Lying Hamstring Curls: How To, Benefits, Alternatives from Experts

It’s in your finest curiosity to maintain your leg muscle tissues in proportion. To try this, you must present your hammies some particular TLC, and hamstring isolation workout routines are the best way to go. Arguably, there’s no higher solution to goal these muscle tissues than the mendacity hamstring curl.

We all know it’s a bit old style, however belief us: it really works. This is how mendacity leg curls can degree up your lagging hamstrings (and your general health).

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Methods to do a mendacity hamstring curl with good kind each time

1. Load the machine with a weight that is going to be difficult however doable for 8 to 10 reps.
2. Lie face down on the machine together with your legs stretched out absolutely. Place the curler pad a couple of inches above your heels in your decrease calves. Maintain the handgrips on all sides of the machine for assist.
3. Exhale and bend your knees, pulling your toes as near your butt as you’ll be able to. Maintain your hips sq. and glued to the bench.
4. Maintain on the prime of the motion, squeezing your hamstrings briefly, then inhale as you slowly decrease your toes to the beginning place.

Mendacity hamstring curls: muscle tissues labored

Because the title implies, the mendacity hamstring curl primarily strengthens the hamstrings, the group of muscle tissues that run alongside again of your thigh out of your hip to your knee, says Julianne Lane, PT, DPT, CSCS, a bodily therapist at Bespoke Therapies in San Diego.

However additionally they work different huge muscle teams within the posterior chain, says Brooke Van Paris, CPT, a private coach at Life Time Boca Raton. These embody the:

• Gastrocnemius and soleus (aka your calves): when contracting (or lifting up the burden)
• Gluteus maximus (aka your butt): when decreasing the burden

Who ought to (and shouldn’t) do mendacity hamstring curls

Mendacity hamstring curls are for you if you happen to’re seeking to enhance:

• Muscular steadiness
• Velocity
• Steadiness
• Motion patterns
• Vary of movement
• Harm prevention
• High quality of life

In different phrases, nearly anybody—from energy athletes to physique builders and weekend warriors—may benefit from repping out mendacity leg curls, Dr. Lane and Van Paris agree.

That stated, mendacity hamstring curls may be tough (or perhaps a tad troublesome) for sure folks, in accordance with Dr. Lane and Van Paris. Avoid the curl machine if you happen to fall into any of those teams:

• Individuals with ache, damage, or a latest surgical procedure within the knees, hips, again, or neck
• Pregnant folks

Nonetheless unsure whether or not it’s protected so that you can crank out mendacity leg curls? Seek the advice of an expert. “Speaking together with your physician earlier than beginning a weight coaching program is finest,” Dr. Lane says. Likewise, “if you happen to work with a bodily therapist or coach, test with them for steerage on utilizing the mendacity hamstring curl machine.”

5 advantages of mendacity hamstring curls

If mendacity leg curls aren’t already a part of your weekly exercise routine, listed here are 5 stable causes to place them into rotation.

1. Stronger, extra versatile hamstrings

This one’s fairly apparent given the title of the train. Nonetheless, it bears mentioning as a result of, truthfully, you’ll be able to’t overstate the significance of wholesome hamstrings. You want them to stroll, climb stairs, do squats, and execute numerous different actions.

Mendacity hamstring curls put your hamstrings below fixed load, concentrating on these muscle tissues in two methods. First, “the concentric contraction (pull) helps promote muscle hypertrophy,” that means it makes the muscle larger, Dr. Lane says. Secondly, “the eccentric contraction (stretch) helps promote tissue lengthening,” she says. In different phrases, it builds lengthy, limber, versatile muscle tissues.

Van Paris agrees: The mendacity hamstring curl is a good way to elongate and stretch the hamstrings, because it takes the muscle tissues via their full vary of movement. By bettering flexibility, you additionally allow your hammies to activate via their complete vary, she says.

