Swimming is an excellent way to get aerobic exercise as it engages almost every muscle in your body. The hamstrings, the three muscles on the back of your thigh, play an important role in the kicking motion that propels you through the water. Because swimming is a low-impact sport, if you're recovering from hamstring injuries, consider using it as a form of exercise during the recovery process.
Biceps Femoris
The biceps femoris is the largest of the hamstring muscles. It stretches across the knee and the hip joints, both of which are engaged while swimming. The act of swimming flexes the knee, drawing your calf back toward your thigh, and extends the hip, drawing your thigh toward the posterior of your body. Both of these movements are part of the full-leg kick that swimmers use in the water.
Semitendinosus
Like the biceps femoris, the semitendinosus crosses both the knee and the hip joints. It performs the same movements as that muscle – flexing the knee and extending the hip. Though the larger biceps femoris is doing more of the work as you kick through the water, the semitendinosus muscle is also engaged.
Semimembranosus
The semimembranosus muscle travels from the pelvic bone to the tibia, crossing both the hip and the knee joint. This hamstring muscle engages when the knee flexes and the hip extends during a swimmer’s kick, similar to the semitendinosus and the biceps femoris.
Other Thigh Muscles Used
Since the kick used during swimming is performed using a back-and-forth motion, the muscles on the front of the thigh are engaged as well. These four muscles, commonly known as the quadriceps, are responsible for performing the opposite motions of the hamstrings. They extend the knee and flex the thigh, while the hamstrings flex the knee and extend the thigh.
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