“Don’t skip leg day” has almost grow to be a meme within the gym, warning dedicated lifters to provide lower body training as much emphasis, intensity, and a spotlight as their upper body.

That’s all well and good, but even with regards to “leg day,” many lifters still find yourself skipping a comparatively large portion of their lower body. Not even addressing the flamingo-legged elephant within the room that’s calf training. The more urgent body part that deserves your attention is the hamstrings.

Credit: Microgen / Shutterstock

Whether it’s for athletic performance, total-body power, or a whole and well-developed set of legs, listed here are some must-do movements to focus on the backs of your thighs.

Best Hamstring Exercises

Romanian Deadlift

While the traditional deadlift is thought for constructing serious power and size in the whole posterior chain (lower back, glutes, and hamstrings), the Romanian deadlift zones in even further on that growth stimulus by adjusting the range of motion and body positioning.

By keeping your legs very barely bent, put your hamstrings into an extended stretched position while also forcing them to contract harder during hip extension, which each contribute to greater growth.(1)

Learn how to Do the Romanian Deadlift

Stand holding a barbell with a rather wider than shoulder-width, overhand grip. Pull your shoulder blades back and lift your chest. Barely bend your knees and push your glutes toward the wall behind you.

Concentrate on feeling your hamstrings stretch as you “reach” your tailbone to the wall. When the bar reaches as little as possible without rounding your back, drive your heels “through” the bottom and push your hips forward to return upright.

Advantages of the Romanian Deadlift

• As a barbell movement, the Romanian deadlift allows the use of doubtless heavy weights, which contributes to strength gains.
• This movement puts the goal muscle through an extended range of motion with a deep stretch, which advantages muscle growth.

Split-Stance Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift

Single-leg training might be highly helpful for strength, power, and muscle growth.(2) Nonetheless, many lifters struggle with balance to the detriment of any single-leg exercise. Taking a staggered or split-stance drastically reduces the balance demands while maintaining the single-leg emphasis.

The split-stance dumbbell Romanian deadlift means that you can concentrate on working the hamstrings of your lead leg, while your rear leg provides simply enough stability to remain regular. Using dumbbells as an alternative of a barbell allows an extended range of motion while reducing lower back strain.

Learn how to Do the Split-Stance Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift

Stand with a dumbbell in each hand by your sides. Take a shoulder-width stance with the toes of 1 foot according to the heel of the lead foot. Keep your back straight while pushing your hips and glutes behind you. Allow your hands to face one another because the weights lower toward your front foot. Pull along with your front leg, not the rear foot, to face upright. Perform all reps on one leg before switching sides.

Advantages of the Split-Stance Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift

• This movement pairs the advantages of single-leg training with the steadiness of a bilateral (two-legged) exercise.
• The split-stance dumbbell Romanian deadlift allows a big muscle-building stimulus from relatively light weights, resulting from the stance and leverage.

Single-Leg Single-Arm Romanian Deadlift

The only-leg, single-arm Romanian deadlift might look, and even sound, more like a circus trick than a serious training exercise. Nevertheless it’s a top-level selection for muscle-building tension and high-performance athleticism.

By requiring one leg to offer stability and the other arm to hold the burden, you’re making a total-body movement that hits your legs, core, and back like nothing else.

Learn how to Do the Single-Leg Single-Arm Romanian Deadlift

Stand with a dumbbell in your left hand, by your side along with your palm facing your body. Barely bend your right knee, lean forward at your hips, and let your left leg raise into the air as the burden moves toward the bottom. Avoid twisting your shoulders or rounding your spine. Crawl to regulate the burden and maintain balance. Whenever you’re reached so far as your mobility allows, slowly return to the starting position. Perform all reps on one side before switching hands and legs.

Advantages of the Single-Leg Single-Arm Romanian Deadlift

• This comprehensive exercise works the “posterior oblique sling” — a series of muscles which play a key role in posture, especially when walking and moving.
• The only-leg, single arm Romanian deadlift strongly works the oblique muscles of the abs and core.
• Stabilizer muscles within the ankles, knees, hips, and shoulders are recruited, making the exercise an efficient technique to improve joint health.(3)

Standing Leg Curl

The standing leg curl machine might be present in several different but similar varieties. Some allow your non-working foot to be planted firmly on the bottom in a totally standing position while other machines, sometimes called “kneeling leg curls” have a specialized pad to support your non-working leg in a bent position. The general result and performance is similar with either.