That’s an enormous bonus: Most individuals wrestle with “chronically shortened” hamstrings because of “prolonged sitting and lack of motion in our day-to-day lives,” Van Paris says. And when your hamstring muscle tissues keep in a tightened, quick place, it may possibly result in muscular imbalances, weaknesses, and, down the road, damage.

2. Enhanced sports activities efficiency

Need extra velocity and agility on the sector or the court docket? Begin cranking out mendacity hamstring curls.

“The hamstring muscle tissues are essential for explosive energy,” Dr. Lane says. That’s as a result of they “assist with sprinting acceleration, leaping, change of path, and deceleration,” she says. Just about all of the issues you must up your recreation whether or not you run, cycle, play tennis, soccer, pickleball, or another sport.

Hamstring energy can be essential to maintain you sidelined from a sports activities damage. “Having robust and versatile hamstrings helps to forestall damage by slowing the leg in its eccentric motion part of strolling and working,” Van Paris says. Primarily, this “prepares the joints for contact with the bottom,” she says. So at any time when you must pivot on a dime or cease quick, you are able to do it with out stressing out your joints or muscle tissues.

3. Higher steadiness

Info: If you wish to keep regular in your toes, you want robust, wholesome hamstrings.

Steadiness might not be tremendous attractive, nevertheless it is tremendous necessary, especially as you get older and falls develop into extra doubtless (yearly, one in 4 older people will take a tumble, and one-fifth of those falls will trigger a severe damage, similar to damaged bones or a head trauma, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

So what’s the hyperlink between steadiness and hammies? “Hamstring energy aids in stabilizing the lower-body joints and improves response to fast modifications within the atmosphere,” Van Paris says.

Particularly, “the hamstrings assist to enhance steadiness by working synergistically with the quadricep muscle tissues,” Dr. Lane says. By constructing your hammies with mendacity leg curls, you’ll be able to “create extra limb symmetry and stability” and “complement standard quad-dominant workout routines similar to leg presses and squats,” she says.

4. Improved posture

Should you sit at a desk all day, odds are your posture needs a little love (no judgment, we’re in the identical boat). Sitting for prolonged intervals (particularly if slouched or slumped) tends to place pressure in your neck and again. Plus, it shortens your hip flexors. All of that is unhealthy information for posture (to not contributes point out aches and pains).

Having wholesome hamstrings may also help offset a few of these postural issues. Hamstring energy “aids in bettering posture by rising the alignment of the pelvis and backbone,” Van Paris says.

For higher posture (and fewer ache), it’s additionally a smart thought to face, stretch, and take a fast stroll each half hour—your physique will thanks.

5. Fewer knee and hip accidents

As we talked about, robust, limber hammies may also help forestall you from getting harm. Along with the quadriceps, the hamstrings work to “assist considerably stabilize the hip and knee joints,” Van Paris says.

By defending your joints on this means, you “scale back the chance of soppy tissue damage whereas accelerating, working, and decelerating at increased speeds,” Dr. Lane says. “Particularly, the lateral hamstring, [the] biceps femoris, helps to cut back the chance of ACL accidents, knee shearing forces, and twisting,” Van Paris provides.

Outdated knee and hip ache and accidents can crop up as we grow old, so that you would possibly need to begin strengthening these hamstrings now by doing mendacity leg curls to nip future points within the bud. As they are saying, an oz of prevention is value a pound of treatment.

3 widespread errors when doing mendacity hamstring curls

Mendacity leg curls may also help you construct lengthy, robust hamstrings, however provided that you carry out them with correct kind. Should you don’t do the train accurately, it received’t be as efficient. “With out good kind, you would be working a very totally different muscle group than supposed,” Van Paris says. Plus, you’ll be able to find yourself in ache (and even injured).

Keep away from these widespread errors whenever you use the mendacity hamstring curl machine.

1. Leg pad too excessive

When the machine’s ankle pad or curler is just too excessive in your calves, “it’s going to improve stress on the Achilles tendon and scale back your vary of movement,” Dr. Lane says. In different phrases, it’s going to really feel uncomfortable and received’t work your muscle tissues of their full vary. A double no-no.

