I am not super religious but take this day (Yom Kippur) to take stock of things and see where I can improve, and think about situations where I could have been kinder, could have helped more, could have been more understanding.  Yom Kippur means “Day of Atonement,” and it’s a day set aside to “afflict the soul,” to atone for the sins of the past year.  Some Jews fast and/or refrain from using technology.  So, as a way to atone for my sins, I hit up an afternoon class at Solidcore.  I struggle through each minute of the class and am generally uncomfortable, so I thought it wasn’t an inappropriate way to acknowledge Yom Kippur.

One of the moves we do during the class hammers the hamstrings. Not many people realize that tight hamstrings cause a lot of people’s lower back issues. And I have super tight hamstrings, so every time we do something that focuses on them – my back starts to feel uncomfortable. You know how to prevent that though? Specific stretching for the hamstrings!

Here are some great hamstring strengthening exercise resources:

• The 7 Best Mobility Exercises You Haven’t Tried Yet
• San Francisco CrossFit Hamstring stretch:  Hold for 10 seconds, generate peak tension for 5 seconds, then move into a new range! Spend 5-10 minutes doing this stretch every day and you will see an improvement.  I have seen it happen!

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