Standing leg curls will let you emphasize knee flexion (bending your leg), a key function of the hamstring muscle. An additional benefit of the standing machine is performing the work unilaterally, targeting each leg by itself.

Learn how to Do the Standing Leg Curl

Setup within the machine with the curl pad placed just above the ankle of the working leg. Secure your torso in position using any available handles. Brace your core and squeeze the heel of your leg toward your glutes. Achieve a whole range of motion. Lower the burden under control until your leg is fully straightened. Perform all reps on one side before switching legs.

Advantages of the Standing Leg Curl

• The standing leg curl applies constant tension to the goal muscle, unlike free weight movements which apply various levels of resistance resulting from gravity.
• Unilateral (single-leg) training may help to handle and proper muscular imbalances between sides.
• The design of the machine limits your ability to scale back muscle activation through the use of full-body momentum to swing the burden.

Seated Leg Curl

The seated leg curl, like many machines, requires some individualized setup for the most efficient training experience. Most machines have an adjustable back pad, thigh support, and ankle pad which should be appropriately set in place to maintain your body in probably the most efficient position. Most individuals, nevertheless, skip this significant step.

This strict movement can provide an intense hamstring contraction with little to no contribution from other body parts, making it a perfect muscle-builder.

Learn how to Do the Seated Leg Curl

Adjust the back pad to position your knee joint according to the pivoting leg attachment. Set the thigh pad to secure against the tops of your quadriceps. Adjust the ankle pad to sit down just above your heel. Brace your core and drive through your heels to achieve a full contraction, along with your feet well-under the seat of the machine. Straighten your legs under control.

Advantages of the Seated Leg Curl

• The seated leg curl puts the body in nearly similar positioning because the quadriceps-focused leg extension while training the direct opposite muscle group, making the 2 movements a perfect superset.
• This machine provides significant support which eliminates momentum and removes your ability to lift the burden using anything but strict hamstring activation, resulting in a greater muscle-building stimulus.
• The seated position changes the stretch in your hamstring muscles, which can contribute to greater growth in comparison with a lying leg curl.(4) 

Lying Leg Curl

The lying leg curl could be the hottest hamstring exercise, however it’s also one often done incorrectly. Many lifters hike their hips off the pad as they curl, which shifts focus away from their hamstrings and onto their glutes and hip flexors.

To maximise hamstring recruitment, it’s essential to maintain your hips pinned to the pad throughout the whole repetition. Some lifters find it obligatory to lift their upper body onto their forearms, and even hold themselves up using straight arms, to maintain their hips in position.

Learn how to Do the Lying Leg Curl

Lie face down on the machine with the pad resting above your ankles. Flex your abs to make sure a stable upper body. Steadily bring your heels as close as possible to your glutes. Ideally, they need to have the option to the touch briefly. Lower the burden under control.

Advantages of the Lying Leg Curl

• The lying position puts your hamstrings into an extended stretched position, which may help improve hamstring flexibility and growth.
• The lying leg curl allows for a powerful peak contraction, which may contribute to constructing strength and muscle.

High Leg Press

The leg press is a standard and effective exercise for quadriceps growth, but a slight foot adjustment can shift muscle recruitment and emphasize your hamstrings.

Setting your feet relatively higher on the pressing platform than in the standard leg press will emphasize the hamstrings (and glutes) greater than the quadriceps.(5) This turns the exercise right into a highly effective hamstring movement which also allows relatively heavy weights.

Learn how to Do the High Leg Press

Sit in a leg press machine and place your feet shoulder-width apart along with your toes near the highest of the foot platform. Keep your feet flat as you lower the burden so far as your mobility allows. Your lower back should remain in touch with the pad in any respect times. From the underside position, straighten your legs to close lockout. 

Advantages of the High Leg Press

• The high leg press means that you can work the hamstrings using heavy weights, which contributes to muscle growth and strength gains.
• This leg press variation might be performed toward the tip of a hamstring-focused workout, to totally exhaust the fatigued muscle, or initially of a hamstring workout to overload the goal muscle with heavy weights.

Kettlebell Swing

The kettlebell swing is one of the vital widely known kettlebell exercises and might be programmed for muscle-building, strength, conditioning, or fat loss.