So what’s the optimum place for the ankle pad? It must be “resting on the calf muscle tissues a couple of inches above the heels,” she says.

To make certain you’ve got the precise positioning, you’ll be able to all the time ask a health professional like a coach or bodily therapist at your gymnasium. They may also help regulate the pad if wanted.

2. Pointed toes

Should you educated in ballet or usually do barre classes, you most likely tend to level your toes. However this behavior received’t assist you to throughout mendacity leg curls. Whereas pointed toes aren’t a foul factor, per se, this toe place will work your calves greater than your hamstrings, Van Paris says. For the total hamstring impact, preserve your toes flexed, she says.

3. Incorrect weight selection

“One of the crucial widespread errors folks make is utilizing too heavy of a weight,” Dr. Lane says. “This may trigger the individual to compensate by lifting their hips and probably arching their again below load.” It would even result in decrease again ache.

“Should you can’t attain 8 reps with good, managed kind, then you’ve got gone means too heavy.”—Brooke Van Paris, CPT

So how heavy is too heavy? Van Paris recommends selecting a weight that you may elevate for 8 to 12 reps per set. “Should you can’t attain 8 reps with good, managed kind, then you’ve got gone means too heavy,” she says.

Then again, “if you happen to attain 12 to fifteen reps, and you are feeling prefer it was fairly simple, and you’ve got extra fuel nonetheless within the tank, you’ve got gone too mild with the burden,” Van Paris says.

Alternate options for mendacity hamstring curls

Whereas the mendacity hamstring curl is a really glorious hamstring train, it’s not advisable for sure peeps (like these with knee, hip, again, or neck issues and pregnant folks). Even if you happen to don’t fall into these teams, you may not love mendacity hamstring curls (hey, totally different strokes, proper) or possibly you merely don’t have entry to a machine. Fortunately, there are a lot different choices that focus on your hammies simply effective. Strive one in every of these alternate options.

1. Stability Ball Hamstring Curl

Balancing on a stability ball requires loads of hip and core stability. Translation: Each your hammies and abs can be on hearth.

1. Lie in your again on a mat, putting your heels about hip-width aside on the soundness ball and your toes pointing towards the ceiling.
2. Brace your core muscle tissues and prolong your arms out to your sides with palms turned to the ground to assist stabilize your physique.
3. Gently exhale and press your hips up off the ground, squeezing your glutes, till your legs and hips are in a straight line. On the identical time, press your heels into the ball for added stability.
4. Exhale as you slowly transfer your heels towards your hips and lift your hips farther off the ground, pulling the ball towards you.
5. Inhale and slowly reverse the motion, decreasing your self again towards your beginning place.

2. Romanian Deadlift

Not solely do RDLs hit your hamstrings, additionally they construct again, core, and grip energy.

1. Stand upright together with your toes shoulder-width aside and maintain a dumbbell in every hand at your sides.
2. Begin by bending your knees barely. Maintain your chest tall as you attain your hips again behind you. You need to really feel a stretch in your hamstrings. Maintain the dumbbells near your legs.
3. Attain your hips again so far as you’ll be able to with out rounding your low again or your shoulders.
4. Push via your toes and squeeze your glutes as return to the beginning place.

3. Kickstand Deadlift

On this place, also referred to as a single-leg deadlift, you’ll be able to isolate one leg at a time, which improves energy and steadiness.

1. Begin together with your toes collectively, holding a dumbbell in every hand in entrance of your thighs.
2. Step your proper foot a couple of inches again in order that your proper toes are according to your left heel however just some inches to the precise. You’ll use these toes for steadiness.
3. Retaining your left knee barely bent, hinge ahead, pushing your hips backward.
4. Proceed decreasing the dumbbells till your higher physique is nearly parallel to the ground.
5. Retaining your again flat, brace your core and push via your left foot to return to standing.
6. Do all of your reps on one leg, then repeat on the other facet.

