Unlock Stronger Hamstrings: Effective Curls for All Levels

Hamstring curls build your hammies like bicep curls build your guns.

Posterior chain muscles, like the hamstrings, calves, and upper and lower back, are more challenging to develop than mirror muscles like the chest, biceps, and shoulders, as you cannot look at them directly while training them.

The benefits of hamstring training extend beyond physique aesthetics. An in-depth review published in Sports Medicine emphasizes that hamstring strength training can prevent hamstring strain injuries. (1)

As a personal trainer with over seven years in the trenches, I have noticed that people who train at home find it even more challenging to develop their hamstrings because they are limited to exercises like air squats, which primarily target the quads and glutes.

In this article, I will take you over the best hamstring exercises you can do at home to build strength and muscle mass. We’ll also cover two of the most popular hamstring exercises you can do in the gym.

Hamstring Curls at Home

Hamstring curls involve flexing the knee against resistance to bring the heel toward the glutes. There are multiple ways to do this, but in this article, we will cover the most effective hamstring exercises you can do at home.

Without further ado, here are the movements you must add to your workouts:

Standing Resistance Band Hamstring Curls

While you can do the six exercises mentioned in this section using only your body weight and focusing on isometric contractions at the top of the range of motion (ROM), using a resistance band can maximize hamstring stimulation.

Steps:

1. Stand upright with a hip-width stance in front of a chair and hold onto its top for stability.
2. Place one end of a resistance band under your right foot and wrap the other end around the left ankle.
3. Lift your left foot behind the midline so the band is taut. This will be your starting position.
4. Keep your hips and upper legs pinned, and flex your left knee until your lower leg is at 90 degrees.
5. Pause and contract the hamstring in the fully shortened position.
6. Slowly lower to the starting position.
7. Repeat for recommended reps before switching sides.

Seated Resistance Band Hamstring Curls

A comparative study published in 2021 showed that hamstring curls performed with the knee fully extended (seated leg curl) may promote more muscle growth than those with a slightly bent knee start (prone leg curl). (2)

Steps:

1. Tie one end of a resistance band to a sturdy object, such as a power rack, 4-5 inches above the floor.
2. Set a chair in front of the rack and sit on it facing toward the anchor point.
3. Wrap the other end of the band around your ankles.
4. Your knees should be fully extended at the starting position, and there should be tension on the resistance band.
5. While keeping the torso upright, flex your knees and curl your heels toward your hips.
6. Pause and squeeze the hamstrings at the top of the ROM.

Lying Banded Hamstring Curls

Prone curls are among the most popular hamstring exercises. This is how you can replicate the movement at home using a resistance band.

Steps:

1. Wrap one end of a resistance band around a sturdy object at shin level.
2. Tie the other end around your ankles and lie prone on the floor with your legs toward the anchor point.
3. In the starting position, your toes should be a few inches off the floor, and there should be tension on the band.
4. While keeping your thighs and knees in contact with the floor, flex your knees and bring your heels as close to your butt as possible.
5. Slowly return to the start position.

Eliminating Calf Recruitment While Performing Hamstring Curls

Using momentum by exploding from the bottom of the ROM can lead to significant calf engagement. According to evidence-based bodybuilding content creator Sean Nalewanyj, this is how you can eliminate that:

“The gastrocnemius muscle is in the strongest position to move the weight during the first 15 degrees or so of the leg curl. To isolate the hamstring, either cut out that first 15 degrees of the movement and start with your knees slightly bent. Or, you can start with your knees fully extended but begin the movement under more strict control.” — Sean Nalewanyj

Stability Ball Hamstring Curls

Besides the hamstrings, stability ball hamstring curls also activate the glutes. This exercise is especially great for people dealing with gluteal amnesia, also known as dead butt syndrome. Folks with this condition are unable to activate the glutes, causing a lack of muscle tone and strength in the buttocks.

Steps:

1. Lie supine on the floor and place a stability ball under your lower legs.
2. Position your arms at your sides with your palms down for added stability.
3. Drive your heels into the ball and raise your hips toward the ceiling as high as possible.
4. While keeping your glutes in this position, flex your knees and bring your heels as close to your bum as possible.
5. Pause at the top of the ROM.
6. Slowly return to the starting position to ensure optimal control.

Nordic Curls

Nordic curls are the king of hamstring curls. This exercise might look easy, but it will have you begging for mercy as soon as you perform the first rep. You will need a Nordic curl strap or something that you can anchor your feet under for this exercise.

Steps:

1. Anchor a Nordic curl strap to a door.
2. Kneel on the floor and position your ankles under the footrests while facing away from the door.
3. While keeping your body in a straight line from head to knees, extend your knees until your chest is a few inches off the floor.
4. Break the fall with your hands.
5. Fight the gravitational pull on eccentrics by contracting your hamstrings.
6. Flex your knees and squeeze your hammies to return to the starting position.

