The Ultimate Hamstring Workout With Barbell — Build Bigger and Stronger Legs

Hamstrings are a large muscle group, and yet, they don’t get the same love as the quads, glutes, or upper body muscles like the chest, biceps, shoulders, and triceps. Most lifters limit their hamstring training to one or two exercises a week, and that too is usually on the seated or lying leg curl machine.

Although machine exercises are great for building your hammies, you are leaving gains on the table by excluding compound (multi-joint) lifts from your workouts. Besides building overall strength and muscle mass, a hamstring workout with barbell can boost your functionality and help build a solid foundation, which can improve your balance and stability.

The hamstrings are located at the back of the upper thighs and play a crucial role in walking, running, and jumping. Since the hammies cross over the hip and knee joints, their primary function involves hip extension and knee flexion.

Strong and flexible hamstrings are even more important for athletes, strength sports athletes like weightlifters, strongmen, bodybuilders, and folks over 50.

Weak and tight (often used interchangeably) hams can lead to hamstrings pops and tears. It usually occurs when people with weak hamstrings engage in physically intensive activities like sprinting or weight training.

While the leg curl machines will help you add muscle size and conditioning, athletes or physically active people should add barbell hamstring exercises into their training regimen to build stronger and more functional hammies.

In this article, we share the best hamstring workout with barbell to build bigger, more powerful, and defined hammies. We’ll also reveal the hamstring anatomy, the benefits of adding barbell exercises to your training regimen, and how to properly warm up the back of your thighs to minimize the risk of injury.

7 Best Barbell Hamstring Exercises

Before we get into the best barbell hamstring workout, let’s look at the exercises that should be a part of your training regimen. Notably, you don’t have to do anything fancy to build up your hammies. Sticking to functional movements and drilling your form will work magic.

Furthermore, most glute exercises target your hamstrings. You can put more emphasis on your hammies by tweaking your form slightly. Here are the seven barbell hamstring exercises you should try in your next workout:

• Deadlift
• Romanian Deadlift
• Stiff-Leg Deadlift
• Single-Leg Deadlift
• Good Morning
• Barbell GHD
• Barbell Hip Thrust

Deadlift

Although the deadlift is primarily a back exercise, it isn’t uncommon to feel soreness in the hamstrings after a rigorous deadlift session. You could increase your hamstring engagement in hip hinge movements by slowing down the lift’s eccentric (lowering) part. Plus, pause and contract your glutes and hamstrings at the top of each rep to get the best bang for your buck. 

Steps:

1. Stand erect with a hip-width stance with a barbell over your midfoot.
2. Slightly bend your knees, push your hips back, and lower your torso toward the floor.
3. Grab the bar with a shoulder-wide overhead or mixed grip.
4. Driving through your midfoot, lift the bar off the floor, keeping it as close to your body as possible.
5. Lockout at the top.
6. Pause and contract your glutes and hamstrings.
7. Slowly return to the starting position.
8. Repeat for recommended reps.

Check out our complete deadlift guide here!

Romanian Deadlift

Hip hinge movements are great for engaging your hamstrings, so expect many of these exercises on this list. In the Romanian deadlift, you push your hips back to lower the bar toward the floor, helping engage your hamstrings.

Unlike the conventional deadlift, you don’t return the bar to the floor with each rep in the RDL. It helps keep constant tension in your muscles. Advanced lifters can perform this exercise with their toes elevated to better focus on their hams. 

Steps:

1. Place your midfoot and toes on an elevated platform like a weight plate or a squat wedge.
2. Take a hip-width stance. Lower your torso to the floor by hinging at your hips and pushing them back.
3. Grab the bar with a shoulder-wide overhand or mixed hip.
4. Lift the bar off the floor while driving through the balls of your feet and extending your hips.
5. Keep the bar as close to your body as possible.
6. Lockout at the top.
7. Lower the bar until it is slightly below knee level.
8. Reverse the movement.

