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Exercises

Exercises to strengthen hamstrings: hinges, curls and Nordic work

Published October 29, 2026

The best exercises to strengthen hamstrings combine hip hinges and knee curls, because the hamstrings do both jobs. For hinges, use the Romanian deadlift, dumbbell and single-leg RDLs and the good morning. For curls, use lying and seated leg curls, Nordic hamstring curls, glute ham raises and stability ball curls. Train them twice a week: one hinge for 5 to 10 reps and one curl for 6 to 12 each session, about 12 to 20 hard sets a week, stopping 1 to 2 reps short of failure. Nordics go at 3 to 6 slow reps.

  1. Romanian Deadlift Hamstrings, Glutes
  2. Lying Leg Curl Hamstrings
  3. Seated Leg Curl Hamstrings
  4. Nordic Hamstring Curl Hamstrings
  5. Single-Leg RDL Hamstrings, Glutes
  6. Good Morning Hamstrings, Glutes

Hinges: hamstrings at the hip

Hinging at the hips with straight-ish knees stretches the hamstrings under a heavy load. This is where most hamstring strength comes from, and one hinge belongs in every hamstring session.

Hamstrings, barbell hinge

Romanian Deadlift

Hamstrings, Glutes

The barbell RDL is the heaviest way to load the hamstrings through a long stretch. Push your hips back until you feel a strong pull behind the knees, and train it for 5 to 8 reps as the main hamstring lift.

How to do it

  1. Stand with a barbell at your thighs, hands just outside your legs, feet under your hips.
  2. Soften your knees and push your hips back, sliding the bar down your thighs.
  3. Stop when your hamstrings are fully stretched, usually just below the knee, with your back flat.
  4. Push your hips forward to stand up, glutes tight at the top.

Cues

  • Hips back
  • Bar stays on your legs
  • Back flat

Common mistakes

  • Bending the knees into a squat: keep them soft and still.
  • Reaching for the floor: stop where your back would round.

Swap for: Weighted Back Extension

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Hamstrings, dumbbell hinge

Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift

Hamstrings, Glutes

Holding dumbbells instead of a bar lets you train the RDL at home and let the weights track close to your legs. With heavy enough dumbbells, sets of 8 to 12 build real hamstring strength.

How to do it

  1. Stand hip-width apart with a dumbbell in each hand resting against the front of your thighs, palms facing you.
  2. Push your hips straight back and let your torso fold forward, knees softly bent, the dumbbells brushing your legs.
  3. Lower until the dumbbells pass your knees and you feel a strong stretch in your hamstrings, with your back still flat.
  4. Drive your hips forward to stand back up, squeezing your glutes at the top, and repeat.

Cues

  • Hips back, not down
  • Dumbbells slide down your legs
  • Flat back, chin tucked

Common mistakes

  • Bending the knees into a squat so the dumbbells go lower: the depth comes from the hips, and most people stop just past the knees.
  • Rounding the lower back at the bottom: end the rep where your back stays flat, and lighten the load if that is high.

Swap for: Single-Leg RDL, Dumbbell Good Morning, Kettlebell Deadlift

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Hamstrings, one-leg hinge

Single-Leg RDL

Hamstrings, Glutes

Hinging on one leg puts the whole dumbbell on one hamstring and makes the hip work to stay level. It needs much less weight than the two-leg version, so it is ideal when your heaviest dumbbells are not heavy enough.

How to do it

  1. Stand on your left leg with a dumbbell in your left hand and the standing knee softly bent.
  2. Hinge forward at the left hip while your right leg extends straight behind you, keeping your hips level.
  3. Lower until your torso and back leg are close to parallel to the floor or the standing hamstring stops you.
  4. Drive the left hip forward to come back up, then finish the set before switching sides.

Cues

  • Back leg and torso move as one
  • Hips level, back toes down
  • Slow on the way down

Common mistakes

  • Opening the hip so the back leg rotates out: point the back toes at the floor the whole time.
  • Touching the free foot down between reps to rebalance: slow down and hold a wall with your free hand if needed.

Swap for: Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift, Dumbbell B-Stance RDL, Kettlebell Deadlift

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Hamstrings and lower back, barbell hinge

Good Morning

Hamstrings, Glutes

With the bar on your back, the good morning puts the hamstrings under a long lever with less weight than an RDL. It is a good second hinge for lifters who already deadlift.

How to do it

  1. Lace your fingers behind your head and stand with your feet roughly hip width, knees slightly bent.
  2. Push your hips back and lower your chest toward the floor, keeping your back flat, until you feel a strong pull in your hamstrings.
  3. Push your hips through to stand up again.
  4. When bodyweight reps get easy, set a light bar across your upper back as for a squat and do the same hinge.

Cues

  • Hips back, not chest down
  • Back flat the whole way
  • Soft knees, fixed

Common mistakes

  • Rounding your lower back to reach further: stop each rep where your back would start to bend.
  • Turning it into a squat by bending your knees more as you go down: keep the knee bend the same throughout.