4. Seated Hamstring Curl

Bought again points? The seated hamstring curl machine helps your lumbar backbone and core a lot better than mendacity leg curls, Dr. Lane says.

1. Sit within the leg curl machine together with your toes hip-width aside and the ankle pad resting in your decrease calves.
2. Brace your core and lock your shoulder blades again and down, then squeeze the again of your legs as you drive your heels down so far as attainable with out arching your decrease again.
3. Reverse the motion slowly, returning to the beginning place.

Regularly requested questions

Is the seated hamstring curl higher than mendacity?

“No possibility is healthier or worse than one other—each isolate the hamstrings and permit for knee flexion—however every have their advantages,” Van Paris says. It simply is dependent upon your objectives. For instance, in case your goal is to construct muscle, chances are you’ll choose seated leg curls.

“Analysis reveals that for muscle hypertrophy (muscle progress), the seated hamstring curl reigns king,” Van Paris says. Dr. Lane agrees, citing an April 2021 study¹ in Drugs & Science in Sports activities & Train: The researchers “in contrast 20 wholesome adults, who accomplished seated leg curls with one leg and mendacity leg curls with the opposite leg. The people carried out 5 units of 10 reps, twice every week for 12 weeks.” After the 12 weeks, they concluded that seated leg curls produced better will increase in muscle quantity.

OK, however why are seated curls superior for muscle progress? “The seated hamstring curl machine trains the hamstring in a [more] lengthened place,” Dr. Lane says. “This places the hamstring on stretch, which permits the muscle to contract via a bigger vary of movement.” The better the vary of movement, the better the muscle activation, recruitment, and progress.

Nonetheless, Van Paris factors to some drawbacks of sitting: “Within the seated place, the hip flexors are in that very same chronically shortened place that we see in day-to-day life.” Whereas with mendacity leg curls, “the muscle tissues and physique can transfer extra freely and naturally,” she says. Mendacity hamstring curls additionally supply extra trunk stability and assist, so that they’re a better option for folks with low again points, Dr. Lane provides.

Do mendacity hamstring curls hit the glutes?

Certain do. Whereas inclined leg curls primarily strengthen the hammies, additionally they put your butt muscle tissues to work. Particularly, your gluteus maximus kicks in throughout the eccentric part of the motion (whenever you decrease the burden), Van Paris says.

What is an efficient weight for the mendacity hamstring curl?

This “will fluctuate drastically relying in your athletic historical past, kind of sport you’re coaching for, and your physique composition,” Dr. Lane says. As an example, if you happen to’re a gymnasium beginner, you would possibly begin with a lighter load. But when you have already got baseline energy in your legs, you would possibly go heavier. Both means, discovering the precise weight could “take some trial and error,” she says.

Whereas everybody’s candy spot can be totally different, listed here are a couple of pointers that will help you calculate how a lot you must elevate on the mendacity leg curl machine, per Dr. Lane:

• To develop your muscle dimension (hypertrophy): You need to do 2 to three units of 8 to 12 repetitions at 60 to 80 p.c of your 1 repetition max (1RM), with the final 1 to 2 reps being near failure.
• If you’re an endurance athlete (working, biking, swimming, and so on.): You need to do 2 to three units of 12 to fifteen reps beneath 60 p.c of your 1RM, with the final 1 to 2 reps being near failure.

However how a lot you elevate is simply a part of the equation. “It doesn’t matter what the burden,” the secret is “preserving good kind your complete means via” the train, Van Paris says. “Should you can’t preserve good kind and mind-to-muscle connection,” you must drop a couple of plates, she says.

Right here’s a fast solution to assess whether or not you’re lifting the correct quantity, per Van Paris:

• Should you can’t attain 8 reps with managed kind, your weight is just too heavy.
• Should you attain 12 to 55 reps and suppose, “piece of cake,” your weight is just too mild.