How to add the 'elephant walk' to your workout to ease pain and loosen hamstrings

Tasleem Gierdien

Tasleem Gierdien

5 August 2025 | 5:49

By incorporating the elephant walk into your routine, you can improve hamstring flexibility, reduce pain, and enhance overall mobility.

How to add the 'elephant walk' to your workout to ease pain and loosen hamstrings

The 'elephant walk' is considered a highly effective hamstring stretch for improving mobility, performance, and pain relief due to its ability to lengthen and loosen the posterior chain muscles (hamstrings, glutes, lower back, and calves) through a dynamic, low-impact movement.

Its effectiveness stems from its ability to address both hamstring flexibility and lower back stiffness, contributing to overall improved movement and reduced pain.

By incorporating the elephant walk into your routine, you can potentially experience improved hamstring flexibility, reduced pain, and enhanced overall mobility. 

The elephant walk is recommended to do before a workout or run to activate muscles, improve flexibility, and joint movements.

How to do the elephant walk:

  1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. 
  2. Hinge at your hips, keeping your back straight, and reach towards the floor. 
  3. Bend one knee while straightening the other, alternating legs as if walking. 
  4. Keep your hands on the floor or as close to it as possible. 
  5. Maintain a straight back throughout the movement. 
  6. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

The benefits of the elephant walk:

  • Boost hip-hinge mechanics, especially if you're sitting all day, deadlifting, picking up kids or groceries.
  • Improve functional mobility as flexibility and balance start to decline as we get older.
  • Reduce postural-chain work by up to 30%.
  • Accessible: you could do it anywhere.

Studies show that postural-chain movements, such as the elephant walk, focused on dynamic movements, improve sprint performance as well as range of motion more than static stretches. 

Regular inclusions in warm-up reduced injury rates by up to 25% in athletes, while improved fascia glides for joint and pain-free movement are also cited in studies.

Before doing this one, ensure it's approved by your physio, advises Van der Westhuizen. 

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