Lying Hamstring Curls | Illustrated Exercise Guide

Primary muscles: Hamstrings
Secondary muscles: Glutes
Equipment: No equipment

LYING HAMSTRING CURLS INSTRUCTIONS

1. Lie on your stomach with your legs fully extended, chest up and your hands under your chest.
2. Bend your knees, curl your legs up and squeeze the glutes.
3. Lower and straighten your legs and repeat until the set is complete.

PROPER FORM AND BREATHING PATTERN

When doing the lying hamstring curls, keep your spine and your upper body neutral, face front and use only your hamstrings to propel the movement. Breathe out as you curl your legs up and squeeze your glutes. Inhale as you slowly extend your legs and return to the starting position.

EXERCISE BENEFITS

Most of us tend to spend a lot of time in a seated position and end up having weak hamstrings. The lying hamstring curl is a great exercise you can easily do at home, to target your hamstrings and your glutes. This exercise requires no equipment and allows you to strengthen, tone and sculpt the back of your legs, lengthens the hamstrings and helps avoid injuries.

DEMONSTRATION

SETS AND REPS

Do 2 or 3 sets of 10 to 16 repetitions and, if you want to do a workout that really targets and strengthens the back of your legs and glutes, pair the lying hamstring curl with romanian deadlifts and pistol squats.

CALORIES BURNED

To calculate the number of calories burned doing lying hamstring curls, enter your weight and the duration of the exercise:

RELATED LOWER BODY EXERCISES

Try these other lower body exercises to strengthen, sculpt and tone your thighs, hips, legs and glutes:
Pistol squat
Romanian deadlift
Wall sit
Bulgarian split squat