Unlike many exercises within the gym, the kettlebell swing primarily emphasizes the concentric (lifting) phase of every repetition with relatively less emphasis on the eccentric (lowering) phase. This helps to enhance power output while also stimulating muscle growth.

Learn how to Do the Kettlebell Swing

Stand along with your feet well-beyond shoulder-width apart, with a kettlebell on the bottom several inches in front of your toes. Bend your legs barely and drive your hips back as you grab the highest handle of the kettlebell using a palm-down grip with each hands. Pull the kettlebell back toward your body, letting it swing just behind your legs. Brace your core and keep your back straight as you contract your lower body to bring the burden near chest-height using the hip drive, not actively lifting along with your arms. Allow the burden to fall back along its path just behind your legs and repeat.

Advantages of the Kettlebell Swing

• The kettlebell swing is shown to enhance overall strength and explosive power.(6)
• This dynamic movement builds grip strength, core strength, cardiovascular conditioning, and metabolic stress for a muscle-building stimulus.
• Since it requires minimal equipment and limited space, the swing is a convenient and space-efficient technique to train your lower body. This makes it ideal for home gyms or those with limited access to weights.

Slider Leg Curl

If your own home gym doesn’t have a pair of furniture sliders, you’re missing out on an especially effective addition that opens up plenty of recent exercises for the whole body. On your leg workouts, specifically, they’re an ideal alternative to any leg curl machine.

The sliders will let you perform knee flexion on nearly any surface (rug, tile, gym flooring, etc.). Because they’re designed to literally slide on the bottom, in addition they require increased core engagement, so your abs and hips will probably be working harder than during any machine-based curl.

Learn how to Do the Slider Leg Curl

Lie on the bottom along with your legs straight and a slider under each heel. Keep your head and shoulders on the bottom as you curl your feet toward your glutes while driving your hips up. Imagine a steel rod running out of your chest to your knees — don’t allow your body to bend on the waist. Pause briefly and control each feet as you come to the starting position.

Advantages of the Slider Leg Curl

• The slider leg curl is one in all the one hamstring curl options in a house gym and not using a dedicated leg curl machine.
• The instability of the sliders increases the core stability demands of the exercise.
• The slider leg curl might be progressed like other body weight movements using added load, changes in rep speed, or using a single-leg.

Seated Resistance Band Curl

Resistance bands are more commonly related to upper body exercises, but this lower body alternative is one other highly effective machine alternative while you’re in a house gym or traveling.

With the seated resistance band curl, you simply need a band, a stationary object to function anchor point, and a bench, box, or chair to sit down on. This delivers a high-tension exercise targeting the hamstrings with little to no help from other muscles.

Learn how to Do the Seated Resistance Band Curl

Attach a resistance band to an immovable object several feet in front of a box, bench, or chair. Sit on the box with the band behind your ankles and your torso upright. Brace your upper body and extend your legs until they’re nearly straight. Keep your feet near the bottom as you drive your heels back under your body so far as possible. Don’t allow your upper legs to rise, which might take tension off your hamstrings. Hold the contraction for one second before straightening your legs and repeating.

Advantages of the Seated Resistance Band Curl

• The seated resistance band curl is an efficient hamstring exercise when training with limited equipment.
• Resistance bands offer “accommodating resistance” — more difficult because the band is stretched farther and comparatively less difficult within the stretched position— which may reduce strain on the knee joint.

Nordic Hamstring Curl

The Nordic hamstring curl is a comparatively advanced exercise since it is, essentially, a leg curl performed along with your own body weight. Nonetheless, easy modifications and adjustments might be made so lifters of any experience and strength level can profit from this powerful movement/

The Nordic hamstring curl can be supported by a big amount of research showing its advantages for reducing the danger of hamstring injuries in athletes in a lot of sports.(7)

Learn how to Do the Nordic Hamstring Curl

Kneel on the bottom along with your heels locked into position under an immovable object, corresponding to a Smith machine on a really low setting or a heavily loaded barbell. Begin in a “tall kneeling position”, sitting upright along with your shins on the bottom and a straight line out of your knees through your torso to your neck. Maintain a stiff body position as you slowly lower yourself forward to the bottom. Keep your hands up and able to catch yourself. Concentrate on feeling tension in your hamstrings. Whenever you feel tension reducing, Pull yourself back to an upright position. Alternatively, 

Advantages of the Nordic Hamstring Curl

• The Nordic hamstring curl is supported by research to assist reduce the danger of hamstring injuries in athletes.
• Because this movement emphasizes the eccentric (lowering) portion of the range of motion, it creates a big growth stimulus. Nonetheless, bear in mind that any eccentric emphasis also can result in significant post-exercise muscle soreness.(8)
• That is one in all the few body weight exercises to particularly goal the hamstrings with knee flexion (curling), making it effective for exercise variety.

