The 5 Best Hamstring Exercises & Workouts You Should Be Doing

Let’s face it: most gym-goers focus on their quads on leg day. That is, if they train legs at all. 

Like it or not, you may need to pay more attention to the back of your thighs. Weak hamstrings can lead to muscle imbalances and increase your risk of injury. 

Hamstring injuries are a common complaint among athletes and can range from strains and sprains to ruptures. 

About 15% of all injuries in Australian Rules football are acute hamstring strains. Their reoccurrence rate is over 30% in professional football players and 12% in soccer players, according to Current Sports Medicine Reports. 

The best hamstring exercises can strengthen these muscles and reduce injury risk. Plus, they may help prevent and fix muscle imbalances. 

Essential movements like the Romanian deadlift, hip thrusts, and glute-ham raises, are crucial for building bigger, stronger hamstrings. One heavy hamstring workout per week will do the trick as long as you choose the right exercises. 

Leg workouts are typically quad-dominant. Think squats, lunges, and leg presses. So what does it take to add size and strength to your hamstrings? 

That’s what today’s post is all about. Here’s how to build stronger hamstrings and get the most out of your leg workouts! 

Why Hamstring Training Is a Must

Hamstrings are the muscles located at the rear of your upper leg. Along with their tendons, they flex the knee joint and play a key role in everyday movements like walking, squatting, running, and tilting your pelvis. 

All three hamstring muscles— the semitendinosus, semimembranosus, and biceps femoris — start at the ischial tuberosity of your hip, run down the back of your thigh, and end at the lower leg. They’re innervated by the sciatic nerve and allow for hip and knee movements. 

The biceps femoris is particularly prone to injury, with nearly 85% of all hamstring strains in soccer affecting this muscle.  

Generally, hamstring injuries have high recurrence rates and long recovery times. Nearly one-third of them recur within one year following a return to sport.  

Injuries affecting this muscle group typically occur during the final phase of the gait cycle. They’re more common in football and rugby players, dancers, and runners, but no athlete is immune to them. 

Tight or poorly developed hamstring muscles can further increase injury risk. As the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) notes, athletes should stretch these muscles daily and take the steps needed to correct muscle imbalances. 

The hamstrings become fatigued faster than the quads during high-speed activities. Since these muscles stabilize the knee joint, weak hamstrings can put you at risk for knee injuries — in addition to hamstring sprains and strains.  

Optimize Your Hamstring Workouts 

As discussed earlier, many gym-goers overlook the hamstrings. This approach can throw your physique off balance and hamper your performance. 

Leg training requires more than just squats. If you’re trying to build a strong, athletic physique, it’s crucial to work your hamstrings once or twice a week. 

Sprinting, one-legged deadlifts, lying leg curls, and full-body movements like kettlebell swings, power snatches, and hand snatches are all a great choice. 

Most folks train their hamstrings at the end of their workouts when they barely have any energy left. If your hamstrings are weak or under-developed, consider doing hamstring exercises first. Or you can work these muscles after a rest day. 

Pro bodybuilders often separate their quad workouts from their hamstring workouts. This strategy allows them to put more energy into each session without the risk of overtraining. 

Schedule your hamstring and quad workouts at least 48 hours apart and get adequate rest. We’re not saying that you should lie in bed — feel free to train your arms, chest, and other upper body muscles. 

Mix Up Your Rep Ranges

For best results, include both high- and low-rep ranges into your hamstring workouts. These muscles are fast-twitch dominant, so they respond best to heavy lifting and explosive movements. 

But you also want to keep them under tension long enough to create metabolic stress, which is a key factor in hypertrophy. This requires higher rep sets. Therefore, it’s important to use different rep ranges during your hamstring workouts. 

A 12-week study conducted on 45 male lifters supports this approach. 

Subjects were divided into two groups: one group performed 20 to 25 repetitions per set with 30 to 50% of their 1RM, while the other group performed 8 to 12 repetitions per set with 75 to 90% of their 1RM. All sets were performed to failure.  

Both groups experienced a similar increase in muscle size and strength, despite the difference in training volume (14,805 ± 592 kilograms vs. 23,969 ± 901 kg). 

These findings show that both high- and low-rep training programs provide the stimulus needed to get bigger and stronger as long as you train to failure.

Choose the Best Hamstring Exercises for Your Goals 

As far as exercise selection goes, squats are not the best choice for your hamstrings. 

This compound movement does recruit the hamstring muscles, but their engagement is limited. Leg curls and stiff leg deadlifts activate the hamstrings to a greater extent than back squats. 

This doesn’t mean you can’t do squats as part of your hamstring workouts. You just need to go deeper and use slow, controlled motion to better activate these muscles. 

The eccentric (lowering) phase of movement increases mechanical tension and fatigues your muscles, while the concentric (lifting) phase recruits a larger number of muscle fibers. 

Try to work your hamstrings from all angles. To do so, use different variations of the leg curls, deadlifts, and other hamstring exercises. Add unilateral exercises to the mix to isolate and correct muscle imbalances.

According to a study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, different exercise variations hit the hamstring muscles differently. 

Don’t limit yourself to seated leg curls, for example. Instead, try standing leg curls, lying leg curls, Russian leg curls, and other variations.

