Our legs are packed with several important muscles, the largest of which are the hamstrings, a group of three muscles that run along the back of the thighs.
When you straighten your legs or bend your knees, your hamstrings work. Basically, when you walk, run, jump, or perform any movement that requires your lower body, your hamstrings play a role. Naturally, it’s very important to make sure your hamstrings have enough strength for your daily movements.
Good old hamstring curls are a great exercise to strengthen your hamstrings. And to make life a little easier, most gyms have hamstring curl machines available. By the way, this is often called a lying leg curl.
Will Doll, Personal Trainer and Founder will power fitness“Strong, active hamstrings are important because they support the muscles in your back and help reduce the chance of pain and injury. The hamstrings support the knees, so strong hamstrings also reduce knee pain. There is a possibility that
With that in mind, I decided to get on the machine at my local gym and do 50 reps of hamstring curls every day for a week to see if I noticed a difference. I’ll explain what happened.
How to do a hamstring curl
- Lie face down on the machine with your quads and torso resting on the padded area.
- Adjust the lever at the back of the machine so that the pad is directly under your calf muscles with both legs extended.
- Grasp the handle at the front of the machine near your head and bend your lower leg upwards. Go as far as you can without letting your quadriceps rise above the padded area.
- Pause and slowly lower your legs to the starting position.
Try to stay as still as possible during the movement to help isolate your hamstrings. Don’t have a hamstring curl machine? Will says you can also do hamstring curls using a balance ball.
“This requires you to lie on the ground and place your calves and heels hip-width apart on a balance ball. Keep your arms down to the ground. Keep your hips straight so your body is straight. Raise and roll the ball so your legs are straight. You should feel this in your hamstrings. Then, bend the knees as you roll the ball back toward your hips.
“This requires you to work your core a little harder as you lift your hips and legs off the floor and maintain stability while rolling the ball in and out,” he says.
This is what happened when I did 50 hamstring curls every day for a week.
I felt heavy most days.
I didn’t want to make this challenge too easy, so as someone who spends a lot of time in the gym, I thought I’d give it my best shot. I divided the 50 reps into 4-5 sets of 10-13 reps, making sure the last rep of each set was tough. It’s like, tough in the face.
As I always say when teaching fitness classes, “No challenge won’t change you.” I wanted to maximize the benefits of hamstring curls.
Oh how I limped
Unsurprisingly, my poor hamstrings eventually fell apart as I continued to force the hamstring curls. Sometimes, at the end of a workout, I would hobble to the women’s locker room.
I did two sets of hamstring curl drop sets during the week-long challenge, doing a few reps with a heavier weight, then some more reps with a lighter weight, and continued this until all reps were completed. This hurt the most with minimal rest, and I stumbled off the hamstring curl machine with throbbing pain in my hamstrings.
Balanced hamstring curls with exercises that focus on the quadriceps.
The quadriceps are powerful muscles located on the front of the thigh and have the opposite role to the hamstrings. For example, while the hamstrings help flex the knee, the quadriceps work to straighten the knee (knee extension).
Both of these muscle groups need training, and while I did 50 hamstring curls, I also made sure to do quadriceps-based exercises like seated leg curls, wall sits, and even jump squats.
Will explains: “Typically, the quadriceps are stronger than the hamstrings, but you need to train both to avoid getting too imbalanced. If you’re training the hamstrings, try Be sure to train your quadriceps as well; when these muscles are out of balance, one muscle becomes too weak to support the other, which can lead to injury.
I hope this (eventually) helps me with my running
As any runner knows, strong legs improve your power and endurance, and reduce your chances of developing lower body injuries. I’ve always had pain in my hamstrings when I run, so I’m hoping that by continually strengthening my hamstrings I’ll be able to run longer on the pavement without feeling pain.
By the end of the week, my squats felt better.
It didn’t take long for me to notice a difference in my squats. It’s not the weight you can use, it’s the fact that you now have better control at the bottom of your squat.
Will explains: “To control your squat, you need to activate and strengthen your core, glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps, especially when carrying heavy weights. If any of these muscles are weak, You may have trouble keeping your hips in line when dropping into a squat and coming back up. You may also have trouble increasing the weight of your squat.”
Making sure your hamstrings are working properly and increasing your hamstring strength will definitely make a huge difference in your squats.
I did 50 hamstring curls every day for a week: my verdict
The best thing about strengthening my hamstrings was that I noticed improved control in my squats. Before, my hips were rocking all over the place, but now they’re stronger and I’m much more able to stop at the bottom and push myself up without rocking my hips from side to side.
I used to include hamstring curls sporadically in my training routine, but now I’m going to make hamstring curls a more regular part of my routine. After all, you can’t expect to create a balanced body if you’re not training all your muscles. Unfortunately, my hamstrings were an often neglected muscle group.
Should I include hamstring curls in my training? That’s a big thumbs up for me.