SHELC

The supine hip extension leg curl, or SHELC, is a radical body weight exercise targeting the hamstrings and glutes. It is often done on an exercise ball, but an identical movement might be done on a big foam roller.

The overall movement is comparable to the slider leg curl, nevertheless, the SHELC is performed through an extended range of motion. The “softness” of the exercise ball also makes the exercise more unstable and recruits more stabilizer muscles within the core, hips, and ankles.

Learn how to Do the SHELC

Lie on the bottom along with your calves on an exercise ball. Keep your head, shoulders, and elbows flat on the bottom throughout the exercise. Press your lower legs into the ball as you raise your hips to the ceiling. Keep a straight line through your entire body as you pull your feet toward your body. Pause briefly at the height contraction. Slowly straighten your legs and briefly pause, supporting your body in a straight line before repeating the following repetition. Keep your hips elevated until the tip of the set.

Advantages of the SHELC

• This body weight exercise works the hamstrings during hip extension in addition to knee flexion, the 2 key functions of the muscle, which may result in a greater growth stimulus in comparison with other exercises.
• The instability of the exercise ball increases core stability requirements, in addition to recruitment of smaller lower body muscles, which may help improve joint health. 

The Hamstring Muscles

While certain “hamstring exercises” isolate and emphasize the particular hamstring muscles, other movements will recruit other leg muscles including the glutes, quadriceps, and calves.

Hamstrings

Your hamstrings, on the backs of your thighs, are a group of several similar-functioning muscles including the biceps femoris, on the outer portion of the leg, and the semitendinosus and semimembranosus, each along the inner a part of the leg.

Credit: Svitlana Hulko / Shutterstock

Your hamstrings are worked during two primary kinds of movements. They’re recruited during hip extension — moving your thigh from in front of your body in line under your torso — which is performed during Romanian deadlift variations. The hamstrings are also answerable for knee flexion, or bending your leg, during any variety of leg curl.

Glutes

The glutes are a comparatively strong muscle involved primarily in hip flexion. They will probably be recruited to help during many hamstring movements, particularly hip extension exercises performed with a straight or relatively straight leg. The glutes are minimally involved during leg flexion, making those leg curl variations a better priority when you wish to emphasize the hamstrings over the glutes.

Quadriceps

The muscles on the front of the thigh — the quadriceps — are anatomically opposite from the hamstrings. Not only are they positioned on the other side of the upper leg bone, but they work in an opposite (or antagonistic) role for knee extension or straightening the leg.

Nonetheless, in certain multi-joint exercises just like the high leg press, the quadriceps are recruited to assist extend the leg and lift the burden. Similarly, your quads are recruited in exercises just like the slider leg curl to regulate your descent as you straighten your leg and stretch your hamstrings.

Calves

The calf muscles on the back of your lower legs are primarily answerable for flexing and lengthening your feet. Nonetheless, a part of the calf muscle extends over the knee joint and is recruited during hip flexion. Because of this, on certain exercises performed with straight or nearly straight legs, you might feel tension behind your knees or your calves.

How Often Should You Train the Hamstrings

In a perfect training scenario, hamstring training would receive as much attention as quadriceps training. Nonetheless, in point of fact, many lifters tack on one or two hamstring exercises after a lot of quad-focused movements.

Credit: Maridav / Shutterstock

An efficient solution to this less-than-attentive approach to hamstring training is to easily separate the quadriceps and hamstrings into two workouts. Relatively than having “leg day,” design a quadriceps workout including squat and lunge variations and perform a separate workout focused on the kinds of exercises listed above.

While each session will probably be relatively shorter and might be paired with one other body part depending in your training split, attacking both sides of your thigh with more focus allows greater training intensity, relatively more volume, and it decreases the possibilities of “forgetting” to coach them.

