When building a lower body worthy of shock and awe, the hamstrings often play second fiddle to the quads. Because who doesn’t like a good quad teardrop flex? However, performing hamstring exercises are crucial for athletic performance, injury prevention, and fundamental human movement. They are responsible for hip extension, knee flexion, and stabilizing the pelvis, making them essential to train for improved strength, sexiness, and performance.
Here, we’ll explore the top 10 hamstring exercises to improve strength, size, and performance. Whether you’re an athlete looking to enhance performance or a lifter aiming to build a strong lower body, these exercises will provide the variety and challenge your hamstrings need to grow stronger and sexier.
But before getting to the good stuff, here is how the list was chosen.
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Why These Hamstring Exercises are the Best
The primary focus is on the movements and functions of the hamstrings: hip extension and knee flexion. Yes, the glutes are involved, but because they are stronger than your hammies, they allow you to target the hamstrings harder and heavier.
To ensure enhanced muscle development, I prioritized exercises that:
- Focused On Hamstring Engagement: Each exercise targets the hamstrings, ensuring they are one of the primary muscles trained.
- Allow for Progressive Overload: Progressive overload is essential for muscle growth and strength gains. To challenge the hamstrings, you can easily adjust the exercises below with more weight, reps, or variations.
- Include Both Unilateral and Bilateral Exercises: Balanced hamstring development is crucial to avoid muscle imbalances, which can lead to injury. Incorporating both ensures improved strength and symmetry.
And it goes without saying (but I will anyway) that these exercises are great for hamstring strength and size. Now, let’s get to the good stuff.
10 Must Do Hamstring Exercises
We are bringing hamstrings back, and the quads don’t know how to act. Well, yes, they do, but I couldn’t resist the Timberlake reference. Anyway, let’s get to building a fantastic set of hamstrings.
Stiff-Legged Deadlift
While the Stiff-Legged Deadlift and the Romanian Deadlift (RDL) are excellent for the hamstrings, the Stiff-Legged Deadlift places even greater focus on the hamstrings by eliminating most knee flexion. And that’s how it beat the old favorite. This variation requires you to maintain straighter legs throughout, leading to a deeper stretch and increased tension on the hamstrings.
This makes it effective for isolating and strengthening the hamstrings, especially when hamstring muscle is the goal.
Suggested Rep Ranges: For strength, aim for 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 6 reps. For hypertrophy, 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 15 reps work well.
Nordic Hamstring Curl
The Nordic Hamstring Curl is an advanced bodyweight exercise emphasizing the hamstrings’ eccentric (lengthening) strength. This exercise enhances hamstring strength, making it a favorite among lifters looking to prevent injuries while improving their size and strength. The focus on eccentric loading helps strengthen the muscles and connective tissues, reducing the risk of the dreaded hamstring strain.
Suggested Rep Ranges: Start with 3 to 4 sets of 4-6 reps, as this exercise can create a bit of soreness.
Glute-Ham Raise (GHR)
The Glute-Ham Raise requires specialized equipment; if your gym has it, your hamstrings will be thankful for it. GHR is excellent for building both hamstring strength and size. It also enhances lower back stability, making it a superb exercise for the entire posterior chain. This exercise engages the hamstrings through a full range of motion, targeting the muscle’s concentric and eccentric contractions. What does that all mean? It means gains.
Suggested Rep Ranges: Perform 3 to 4 sets of 6-12 reps, focusing on control to maximize muscle tension.
Landmine Single-Leg Deadlift
If you are upset about the RDL being left out, this is for you; the Landmine Single-Leg Deadlift (RDL) is a tremendous unilateral hamstring exercise because the setup provides better stability, allowing you to hit the hamstrings heavily and hard. It emphasizes balance and hamstring muscle tension, making it ideal for strengthening muscle imbalances and improving muscular development between legs.
Suggested Rep Ranges: 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 12 reps per side.
Stability Ball Single-Leg Hamstring Curl
The Stability Ball Single-Leg Hamstring curl is a sneaky exercise. You do a few reps and think, “This is easy; I got this,” and then your hamstrings start screaming at you. Why? The ball’s instability forces your hamstrings and core to work together while performing slowly because of its challenging nature. This exercise isolates the hamstrings, improves time under tension, and challenges your core strength, making it an excellent three-in-one exercise.
Suggested Rep Ranges: Perform 3 sets of 6-10 reps per side.
Barbell Good Morning
The Good Morning is a pure hip hinge exercise. When performed well, it targets the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back, making it an excellent choice for strengthening those three muscles. Yes, it is also a glute and lower back exercise, but the barbell’s stability combined with your glute strength allows you to hit the hammies hard and heavy.
Suggested Rep Ranges: For strength, perform 3 to 5 sets of 3-5 reps.
For muscle, perform 3 to 4 sets of 6-12 reps.
Lying Leg Curl
The Lying Leg Curl is not the sexiest or most challenging hamstring exercise, but it is effective. Why? This exercise isolates the hamstrings, mainly targeting the muscle’s knee flexion movement. The stability of lying down improves hamstring tension, making it fantastic for building hamstring size and strength without using the glutes and lower back.
Suggested Rep Ranges: Perform 3 to 4 sets of 8-15 reps, using a controlled tempo to maximize tension.
Cable Pull-Through
The Cable Pull-Through is similar to the kettlebell swing and RDL variations without spinal loading. Because it is a pure hip hinge, it allows you to focus more on the hips and hamstrings. The extended ROM will provide a muscle pre-stretch before the lockout, and combined with a controlled tempo, it will light up your hamstrings. Just ensure you do not make eye contact with anyone.
Suggested Rep Ranges: 3 to 4 sets of 10-15 reps, focusing on a powerful hip extension at the movement’s top.
Reverse Hyperextension
The Reverse Hyperextension is typically performed on a machine, but you can improvise with a weight bench or stability ball. I was torn between this and the 45-degree back extension. However, reverse hyperextension emphasizes the glutes and hamstrings more due to the bigger range of motion and the body’s position, allowing for a more significant hamstring stretch and contraction. What does that mean? Sweet, sweet hamstring gains.
Suggested Rep Ranges: 3 to 4 sets of 10-15 reps, focusing on controlling the tempo and avoiding momentum.
Hamstring Slider Curl
The Hamstring Slider Curl is a challenging bodyweight exercise that isolates the hamstrings while emphasizing eccentric contraction, which is crucial for muscle growth and injury prevention. Unlike other exercises that rely on heavy weights or equipment, this movement uses your body weight and friction as resistance. The focus on stability, control, and eccentric strength makes it an excellent choice for those looking to build bulletproof their hamstrings.
Suggested Rep Ranges: Perform 3 to 4 sets of 8-12 reps, ensuring you maintain control throughout the exercise.
