- Hamstring exercises include the deadlift, hamstring curl, Bulgarian split squat.
- To avoid injury, warm up your hamstrings before working out with mobility exercises like toe touches.
- Recovery is key for building strength safely. Take at least 48 hours in between hamstring workouts.
Any time you walk, climb stairs, or even sit down in a chair, you're activating your hamstring muscles. Therefore, keeping those muscles strong is important for basic, daily mobility. But that's not all they're good for.
"If you work at a desk job, strong hamstrings will help you keep your spine tall and keep your back from rounding," which can help prevent all-too-common ailments related to poor posture like low back pain, says Keith Hodges, a performance and functional movement coach and founder of Mind in Muscle Coaching. Hamstrings are also important in sports.
Here we identify the hamstring muscles and offer nine exercises to strengthen them. Hodges recommends doing the following exercises two to three times a week (depending on your activity level) with at least 48 hours of rest in between. Keep at it for six to 12 weeks, and you may start to see tone and definition in your thighs, he says.
Hamstring muscles
The hamstrings run down the back of the thigh and are composed of three muscles:
- The biceps femoris is on the back of the thigh, closest to the outside of your body. It helps you bend your knee, extend your thigh at the hip, and rotate your lower leg from side to side when your knee is bent.
- The semimembranosus, located close to the inner thigh, also flexes the knee joint and extends the thigh at the hip, and it allows the hip and lower leg to rotate inward (toward the middle of the body).
- The semitendinosus lies between the other two muscles and provides a similar function as the semimembranosus.
How to avoid hamstring injury
Hamstring injuries are the most common type of sports injury, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Injury is common in sports that involve running.
In sports that require running and then stopping or changing direction quickly, such as basketball and soccer, those movements put a lot of strain on the hamstring muscles.
A hamstring injury can be a mild strain, a partial tear, or a complete tear. To avoid injury, you can:
- Strengthen your hamstrings through the exercises listed here. "Eccentric" motions, which refers to the portion of a lift when you lower the weight and your muscle lengthens, are especially helpful.
- Before doing hamstring exercises, warm up with some mobility exercises, such as standing toe touches or seated toe touches, Hodges says.
- Stretch your hamstrings to improve flexibility, because poor flexibility can increase your risk of injury. Hodges prefers stretching after exercising, when the muscles are warm. If you stretch when your muscles are cold, you may be more likely to hurt yourself.
Because the hamstrings support both the knee and the hip, some of these exercises focus on the hips, and others focus on the knees. For exercises with weights, use an amount of weight that fatigues your muscles after about 10 to 12 reps, but not so heavy that you can't complete at least 8 reps.
1. Romanian deadlift
Equipment: barbell, dumbbells, or a band
How to do it:
Reps: 8-12
Tempo: 3-1-1 (take 3 seconds to lower, lift for 1 second, and hold at the top for 1 second)
Medical term: The tempo tells you the cadence of each movement in an exercise. The first digit refers to the eccentric, or lowering, portion of the exercise.
2. Eccentric hamstring slide
Equipment: sliders or none
How to do it:
If you don't have sliders, rework steps 5 and 6 from above to the following:
To make this exercise more challenging, keep your hips lifted rather than lowering them down, and walk your feet back to the starting position.
Reps: 6-12
Tempo: 3-0-3 (3 counts to extend, no time holding that position, and 3 counts to bring your legs back in)
3. Long lever hip lift
Equipment: none
How to do it:
Reps: 3 sets
Tempo: Hold for 10 to 30 seconds.
4. Lying leg curl
Equipment: dumbbell or weight machine
How to do it:
Reps: 8-15
Tempo: 3-1-1 (3 to lower, 1 to hold at the bottom, 1 to lift, then repeat)
5. Hamstring curl
Equipment: stability ball
How to do it:
Reps: 6-15
Tempo: 2-1-1 (2 seconds to extend your legs, 1 second hold, and 1 second curl)
6. Traditional deadlift
Equipment: barbell or dumbbells
How to do it:
Reps: 8-12
Tempo: 0-1-3 (starting from the lower portion of the movement, lift the weight and hold for 1 second, lower for 3 seconds, then repeat)
7. Good morning
Equipment: dumbbell, medicine ball, or none
How to do it:
Reps: 6-12 reps
Tempo: 4-0-0 (4 seconds for the lowering phase, explode up quickly, and then repeat)
8. Bulgarian split squat
Equipment: bench
How to do it:
Reps: 15-20 (If you want to add weight, do 6-12 reps.)
Tempo: 3-1-0 (lower for 3, explode up, and start again)
9. Stationary split squat
Equipment: none
How to do it:
Reps: 6-12
Tempo: 3-1-0 (3 seconds to lower, 1 to hold, and immediately go back up)
Insider's takeaway
Hamstrings are essential for many types of movement, from everyday motions around the house to explosive athletic movements.
Strengthening your hamstrings with these exercises can help you avoid injury and improve posture.
However, Hodges says, good form is important. "Don't be afraid to ask a professional for help to make sure your technique is correct," he says.
Don't forget that recovery is key, Hodges says. He recommends taking at least 48 hours of rest between hamstring workouts.
Allison Torres Burtka Allison Torres Burtka is a freelance writer and editor in metro Detroit. Her writing has been published in the Guardian, espnW, Women's Running, the Sierra Club's Sierra magazine, Crain's Detroit Business, and other outlets. She writes on topics like health and wellness, sports, environment, sustainability, and business leadership. To see more of her work, visit atburtka.journoportfolio.com. Read more Read lessncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufonyowcidnKxnmJqurcDHaJ2irJ6awLR7x5qkrKyinruoecSxnKubmaiytA%3D%3D