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Sports & Fitness vocabulary · Muscles & the Body

Hamstring

Meaning in sports & fitness, with examples

/ˈhæmstrɪŋ/nounCore term

In sports & fitness, hamstring means: One of the three muscles at the back of the thigh that bend the knee and extend the hip; the group is usually called the hamstrings.

In Turkish: arka adale, arka uyluk kasları, hamstring

How it is used

Very common in football, sprinting and gym talk, often in the plural. Players pull, tear or strain a hamstring, and programmes include hamstring curls and stretches.

Example sentences

  1. He felt his hamstring tighten during the sprint and came off.

  2. Romanian deadlifts are a great exercise for the hamstrings.

Common collocations

  • pull a hamstring
  • hamstring injury
  • hamstring curl
  • tight hamstrings
  • hamstring stretch
  • quadricepsThe large group of four muscles at the front of the thigh that straighten the knee; often shortened to quads.
  • strainAn injury in which a muscle or tendon is overstretched or partly torn, often in the hamstring, calf or groin.
  • glutesShort for gluteal muscles: the muscles of the buttocks, mainly the gluteus maximus, medius and minimus, which move and stabilise the hips.
  • deadliftA lift in which you pick up a loaded barbell from the floor until you are standing upright, mainly working the back, glutes and hamstrings.
  • stretchTo lengthen a muscle by moving part of the body and holding the position, to improve flexibility or to relax after exercise.

More terms: Muscles & the Body

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