Slider Hamstring Curls

This is the most accessible hamstring curl variation you can do at home. If you don’t have access to sliders, you can use a towel for this exercise.

Steps:

1. Lie supine on the floor with your arms at your sides and a slider under each heel.
2. Drive your heels into the sliders and lift your hips off the floor. This will be the starting position.
3. Flex your knees and try to touch your calves to your hamstrings. Drive your hips as high toward the ceiling as possible.
4. Pause in the fully shortened position.
5. Extend your knees to return to the starting position.

Other Hamstring Curl Variations

Gym-goers would agree that the following two are the most popular hamstring exercises:

Seated Leg Curl

In my experience, seated leg curls are a much better exercise than lying leg curls, as they limit the momentum you can generate by swinging your torso.

Steps:

1. Sit on the hamstring curl machine and secure your upper legs under the thigh pad.
2. Hold onto the handles with both hands.
3. Your legs should be straight at the starting position.
4. Flex your knees until your lower legs are at 90 degrees.
5. Squeeze the hamstrings as hard as possible.

Lying Leg Curl

Although this exercise is a staple in most training routines, most people leave gains on the table because of poor form. Here is how to perform it correctly.

Steps:

1. Lie supine on the leg curl machine and grab the handles.
2. Set the foot pads at a comfortable height. Remember, setting it too low and using momentum in the initial phase will lead to greater gastroc recruitment.
3. Drive your hips and quads into the pads and flex your knees to bring the foot pad to your hips.
4. Contract at the top of the ROM.

Hamstring Curls at Home Workout

People who train at home can use the following workout to bring up their lagging hamstrings:

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Banded Seated Leg Curl	3-5	8-12
Banded Good Morning	3-5	8-12
Lying Banded Hamstring Curl	3-5	8-12
Banded Romanian Deadlifts	3-5	8-12
Nordic Curls	3-5	8-12

Programming Hamstring Curls

Need more help designing your hamstring workout? Here is everything you need to know:

Experience Level

You must tweak your training sessions to match your experience level. This is how:

• Beginner: Opt for bodyweight exercises like standing and lying hamstring curls. Focus on isometric contractions and drill the movement. Follow this for at least two weeks.
• Intermediate: Use a resistance band for added tension. Employ slower eccentrics to increase the time under tension and promote hypertrophy. I recommend at least 3 seconds on the lowering phase for maximum hamstring fiber stimulation.
• Advanced: You will eventually outgrow the resistance band. At this point, you should graduate to free weight and machine exercises. You should also reserve the Nordic curls for this stage.

Frequency

Hamstrings are a relatively bigger muscle group and need some time to recover from high-volume workouts. Beginners and advanced lifters alike should limit hamstring training to two sessions per week.

Sets, Reps, and Loads

You must tweak your sets and reps to achieve the desired results. Here are the most effective sets, reps, and load schemes for different goals, according to science: (3)

• Strength: 3-5 sets of 1-5 repetitions per set with 80-100% of one-rep max (1RM)
• Hypertrophy: 3-5 sets of 8-12 repetitions per set with 60-80% of 1RM
• Endurance: 3 sets of 15+ repetitions per set with loads below 60% of 1RM

Progression in Hamstring Curls

Here are a few ways to make the hamstring curls more challenging:

• Slower Rep Cadence: Using a slower rep speed increases the TUT, which makes the exercise more challenging and promotes hypertrophy. This should be your first progression tactic as you gain more experience.
• Increase Resistance: Gradually increase the weight to keep challenging your muscles and avoid muscle and strength plateaus.
• Single-Leg Variations: Perform the exercises on one leg at a time to improve the mind-muscle connection and target muscle engagement.

Conclusion

Hamstrings are the often-neglected muscles at the back of your thighs. Hamstring curls are arguably the best way to target them directly. Stronger knees can translate to stable knees, ankles, and hips.

Adding the eight exercises explained in this article to your arsenal will help improve your overall functionality and reduce the risk of injury.

If you have any questions about training the hamstrings, drop them in the comments below, and I’ll be happy to help!

References

1. Bourne, M. N., Timmins, R. G., Opar, D. A., Pizzari, T., Ruddy, J. D., Sims, C., Williams, M. D., & Shield, A. J. (2018). An Evidence-Based Framework for Strengthening Exercises to Prevent Hamstring Injury. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 48(2), 251–267.
2. 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.
3. Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Van Every DW, Plotkin DL. Loading Recommendations for Muscle Strength, Hypertrophy, and Local Endurance: A Re-Examination of the Repetition Continuum. Sports (Basel). 2021;9(2):32. Published 2021 Feb 22. doi:10.3390/sports9020032

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