What are your favorite hamstring exercises

Gunsmith · Jun 22, 2020

Out of all the various different hamstring exercises there are what do you personally feel has helped enhance the growth of your hams.

Give an example of what your training would be.

Personally I’ve been hitting hams and glute on separate day than quads and it’s definitely helped I think.

USMuscle9403 · Jun 22, 2020

My hamstrings are finally starting to 'hang' and I think the biggest improvement may have come from just going nuts on all manner of leg curls. Outside of that, heel presses on the leg press, stiff leg deads and hypers with an emphasis on glutes and hams.

I think hams are a part that really responds best to tension and stretch. Any leg curl is typically one leg at a time, higher rep range. A rest pause set, slow controlled negative, then partials, forced reps and statics. I'm sitting there on the leg curl machine using fitness chick weight and look like I'm about to cry.

I think hams really need an intense work load to grow, that's why most have shitty hams. Plus working hams properly is just plain painful. I love it, now one of my favorite body parts to train, but I'm a fuckin weirdo.

cmryan · Jun 22, 2020

We had a thread a couple months ago on the subject of hammies and flutes. Lots of good feedback.

Glutes and Hamstrings, Favorite Exercises?

Glutes, in particular. Unfortunately, my gym is rather ill equipped with genuinely good leg equipment, so I have to get creative at times. As someone who used to squat ATG and heavy as shit all the time, I was still spinning my wheels with lower body development. Squats just don't work that...

www.professionalmuscle.com

johnjuanb1 · Jun 22, 2020

1. Lying leg curls
2. Seated leg curls
3. Standing one legged leg curls

BoredStiff · Jun 22, 2020

Romanian deadlifts on a smith machine. You can REALLY push your hips back without any worry of pushing too far back and losing balance, especially once you're fatigued.... they destroy the free weight version, at least for me.

I also used to do Glute-Ham Raises using a bosu ball, with my feet hooked under anything a few inches off the floor, I used the bottom beam of a squat rack. Those were brutal. I have no clue why I stopped doing them.

Cracker69 · Jun 22, 2020

Gunsmith said:
Out of all the various different hamstring exercises there are what do you personally feel has helped enhance the growth of your hams.

Give an example of what your training would be.

Personally I’ve been hitting hams and glute on separate day than quads and it’s definitely helped I think.

Yeah, I've found i just need more volume for legs and the best way to do that is to split them up, I do hams and calves on one day, and quads/glutes the next. I like leg curls and strict hyperextensions with the pad pretty low to put more stress on the hams and either do high reps and good stretch, or heavier and really squeeze the glutes at the top.

method2madness · Jun 22, 2020

Stiff leg deads with dumbbells, seated ham curls. Sets reps and weights will vary in my routine but I superset them for two weeks and then do them in sequence for two weeks. When I stop seeing results in size and strength I throw in random other shit for month. THis has worked well for me in the past and will work well once the gyms by me open up again.

Cracker69 · Jun 22, 2020

BoredStiff said:
Romanian deadlifts on a smith machine. You can REALLY push your hips back without any worry of pushing too far back and losing balance, especially once you're fatigued.... they destroy the free weight version, at least for me.

I also used to do Glute-Ham Raises using a bosu ball, with my feet hooked under anything a few inches off the floor, I used the bottom beam of a squat rack. Those were brutal. I have no clue why I stopped doing them.

I love Romanian Deads on the Smith Machine as well. I also add a shrug at the top.

Backfrominjury · Jun 22, 2020

1. Lying leg curls
2. Standing leg curls (1 leg at a time)
3. Seated leg curls

I never seem to get much out of stiff legged deadlifts, but I do like the dbell version over the barbell. I also like training them on a separate day than quads.

FrancisK · Jun 23, 2020

Nothing gets my hams like lunges, not even any kind of deadlifts. Am I an odd duck?

Quack?

danieltx · Jun 23, 2020

My favorites, and literally the only exercises I do for my hamstrings:

Standing single leg curl x 8
- Being 6' with long legs, it's hard for me to find standing single leg curl machines that him my hamstrings well - currently enjoying the Hammer Strength plate loaded variation
High angle leg press, single or both legs x 4
- More effective than SLDLs for me
- Can get just as good of stretch and better squeeze at the top, plus you can hit glutes if you go deep enough

I switched up my hamstring training a bit this year and they've noticeably improved.

I used to hit 2 leg curl variations, a leg press, and a SLDL in every workout. I dropped SLDLs completely and decided to just do the leg curl I found most effective at the time and my hamstrings look the best they ever have. The fatigue and spinal loading with SLDLs isn't worth it for me.

m314 · Jun 23, 2020

I've always gotten the best results with Romanian deadlifts. I used to lift heavy, but I've had to avoid this since a lower back injury a few years ago. These days I get good results with light weight / high rep / high volume workouts. A typical routine would be 10 sets at 135 pounds, one set every 3 minutes, starting with 20 reps and attempting to do 20 with each set. It's hard to get to 20 reps after set 7 or 8.

Elvia1023 · Jun 23, 2020

USMuscle9403 said:
My hamstrings are finally starting to 'hang' and I think the biggest improvement may have come from just going nuts on all manner of leg curls. Outside of that, heel presses on the leg press, stiff leg deads and hypers with an emphasis on glutes and hams.

I think hams are a part that really responds best to tension and stretch. Any leg curl is typically one leg at a time, higher rep range. A rest pause set, slow controlled negative, then partials, forced reps and statics. I'm sitting there on the leg curl machine using fitness chick weight and look like I'm about to cry.

I think hams really need an intense work load to grow, that's why most have shitty hams. Plus working hams properly is just plain painful. I love it, now one of my favorite body parts to train, but I'm a fuckin weirdo.

Pretty much this for me as well.

I like all but prefer a seated leg curl variation as long as I can get a good fit in the machine (not common due to my height). Some feel awful and others feel amazing. Then it's just about torturing yourself in that machine consistently over time. I love to work unilaterally so in a seated machine I will keep the opposite leg held up as I do my reps. On the final set after I fail I will perform negative reps so I use both to get the weight up and the negative is with one leg only. For sdl's the key word is stretch and you don't need to go crazy heavy to get a great set in. I am also a fan of the smith machine when it comes to Romanian deadlifts. Obviously all movements work it's just a matter of what feels best for you. Last but not least a wider stance and super deep leg press with my fav being a vertical leg press variation.

prodaf · Jun 23, 2020

Lying leg curls with slow rep

Delt123 · Jun 23, 2020

Found that my hamstrings respond much better to curls than hip hinge movement.

Also, try dumbell lying legcurls on the floor. Crazy tension ime.

GetYucked · Jun 23, 2020

Any leg curl, really high reps. Then straight into a sldl for the stress. Keep the weight low, and stand on a band, got the idea from Mountain Dog, it’s a killer

I try to force as much blood into the area as I can before I stretch the muscle.

scooped · Jun 23, 2020

21's on a variety of machines but I like the lying leg curl for this one. 7 Half way up. 7 Half way down. 7 Full ones. 3-4 sets of these and my hams are screaming.