Whether you’re addressing them directly on their very own or as a part of a more comprehensive lower body workout, directly training your hamstrings a few times per week might be an efficient technique to construct muscle and strength while recovering sufficiently.

Learn how to Progress Your Hamstring Training

Regardless of how often you’re targeting your hamstrings, it’s vital to make use of a wide range of exercises which address each functions of the muscle. In any workout, make sure to include Romanian deadlift variations which train hip flexion, in addition to performing leg curl variations to work knee flexion.

To prioritize hamstrings during any workout, use several sets of any leg curl because the very first exercise of the day. This pre-exhaust technique fatigues your hamstrings and makes them more prone to reach muscular failure before other body parts trained in additional movements.

This helps to emphasise the hamstrings during exercises by which other muscle groups may receive relatively greater attention (corresponding to the high leg press and even in the course of the traditional squat) and helps to make sure optimal recruitment of the hamstrings.

Learn how to Warm-Up Your Hamstrings

“Hamstring tear” is a phrase that may strike fear into any experienced lifter or athlete. Not only can a hamstring injury require significant recovery time, however it may potentially grow to be a recurring issue requiring ongoing attention and adaptation.

Properly warming up your hamstring muscles, glutes, hips, knees, and ankles can allow for more training intensity with a reduced risk of injury. Starting each hamstring workout with an easy, low-intensity series of body weight squats, unweighted single-leg Romanian deadlifts (modified toe touches), and classic standing leg swings (side to side in addition to front to back) can go a great distance toward preparing your muscles and joints for more intense training.

No Back Seat for the Hammies

Simply because you may’t flex your hamstrings and see them within the mirror is not any excuse to pretend they’re not there, literally supporting every step you are taking and (almost) every move you make within the gym. It’s well-past time to place the back of your thighs front and center, and provides your leg development, lower body strength, and athletic power an actual kick within the pants.

References

1. Van Every, D. W., Coleman, M., Rosa, A., Zambrano, H., Plotkin, D., Torres, X., Mercado, M., De Souza, E. O., Alto, A., Oberlin, D. J., Vigotsky, A. D., & Schoenfeld, B. J. (2022). Loaded inter-set stretch may selectively enhance muscular adaptations of the plantar flexors. PloS one, 17(9), e0273451. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273451
2. Speirs, Derrick E.1,2; Bennett, Mark A.3; Finn, Charlotte V.4; Turner, Anthony P.2. Unilateral vs. Bilateral Squat Training for Strength, Sprints, and Agility in Academy Rugby Players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: February 2016 – Volume 30 – Issue 2 – p 386-392 doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001096
3. Vleeming, A., Pool-Goudzwaard, A. L., Stoeckart, R., van Wingerden, J. P., & Snijders, C. J. (1995). The posterior layer of the thoracolumbar fascia. Its function in load transfer from spine to legs. Spine, 20(7), 753–758.
4. Maeo, S., Huang, M., Wu, Y., Sakurai, H., Kusagawa, Y., Sugiyama, T., Kanehisa, H., & Isaka, T. (2021). Greater Hamstrings Muscle Hypertrophy but Similar Damage Protection after Training at Long versus Short Muscle Lengths. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 53(4), 825–837. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000002523
5. Escamilla, R. F., Fleisig, G. S., Zheng, N., Lander, J. E., Barrentine, S. W., Andrews, J. R., Bergemann, B. W., & Moorman, C. T., third (2001). Effects of technique variations on knee biomechanics in the course of the squat and leg press. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 33(9), 1552–1566. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005768-200109000-00020
6. Lake, Jason P.; Lauder, Mike A.. Kettlebell Swing Training Improves Maximal and Explosive Strength. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: August 2012 – Volume 26 – Issue 8 – p 2228-2233 doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31825c2c9b
7. van Dyk, N., Behan, F. P., & Whiteley, R. (2019). Including the Nordic hamstring exercise in injury prevention programmes halves the speed of hamstring injuries: a scientific review and meta-analysis of 8459 athletes. British journal of sports medicine, 53(21), 1362–1370. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2018-100045
8. Hody, S., Croisier, J. L., Bury, T., Rogister, B., & Leprince, P. (2019). Eccentric Muscle Contractions: Risks and Advantages. Frontiers in physiology, 10, 536. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.00536

Featured Image: baranq / Shutterstock