Maximise Your Leg Day: 5 Best Exercises For Hamstrings And Tips To Strengthen It

Exercises for the hamstrings are crucial for building strong, defined legs. The hamstring muscle makes up about 1/3 of the mass of the legs and is a solid and powerful muscle. These muscles on the rear of your thighs are essential for daily tasks, including bending, walking, and sprinting. The correct exercises for your hamstrings are necessary if you want to tone up for summer or improve your athletic performance.

Keeping your hamstrings in good shape can help prevent common hamstring injuries, reduce muscle imbalances, and build overall leg strength and size. Exercises to suit every fitness level and objective range from traditional movements like hamstring curls and deadlifts to dynamic choices like lunges and kettlebell swings. Read ahead to learn the 5 best hamstring exercises and how to train weak hamstrings!

Table Of Contents

1. How To Strengthen Hamstrings? Here Are Top 5 Best Exercises For Hamstrings

2. How Do You Train Weak Hamstrings?

3. Expert’s Advice

4. The Final Say

5. FAQs

6. References

How To Strengthen Hamstrings? Here Are Top 5 Best Exercises For Hamstrings 

Here are 5 best exercises for hamstrings which can help strengthen it and provide relief from strain: 

1. Glute Bridge

It helps to uphold glute strength and maintain a good posture.

How to do it?

• Lie down on your back. Bend your knees and feet flat on the floor.
• Brace your core, then push through your heels and squeeze your glutes to lift your hips as you try to press your upper back into the floor.
• Hold this position and then return to the same position to complete one repetition.

2. Donkey Kicks

It helps to stabilise your core and activate your glutes more effectively during a workout or run. 

 

How to do it?

• Use the mat to place your hands and knees on the mat.
• Raise your right leg while your thigh should be parallel to the floor, maintaining a 90-degree bend in your right knee. 
• Now, return to the starting position and complete one repetition.

Also Read: A Step-By-Step Guide To Donkey Kick Exercise: Variations, Benefits And More!

3. Good Morning

The good morning workout targets the back, glutes, abs, and hamstrings.  

 

How to do it?

• Stand with your feet hip-width apart and place your hands behind your head.
• Keep your elbows broad and knees slightly bent, and bend forward at the hips until your chest is almost parallel to the floor.
• Now, push your hips back while keeping your spine straight. Contract your hamstrings and glutes to drive your hips forward and lift.
• Complete one repetition in this manner and return to the starting position.

4. Graded Deadlift

The deadlift is one of the best exercises for developing upper and lower body muscles. 

How to do it?

• Keeping your back straight, loop a towel or resistance band under your left leg.
• Holding one end of the band/towel with both hands, step your right leg back slightly and lift your heel.
• Now, push your hips back and bring your chest forward to a 45-degree angle. Return to the starting position and complete one repetition.

5. Walking On Tiptoes

It enhances flexibility and strengthens the calf muscles. It also helps to promote proprioception, balance, and better posture. 
 

How to do it?

• Get into a glute bridge position and engage your core.
• Keeping your hips straight, step your right leg back toward your glutes while balancing on your toes.
• Repeat the same with the left leg.
• Return to the starting position and complete one repetition.

Also Read: Try 4 Targeted Strength Exercises For Hamstrings With 8 Training Tips! 

How Do You Train Weak Hamstrings?

Building stronger hamstrings requires a combination of targeted exercises, proper technique, progressive overload, and adequate recovery. It would help if you kept the following tips in mind while engaging in exercises for the hamstring:

1. Incorporate Compound Exercises

Compound movement exercises like deadlifts, Romanian, sumo, and squats engage the hamstrings and other lower body muscles, providing a solid foundation for hamstring development.

2. Isolate With Hamstring Exercises

Include exercises explicitly targeting the hamstrings, such as hamstring curls, glute-ham raises, and cable stretches. These isolation exercises allow you to target the hamstring muscles directly and can help increase their size and strength.

3. Vary The Rep Range

Aim for a combination of lower rep ranges (e.g. 4-8 reps) and higher rep ranges (e.g. 8-12 reps) to stimulate different muscle fibres in the hamstrings. This approach ensures the development of both strength and hypertrophy.

4. Focus On Eccentric Contractions

The exercise's eccentric (lowering) phase stresses the muscle fibres, leading to muscle damage and growth. Control the launch phase of hamstring exercises to maximise benefits.

5. Implement Progressive Overload

Continuously challenge your hamstrings by gradually increasing the weight or resistance you use. Progressive overload is vital to muscle growth, so keep pushing yourself to lift heavier or perform more challenging exercises.

6. Pay Attention To Form

Proper technique is essential to effectively targeting the hamstrings and preventing injury. Maintain a neutral spine, engage your core, and ensure fluid and controlled movements throughout each exercise.

7. Train With Reasonable Frequency

Aim to train your hamstrings at least twice a week to provide enough stimulus for growth. Allow for proper recovery between sessions to optimise muscle repair and growth.

8. Don't Neglect Other Leg Muscles

While you focus on the hamstrings, it's essential to maintain overall leg development. Strong quadriceps, glutes and calves will improve overall leg strength and balance.

9. Include Stretching And Movement Work

Maintain good flexibility and range of motion in your hamstrings by incorporating stretching exercises such as forward bends, seated hamstring stretches, and yoga poses like downward-facing dogs. Improved flexibility can assist in proper muscle activation and reduce the risk of injury.

Also Read: Try These 15 Best Stretch Exercises Before Workout For Full-Body Efficiency!

10. Prioritise Nutrition And Recovery

Building bigger muscles requires proper nutrition and adequate recovery. Eat a well-balanced diet with enough protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats to support muscle growth. In addition, prioritise quality sleep, use stress management techniques, and allow your body enough time to recover between workouts.

Expert Advice

Exercises targeting the hamstrings should include a range of activities that work the muscle fibres and the functional capacities of this crucial muscle group. Start with compound exercises like deadlift variations, which will train big muscle groups like the glutes, lower back and hamstrings, promoting overall strength and stability. 

Include exercises like hamstring curls using machines or resistance bands for isolation and refining, regulating the movement throughout its range. Training should be balanced and consistent for the best results in building solid, well-defined hamstrings. 

Health Expert

Lavina Chauhan

The Final Say

Strengthening the hamstrings is essential for any athlete or fitness enthusiast. These exercises can help you target your hamstrings more effectively and improve your overall performance. Make sure you do them correctly and with proper form to get the most out of each exercise.

FAQs

1. How to strengthen hamstrings?

You can do the following exercises to strengthen your hamstrings:

• Kettlebell swing
• Good morning
• Deadlift
• Walking lunges
• Glute bridges

2. Which exercises for a hamstring strain will be easy and pain-free to perform?

Here are 5 exercises for hamstring strain:

• Hip extension
• Romanian deadlift
• Split squats
• Leg curl
• Lunge

3. What are the most effective hamstring-strengthening exercises?

The most effective hamstring strengthening exercises are:

• Nordic hamstring curl
• Glute bridges
• Ball leg curl
• Sumo squat
• Single leg deadlift

References

• https://central.gymshark.com/article/top-5-exercises-to-build-bigger-hamstrings
• https://www.healthshots.com/hindi/fitness/strengthen-and-tone-up-with-these-5-exercises-that-target-hamstring-muscles/

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