Since the hamstrings are fast-twitch dominant, sprinting allows you to recruit more muscle fibers and build mass. We recommend two sprinting sessions per week, on non-consecutive days. This activity is taxing on the central nervous system, so make sure you don’t go overboard. 

So, are you ready to take your hamstring workouts to the next level? Below we’ll show you the best hamstring exercises for mass and strength gains. Let’s get into in! 

1. Romanian Deadlifts

This compound movement targets your hamstrings more than standard deadlifts due to the straighter leg position. Your glutes will get a great workout too! 

Romanian deadlifts may also increase hip range of motion, leading to enhanced functional fitness and sports performance. Furthermore, this exercise improves dynamic flexibility, which may help reduce injury risk. 

Here’s how to do a Romanian deadlift the right way:

1. Stand straight with your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent. 
2. Hold a barbell in your hands. Use an overhand grip. 
3. Bend at the waist, keeping your back straight. 
4. Lower until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings. Keep the barbell close to your shins. 
5. Squeeze your glutes and drive your hips forward to return to a standing position. Repeat. 

A more challenging version is the one-leg Romanian deadlift, which can be performed with a barbell or dumbbells. This movement requires a stronger grip and perfect balance, so it’s not suitable for beginners. 

2. Good Mornings

This exercise engages your hamstrings, glutes, lower back, and core muscles. The straighter the knees, the more you’ll activate and stretch your hamstrings. 

Beware that proper lifting form is critical. This movement can easily lead to back injuries, especially when your torso is closest to parallel. 

If you’re a newbie, start with the back squat, Romanian deadlifts, and other basic exercises before performing good mornings. 

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Place a barbell on your shoulders. Beginners can use their body weight only, placing their hands behind the head. 
3. Pull your shoulders back, brace your core, and bend at the hips while maintaining a slight bend in your knees. Do not round your back. 
4. Bring your hips back until your torso is about 15 degrees above parallel to the floor. Going lower can result in injuries. 
5. Take a deep breath as you return to the starting position. 

To stay safe, use no more than 25% of the weight used for back squats. Work your way up to 50% of your back squat. 

3. Floor Glute-Ham Raise

The bodyweight version of the glute-ham raise is a lot more challenging than the original. You can either ask your gym buddy to help or tuck your feet under a loaded barbell or another heavy object for support. 

This movement emphasizes knee flexion. Unlike deadlifts and good mornings, it doesn’t put stress on your spine. Over time, it can help increase squat and deadlift strength. 

Follow these steps to perform a glute-ham raise on the floor: 

1. Stand on your knees and tuck your feet under a barbell. If you’re working out at home, you may tuck your feet under a couch or armchair. 
2. Squeeze your core and glutes while lowering your body to the floor with a slow, controlled motion. If you do it right, you should feel a stretch in your hamstrings. 
3. Land on your hands and push yourself back up. The movement should come from your hips, not your arms. 

4. Lying Leg Curls 

The lying leg curl is a single-joint exercise that isolates your hamstrings. It also engages your glutes and hip flexors to some extent. 

Depending on what equipment you have available, you may use a lying leg curl machine, a dumbbell, or resistance bands. Here’s how to perform this movement on the leg curl machine: 

1. Lie face down on the machine. Grasp the hand grips. 
2. Place the roller pad right above your heels. Make sure it doesn’t place pressure on your Achilles tendon.
3. Extend your leg fully and then lift your feet to your buttocks in a controlled manner. 
4. Hold for a second or two, lower your feet back, and repeat. 

Tip: Curl your toes up toward your shins to better target your hamstrings.

Those who are working out at home can perform this exercise by placing a dumbbell between their feet. 

1. Lie face down, with your elbows bent underneath your shoulders. 
2. Brace your abs and curl the dumbbell up so that your feet are straight above your knees
3. Slowly return to the starting position and repeat. 

5. Kettlebell Swings

The kettlebell swing is a full-body movement, but it relies heavily on the hamstring muscles. 

It also hits your glutes and abs, increases explosive power, and builds overall strength. This makes it ideal for both cardiovascular and resistance training. 

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. 
2. Place a kettlebell in front of you on the floor. 
3. Slightly bend your knees and bring your hips back. Grasp the kettlebells with both hands. 
4. Pull it back between your legs while bracing your core and glutes. Keep your neck and back straight. 
5. Drive your hips forward, bringing the kettlebell at shoulder height. 
6. Let it swing back between your legs and repeat. 

A common mistake is bringing the kettlebell overhead. Doing so will place extra stress on your spine and shoulders, which can lead to injuries later on. 

Build Bigger, Stronger Hamstrings with This Hamstring Workout 

Now you have it — a list of the best hamstring exercises that will take your workouts to a whole new level. We also recommend adding cable kickbacks, reverse hyperextensions, and one-legged deadlifts to your routine. 

Experiment with different variations of each exercise to hit your hamstrings from all angles. Stretch and flex these muscles between sets to recover faster and further break down the muscle fibers. 

And, of course, it’s just as important to let your body recover properly so it can build and repair to its fullest. For this, we recommend our natural muscle-recovery sleep supplement, Vintage Bliss™.

In the meantime, check out these leg workouts and exercises for inspiration. We’ll show you the best movements to activate your hamstrings, quads, and glutes, whether you’re training at home or in the gym. 

If you could choose just one exercise for your hamstrings, what would it be? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!