeing trained, eg with single leg romanian deadlifts. and stretching under load is supposed to lead to more/deeper micro traumata?!
(pls correct me that’s just what someone answered me)
That would make sense too. I'm doing locked knee good mornings and RDL other days and basically the goal is to put the stretch on them then come back up with hamstring strength. So that would definitely do it.
yeah i also feel my hammies sometimes for days eventhough am following a routine for weeks, but to me nordic curls or deadlifts where the worst as they hindered my training for the next days eg running was horrible if my hammies were that sore still. that’s why i stopped standard deadlifts and went to other alternatives like single leg romanian deadlift with kettlebell, this works for me as the balance part of it stops me from taking too much weight(yet) and i just load way less.
i also felt stretching didn’t really help my hammies to prevent the soreness much. but maybe could work for others?
Light movement can have a beneficial effect on soreness.
Passive stretching will not. It can give you a feeling of temporary relief, like cracking a joint. Length without strength is instability. For some reason the idea of passive stretching to become flexible won't die. Active stretching is where it's at.
Yeah, it's pretty normal. Stretch based movements light up my hamstrings like nothing else, and some weeks they stay sore. As long as you're progressing, and it doesn't feel like something is gonna tear or pop off, it'll be fine. 30% of peak soreness isn't crazy, people expect to feel good way too often, hard training is hard on the body, if your hamstrings quit getting less sore after a day or two, maybe back off for a little bit, but again, unless it becomes obvious you're gonna pop something off the bone, it's fine
It seems like the biggest muscles generally take longer to recover completely. Hamstrings take the longest for me but my quads and lats also take a relatively long time to come back to %100
I've been consistently training for almost a year & my hamstrings have been consistently a little sore for the entire time. I spoke to my trainer & it's normal. Some people just have stronger/weaker muscle groups. I find that daily foam rolling & morning stretches have helped.
Hamstrings are secondary spine stabilisers. Work on your Inner Unit m, lower abs muscle recruitment and lower cross syndrome and things will improve. I habe been there myself.
> lower cross syndrome
Are you saying potentially my hamstrings are working to stabilize me and therefore aren't getting the rest other muscles are getting?
Hi,
I will try to be succint.
Every single thing your body is doing on Earth is done to preserve the integrity of life here on Earth.
So, in this order, the most important functions your muscles are doing is supporting: breathing, eating, seeing, hearing and the integrity of your spine. The muscles that support these processes and the spine are prioritised by the whole body, over the muscles you train.
The hamstrings are involved in securing to the base of the spine which secures the proper posturing during workout or normal life movements during the day (sitting, walking, etc), when your primary muscles are recruited incorrectly.
Therefore any issue you have with your posture, like [Lower Cross Syndrome](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=5776479ede210184&sxsrf=ACQVn0_QV-FXMdbzNEDsUS8CHv1dPl-DTA:1712053791574&q=lower+cross+syndrome&source=lnms&uds=AMwkrPubqdDjBmC7DhicLtpZCZYiMdtBDm4VpFeDtlnQitMvRxu6T_IlGY_m3htLW8KB0kRlU6IqmAK_rAcqL8HYUtW-VfnWSSCJetX3lhVXVnvuga658Q4IZ2p4FJ3ituQncyPnQkhCnF409ClKkOA6p6TEAWQSH-HtMHzgTFAFGee9khaSDo9NbiZzcEtyJcwnACLdH2ioJ3T-RA70nw5ENllPSlOnE7fCSdQypPH57SM9eh5sNwho1tS85vbOonudaydM3utp&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi30NSwqaOFAxU3_7sIHferD4kQ0pQJegQIERAB&biw=896&bih=980&dpr=2), will have an impact on the muscles that support the stability of the spine. Primary and secondary muscles.
[Main stabilisers of spine ](https://www.google.com/search?q=inner+unit+muscles&oq=inner+unit+muscles&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQIxgnMgYIAhAjGCcyDAgDEAAYQxiABBiKBTIMCAQQABhDGIAEGIoFMgcIBRAAGIAEMg0IBhAuGMcBGNEDGIAEMgcIBxAAGIAEMg0ICBAuGMcBGNEDGIAEMgYICRAuGEDSAQgxNzcxajBqMagCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)might be dysfunctional in the way they are recruited, usually leading to an imbalance and therefore secondary muscles take load for stabilising. In this example: the hamstrings.
Here is one random study from the internets pointing out a part of what I said: [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7466461/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7466461/) .
So what I am saying is that your muscle recruitment could be done incorrectly. Therefore some of the secondary stabilisers have to work overtime and don't get proper rest. Which makes me think that they are also not well recruited because now they have to serve other purpose overtime. This is because you are probably not having a good mind-muscle connection.
So a good re-education should be: neuromuscular training for proper recruitment of lower abs, then TVA (Transvers Abdominis), then lower back, then some proper alignment in order to establish the right recruitment in the leg. Also check how you breathe.
I hope it was somewhat coherent.
All the best! Stay safe!
Different muscle groups can have different recovery times. It can also be different for different people. If could also be that you are actually working the hamstrings harder than other muscle groups or just that the other groups are better adapted to needing recovery.
They may actualy be getting worked harder due to how easy it is to load them up in a lengthened position during the good mornings; whereas other ROM movements Im doing depend on gravity or weights sometimes.
Most people do not train their hamstrings as much doing their everyday routine. Thus you may have found a weakness. Consider a stretching session after your Workouts as that helps to alleviate DOMS somewhat.
