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What if a guy only does hamstring hip extensor strength training for a long period of time (say two years) and never does any leg curls or knee flexion hamstring activities. Can then a big gap appear in between these two "hamstring events"? Or the hamstring is just a muscle, it doesn't care how you train it?

 I doubt that there would be a huge strength gap, but thats purely speculation since I have never done this with anyone.  I think there would still be potential knee pain issues if this guy was a jumping athlete like a track and field jumper.  Especially since you just described the prototype for a high level triple/long jumper (insanely strong hip extension in the hams), even  though they might not have achieved this through training.

 Train them as hip extensors to get stronger, train them as knee flexors with higher reps/tut for the hypoxic effects/healing/ blood flow, and cycle in some heavier work as well.

Have you ever gotten into someone that is great at hamstring hip extensor activities and yet sucks at hamstring leg curling activities, Lance? I'm not sure if I have... I wonder if such a person exists

 Not likely to see a huge difference as far as strength at either end, if theyre strong theyre strong.  Thats the reason I use the high rep range with the knee flexion, its not that theyre really weak in the area, its what the higher reps and time under tension do for the knee joint and soft tissues. 

  Most people have weak hamstrings, at either end period.  Athletes that already have very strong hamstrings are usually already very good athletically in my experience, whether that comes from genetics or training.   

  You will have to use your own Judgement on playing, I would definitely do some light and low volume hops, skips, Jogging, etc. and test it out prior to stepping into a game.

  The vmo activity is very common after hamstring activation/strengthening at the knee end.  You can do it on spot if you contract the hamstrings at the bottom of the squat.  This works with psoas and glutes as well, pull down with the hip flexors actively as you descend into the squat and your glutes will fire much harder as well.   Your femur is likely tracking better now as well in knee dominant lifts.

 The thing to do now is, continue to get stronger in your compound lifts while CONTINUING to strengthen the rear side of your legs, at both ends.   Lots of guys missing the boat on this one, due to all the previous dogma with the "pchain".    Instead of looking at it like "im only training quads since they are most important", a smarter approach is "im going to strengthen the living fuck out of my hamstrings so that I can train my quads even harder, Jump all day long, and not get hurt".   

 

  Haha, it will work of course fine, I'm only giving you a hard time since that topic usually starts a war when it comes up on other places. 

. but I thought sprinting should pretty much take care of the leg curling action of the hamstrings.

   How do the hamstrings function during a sprint again.........

 
  Where you felt the pain at the time of the injury will tell you more, swelling and compensation can show up in other areas.  If it doesnt improve with rest you need to go see the doc.

Hi Lance,

Have u had experience with athletes who hyper-extended their knees?  I hyper-extended my right knee, and my left one feels prone to that same injury right now.  The injury was minor but still, I can't do shit on it besides walk/very light jog, anything more intense I can feel pain.  It's getting better every day, as I'm resting it, taking ibuprofen.

 Dont do any plyos or  jumps until its healed, takes time.

From my own self-diagnosing, I believe it was caused by 2 things:

1) I got too heavy/fat from eating a LOT lately trying to get my lifting numbers up.  160lbs at 5'8" for an ecto doing intense plyo's and training single leg jump, I thought might be a bit much.  Do you agree?

No, you havent been training your hamstrings, especially as a KNEE FLEXOR, and youve been doing a lot of knee extension exercises, while  jumping repetitively.

2) I admit I made a stupid mistake, but past few months, I've basically just been doing full squats.  I think I created an imbalance between my hamstrings and quads.  So lately I've been doing leg curls and dead lifts (no squats cuz I can't squat with the knee like this).

 Depending on how youre deadlifting, it can be simply another knee extension exercise. RDL's are a good idea here, and use a 2-1 ratio of knee flexion to extension for a while.

I could be wrong, just my opinion on what caused it.  What do you think, and what do you recommend I do to recover from it?

Thanks.

  Trying to improve a single leg  jump without training your hamstrings makes as much sense as trying to improve your bench press without training your triceps.