Check out our complete Romanian deadlift guide here!

Stiff-Leg Deadlift

This deadlift variation is a combination of conventional and Romanian deadlifts. In this exercise, keep your knees as straight as possible but return the barbell to the floor with each rep. Focus on lifting the bar with your hamstrings, glutes, and lower back.

Steps:

1. Stand tall with a hip-width stance.
2. Keeping your legs extended, bend over by hinging at your hips and grab the bar with a shoulder-wide overhand or mixed grip.
3. Drive through your whole foot to lift the bar off the floor.
4. Lockout at the top.
5. Slowly return the bar to the floor without bending your knees.
6. Repeat for recommended reps.

Check out our complete stiff-leg deadlift guide here!

Single-Leg Deadlift

This exercise is an advanced deadlift variation that demands decent balance and core strength. The single-leg deadlift is a unilateral exercise that can help fix muscle and strength imbalances.

Steps:

1. Stand upright with a hip-width stance.
2. Bend over and grab the bar with a shoulder-wide overhand grip.
3. While keeping your right foot planted, lift your left foot off the floor and extend your leg behind you.
4. Driving through your whole foot, lift the bar off the floor.
5. Lockout at the top.
6. Find your balance.
7. Slowly return the bar to the floor. Your left foot should not touch the floor throughout this set.
8. Repeat for recommended reps on your right leg before switching sides.

Check out our complete single-leg deadlift guide here!

Good Morning

The good morning requires you to hold a barbell on your shoulders and bend forward to engage your hammies. Maintain the natural arch of your spine to avoid unnecessary lower back strain while performing this exercise.

Steps:

1. Stand erect with a hip-width stance and a barbell placed across your shoulders.
2. While maintaining your natural spine arc, lower your torso to the floor by pushing your hips back.
3. Your upper body should be parallel to the floor at the bottom of the movement.
4. Return to the starting position.

Check out our complete good morning guide here!

Barbell GHD

This exercise is called the glute ham developer (GHD) for a reason. It will fire up your lower body and help develop the coveted piano string hamstrings.

Steps:

1. Get onto the GHD machine.
2. Place your feet between the ankles pads and the top of your thighs on the hip pads.
3. Hold a barbell on your shoulders.
4. Use your hamstrings to lift your torso so that it is perpendicular to the floor.
5. Slowly lower your torso while contracting your hammies.
6. At the bottom, your body, from head to heels, should be in a straight line.
7. Repeat for reps.

Check out our complete good morning guide here!

Barbell Hip Thrust

The barbell hip thrust is an incredibly effective booty builder. You can, however, achieve greater hamstring activation by tweaking your form slightly. 

Steps:

1. Sit on the floor with your back against a sturdy elevated platform like a flat bench.
2. Roll up a barbell to your hip crease.
3. Place your feet wider than shoulder-width apart.
4. Lift the bar off the floor by driving through your hamstrings.
5. Your head, shoulders, hips, and knees should be in a straight line at the top.
6. Slowly lower to the starting position.
7. Repeat for recommended reps.

Check out our complete barbell hip thrust guide here!

Best Hamstring Workout With Barbell

Add the following two hamstring workouts to your training regimen for building piano strings hammies:

Barbell-Only Hamstrings Workout

Folks with lagging hamstrings should dedicate an entire workout to their hamstrings. It will help bring them up and build a balanced lower body, adding to your overall physique aesthetics. 

Exercises	Sets	Reps
Deadlift	3-5	8-12
Good Morning	3-5	8-12
Barbell Hip Thrust	3-5	8-12
Barbell GHD	3-5	8-12
Romanian Deadlift	3-5	8-12

Stay in the 8-12 rep range for inducing hypertrophy. On the other hand, lifters trying to build strength should do 1-5 reps per set. Furthermore, beginners should stick to doing three sets per exercise, whereas advanced lifters can go up to five sets. [1]

Barbell and Machine Hamstring Workout

Although you could build blockbuster hamstrings with only a barbell, most lifters will do better by incorporating a variety of equipment into their training regimen. Given below is a hamstring workout that uses barbells and machines. 