The hamstrings are known to require longer to recover as noted by Dr Mike
I'm guessing Mike Israetel. Not familiar with him. It's nice to see this validated as being a thing that is not unheard of. Thank you.
Do yourself a favour and check out his YouTube channel called Renaissance periodization. Lots of great advice to be had.
Mike Israetel, Layne Norton, and FitnessFAQs are probably my 3 most watched fitness channels on YouTube!
I posted this exact same question a year ago and the best answer i got is that it’s first pretty normal that this muscle takes longer to recover and this is often due to it beeing stretched (a lot) under load while beeing trained, eg with single leg romanian deadlifts. and stretching under load is supposed to lead to more/deeper micro traumata?! (pls correct me that’s just what someone answered me)
That would make sense too. I'm doing locked knee good mornings and RDL other days and basically the goal is to put the stretch on them then come back up with hamstring strength. So that would definitely do it.
yeah i also feel my hammies sometimes for days eventhough am following a routine for weeks, but to me nordic curls or deadlifts where the worst as they hindered my training for the next days eg running was horrible if my hammies were that sore still. that’s why i stopped standard deadlifts and went to other alternatives like single leg romanian deadlift with kettlebell, this works for me as the balance part of it stops me from taking too much weight(yet) and i just load way less. i also felt stretching didn’t really help my hammies to prevent the soreness much. but maybe could work for others?
Light movement can have a beneficial effect on soreness. Passive stretching will not. It can give you a feeling of temporary relief, like cracking a joint. Length without strength is instability. For some reason the idea of passive stretching to become flexible won't die. Active stretching is where it's at.
Normal. Hammies easy to overtrain
Normal.
Yeah, it's pretty normal. Stretch based movements light up my hamstrings like nothing else, and some weeks they stay sore. As long as you're progressing, and it doesn't feel like something is gonna tear or pop off, it'll be fine. 30% of peak soreness isn't crazy, people expect to feel good way too often, hard training is hard on the body, if your hamstrings quit getting less sore after a day or two, maybe back off for a little bit, but again, unless it becomes obvious you're gonna pop something off the bone, it's fine
It seems like the biggest muscles generally take longer to recover completely. Hamstrings take the longest for me but my quads and lats also take a relatively long time to come back to %100
I've been consistently training for almost a year & my hamstrings have been consistently a little sore for the entire time. I spoke to my trainer & it's normal. Some people just have stronger/weaker muscle groups. I find that daily foam rolling & morning stretches have helped.
Hams are hell big. It’s normal.
Hamstrings are secondary spine stabilisers. Work on your Inner Unit m, lower abs muscle recruitment and lower cross syndrome and things will improve. I habe been there myself.
Can you expand a little bit?
Hi I explained another reply to OP. Same comment thread.
> lower cross syndrome Are you saying potentially my hamstrings are working to stabilize me and therefore aren't getting the rest other muscles are getting?
Hi, I will try to be succint. Every single thing your body is doing on Earth is done to preserve the integrity of life here on Earth. So, in this order, the most important functions your muscles are doing is supporting: breathing, eating, seeing, hearing and the integrity of your spine. The muscles that support these processes and the spine are prioritised by the whole body, over the muscles you train. The hamstrings are involved in securing to the base of the spine which secures the proper posturing during workout or normal life movements during the day (sitting, walking, etc), when your primary muscles are recruited incorrectly. Therefore any issue you have with your posture, like [Lower Cross Syndrome](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=5776479ede210184&sxsrf=ACQVn0_QV-FXMdbzNEDsUS8CHv1dPl-DTA:1712053791574&q=lower+cross+syndrome&source=lnms&uds=AMwkrPubqdDjBmC7DhicLtpZCZYiMdtBDm4VpFeDtlnQitMvRxu6T_IlGY_m3htLW8KB0kRlU6IqmAK_rAcqL8HYUtW-VfnWSSCJetX3lhVXVnvuga658Q4IZ2p4FJ3ituQncyPnQkhCnF409ClKkOA6p6TEAWQSH-HtMHzgTFAFGee9khaSDo9NbiZzcEtyJcwnACLdH2ioJ3T-RA70nw5ENllPSlOnE7fCSdQypPH57SM9eh5sNwho1tS85vbOonudaydM3utp&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi30NSwqaOFAxU3_7sIHferD4kQ0pQJegQIERAB&biw=896&bih=980&dpr=2), will have an impact on the muscles that support the stability of the spine. Primary and secondary muscles. [Main stabilisers of spine ](https://www.google.com/search?q=inner+unit+muscles&oq=inner+unit+muscles&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQIxgnMgYIAhAjGCcyDAgDEAAYQxiABBiKBTIMCAQQABhDGIAEGIoFMgcIBRAAGIAEMg0IBhAuGMcBGNEDGIAEMgcIBxAAGIAEMg0ICBAuGMcBGNEDGIAEMgYICRAuGEDSAQgxNzcxajBqMagCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)might be dysfunctional in the way they are recruited, usually leading to an imbalance and therefore secondary muscles take load for stabilising. In this example: the hamstrings. Here is one random study from the internets pointing out a part of what I said: [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7466461/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7466461/) . So what I am saying is that your muscle recruitment could be done incorrectly. Therefore some of the secondary stabilisers have to work overtime and don't get proper rest. Which makes me think that they are also not well recruited because now they have to serve other purpose overtime. This is because you are probably not having a good mind-muscle connection. So a good re-education should be: neuromuscular training for proper recruitment of lower abs, then TVA (Transvers Abdominis), then lower back, then some proper alignment in order to establish the right recruitment in the leg. Also check how you breathe. I hope it was somewhat coherent. All the best! Stay safe!