Then push yourself back up to starting position and repeat.Īssisted Nordic Hamstring Curls – Exercise progression Only put your hands out in front of you on the floor when you can no longer rely on your legs. You should come as forward or low to the floor as you can without using your hands/arms. The movement should be slow and controlled. Then extend the hamstring muscles to lean forward, I- lean forward from the knee, not from the hip. The Nordic hamstring curl involves kneeling on a pad (for knee comfort) and lowering under control while the ankles are held in place by a partner, a loaded barbell, or any other immovable object. The Nordic Ham Curl also called the Leg Curl or Russian Ham Curl is a strength exercise that primarily works the hamstring muscles. Unfortunately, strain or injury to the hamstring can result in a very long and difficult recovery process, with increased risk for secondary injury or even permanent damage. Strengthening the hamstrings with training exercises can reduce the risk of injury. Strengthening the hamstring muscles helps us to do these things better.Īdditionally, the hamstring muscles are vulnerable to injury and strain, particularly among athletes and sprinters. They are the essential muscles for running, jumping, climbing and even walking. The hamstrings are the muscles that enable us to move our legs powerfully and efficiently. What are the benefits of Hamstring Exercises? To get an inside view of these muscles, Login to the Strength Training app and go to the Muscular Anatomy section (The Strength Training app is available on all devices) If this is initially too difficult, use your arms to push the bench away and help you back to the top, focussing on controlling the eccentric or lowering portion of the rep.Īs your strength builds and the number of reps you are able to perform rises, use progressively smaller bands for assistance.The hamstrings generally refer to the three muscles – biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and semitendinosus at the back part of the thigh. Maintain a straight line from your knees to shoulders as your rise back up to the starting position.
As your chest touches the bench flex your hamstrings focussing on ‘breaking out of the belt’.
Tense your glutes, brace your core and slowly allow your body to begin ‘falling’ forward, contract your hamstrings to slow your descent allowing the band to help. Reach back for the resistance band, hold it over your head or position it beneath your armpits
#Nordic hamstring curl free#
Adjust the belt until your feet are snuggly compressed into the bench, ensuring there is no free play in the belt. Wrap a lifting belt around the bench and over your legs, just above your heels. Assume a tall kneeling position on top of the bench, facing away from the bar. Position a bench slightly in front of a pull-up bar or sturdy anchor point for a resistance band. Less so for the rest of us.įortunately, there’s a solution that requires no specialist machinery, can be performed in any gym, and only necessitates a few bits of kit that you probably already have in your gym bag. Thankfully, if you’re less than interested in working your way through the regressions, and want a pragmatic solution to start hitting those hamstrings now, there are several, specialist machines that offer counterweighted solutions, helping you to offset the weight of your body while you focus on building strength. With a myriad of regressions to work through and strength to be built before you can even come close to performing a single, solitary rep, this is far from an entry level exercise. In fact, it can be traced all the way back to the 19th century, where it was featured in books on physical culture.ĭon’t be lulled into a sense of false security by the ‘ bodyweight’ suffix though, this is by no means an ‘easy’ movement- unassisted Nordic Curls make high rep sets of the pistol squats look like child’s play. If you follow any fitness accounts on social media, there’s every likelihood that you’ve already heard of ‘the nordic curl’, a bodyweight hamstring exercise that in effect allows you to perform hamstring curls (the type you’d usually see performed on specialist machines), targeting all four muscles in the back of the legs with nothing but your bodyweight.ĭespite the sudden surge in popularity, the Nordic Curl is by no means a new invention dreamt up for instagram engagement alone. Having enjoyed and endured a number of disciplines from endurance racing, to strongman, to Crossfit AT enjoys getting neck deep in the practice just as much as the theory. A coach, writer and current fitness editor of Men’s Health Magazine, he has been in and around the fitness industry for the past 16 years. Andrew Tracey is a long time collaborator with Bulldog Gear.
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