Exercises	Sets	Reps
Romanian Deadlift	3-5	8-12
Lying Leg Curl	3-5	8-12
Good Morning	3-5	8-12
Standing Machine Leg Curl	3-5	8-12
Barbell GHD	3-5	8-12
Cable Pull-Through	3-5	8-12

How To Warm Up Your Hamstrings Before a Barbell Workout

Beginning heavy compound exercises as soon as you enter the gym is a big mistake. Your hamstrings are highly susceptible to injury, and training your hams without warming them up can significantly increase your risk of injury. 

You should spend at least 5-10 minutes warming up before a workout. Your warm-up routine should be a balance of dynamic and isometric exercises. It will get the blood flowing to the target muscles and allow you to get the most out of your exercises by improving your range of motion. 

Here are some hamstring stretches to do before a workout:

• Knight to Hamstring Stretch: 60 seconds
• Standing Toe Touch: 60 seconds
• Resistance Band Romanian Deadlift: 60 seconds
• Back Extension Machine: 60 seconds
• Lying Resistance Band Hamstring Stretch: 60 seconds (each leg)

Hamstrings Anatomy

The back of your thighs plays a crucial role in the movement and stability of the lower body by facilitating hip extension and knee flexion. The hamstrings are a group of three muscles located between the hip and the knee. The three muscles include:

1. Biceps femoris: The biceps femoris has two heads — long and short. The long head originates at the ischial tuberosity, whereas the short head originates at the femur. Both heads insert at the fibular head.
2. Semitendinosus: It originates at the ischial tuberosity and inserts at the medial surface of the upper tibia.
3. Semimembranosus: It originates at the ischial tuberosity and inserts at the posterior aspect of the medial condyle of the tibia.

Benefits of Hamstring Workout With Barbell

Given below are the advantages of adding the barbell hamstrings exercises to your training routine:

Boost Functionality and Athletic Performance

Machine hamstring exercises are excellent for building muscle and conditioning. They, however, do little to nothing to improve your functionality. On the other hand, compound exercises like the deadlift and good morning incorporate multiple muscle groups, helping improve your muscle mass, strength, balance, and core stability. It translates to better performance in sports involving running, walking, and jumping and your daily activities. 

Build Lower Body Strength and Muscle Mass

Barbell exercises help build a strong foundation. You could switch your training intensity and volume depending on your goals. The strength and muscle built through lower body barbell exercises carry over to other exercises and improve your overall physical performance. 

Promotes a Better Posture

Training your hamstrings will improve your standing and sitting posture because of knee and spinal stability and alignment. It also improves your hip mobility. Besides a better posture, strong hamstrings can also help alleviate lower back pain. 

Reduce Risk of Injury

The hamstrings are one of the most prone to injury. Lagging hammies increases your odds of injury while training or engaging in high-intensity physical activities. Performing the hamstring barbell workout listed in this article can help boost your lower body strength, improve your mobility and functionality, and enhance your stability, which can all contribute to lowering your risk of a hamstring injury. 

Wrapping Up

A pair of piano string hamstrings sets the pros apart from the rookies. Follow the workouts listed in this article once weekly to bring up your hamstring game. However, you must dedicate at least one workout to your quadriceps and calves to ensure overall lower body development. You don’t want to go from weak hammies to lagging quads. 

Ensure you begin each barbell hamstring workout with a 5-10 minute warm-up routine. Brownie points for folks that spend another 5-10 minutes on a cooldown. And remember, correct form triumphs lifting heavy. Best of luck!

References

1. 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 Feb 22;9(2):32. doi: 10.3390/sports9020032. PMID: 33671664; PMCID: PMC7927075.

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