Swap for: Romanian Deadlift, Dumbbell Good Morning, 45-Degree Back Extension

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Machine leg curls

Curls train the other job of the hamstrings, bending the knee, which hinges barely touch. Seated curls load the hamstrings in a longer position than lying curls; using both over the week covers the range.

Hamstrings, lying curl

Lying Leg Curl

Hamstrings

Lying face down, you curl the pad toward your glutes and train the hamstrings at the knee. It is easy to learn and to push close to failure safely.

How to do it

  1. Set the machine so your knees line up with the pivot point when you lie face down, and move the ankle pad to sit on your lower calves, just above your heels.
  2. Lie flat with your kneecaps hanging just past the end of the bench, hold the handles and press your hips into the pad.
  3. Bend your knees and pull the pad up in a smooth arc until your heels are as close to your glutes as the machine allows.
  4. Pause for a moment at the top without letting your hips lift off the bench.
  5. Lower the pad over about two seconds until your legs are almost straight, and start the next rep before the stack touches down.

Cues

  • Hips glued to the pad
  • Heels to glutes
  • Slow on the way down

Common mistakes

  • Lifting your hips as the weight gets heavy: your lower back takes over and the hamstrings do less. Drop the load until your hips stay down on every rep.
  • Stopping short at the bottom: that cuts out the part of the rep where your hamstrings are longest. Let your legs come back to almost straight before you curl again.
  • Swinging the pad up: a kick from the bottom hands the hardest part of the rep to momentum. Count two seconds down and start each rep from a dead stop.

Swap for: Seated Leg Curl, Stability Ball Leg Curl, Nordic Hamstring Curl

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Hamstrings, seated curl

Seated Leg Curl

Hamstrings

Sitting with your hips bent puts the hamstrings in a lengthened position during the curl, which makes it one of the best machine exercises for hamstring size and strength.

How to do it

  1. Set the backrest so your knees line up with the machine's pivot, and lock the thigh pad down firmly.
  2. Rest the lower pad just above your heels with legs straight.
  3. Curl your heels down and back under the seat as far as they go.
  4. Let the pad rise slowly until your legs are straight again, and repeat.

Cues

  • Thigh pad snug
  • Pull heels under the seat
  • Two seconds on the way up

Common mistakes

  • Lifting your hips off the seat to finish the rep: tighten the thigh pad and lighten the stack.
  • Letting the stack crash between reps: control it all the way to straight legs.

Swap for: Lying Leg Curl, Romanian Deadlift, Nordic Hamstring Curl

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Nordic curls and other body-weight curls

No machine needed, and the Nordic curl is harder than anything a machine offers. Start with the easier versions and work toward full Nordics.

Hamstrings, eccentric curl

Nordic Hamstring Curl

Hamstrings

A partner holds your ankles while you lower your body toward the floor as slowly as you can. It loads the hamstrings far beyond a machine curl, which is why it shows up in so many sprinting and field-sport programs.

How to do it

  1. Kneel on a cushion with your ankles pinned under a couch, or held by a partner, and your body upright from knees to head.
  2. Squeeze your glutes and lower your torso forward as slowly as you can, bending only at the knees.
  3. When your hamstrings can't hold you, catch yourself with your hands on the floor.
  4. Push off the floor lightly and pull with your hamstrings to come back up to kneeling.

Cues

  • Hips stay open, no folding
  • Lower as slowly as possible
  • Hands catch, then help up

Common mistakes

  • Bending at the hips to make the lowering easier: keep a straight line from knees to shoulders.
  • Flopping to the floor after a few inches: fight it the whole way down; the slow lowering is the rep.

Swap for: Single-Leg RDL, Band Good Morning, Superman

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Hamstrings, assisted inverse curl

Glute Ham Raise

Hamstrings, Glutes

Kneeling on a lat pulldown seat with the bar across your shoulders, the stack helps you through the movement as you lower and curl your body. The assistance makes it a step between machine curls and full Nordics.

How to do it

  1. Face away from a lat pulldown and kneel on its seat, calves locked under the thigh pads.
  2. Hold the pulldown bar across the back of your shoulders; a heavier stack gives you more help.
  3. Keep your hips straight and lean your body forward as one piece until it is close to level with the floor.
  4. Curl yourself back up by pulling your heels into the pads.

Cues

  • Hips locked straight
  • Lean as one piece
  • Heavier stack if form breaks

Common mistakes

  • Folding at the hips on the way up: add assistance until you can rise in one straight line.
  • Falling through the bottom: control the lowering just as much as the lift.

Swap for: Nordic Hamstring Curl, Stability Ball Leg Curl, Lying Leg Curl

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Hamstrings, ball curl

Stability Ball Leg Curl

Hamstrings

Lying on your back with your heels on a ball, you lift your hips and curl the ball in. It trains the hamstrings at the knee and hip at once with only a ball, and gets hard quickly if you do it on one leg.

How to do it

  1. Lie face up with your heels and lower calves on a stability ball and your arms flat on the floor beside you.
  2. Dig your heels into the ball and raise your hips until shoulders, hips and feet line up.
  3. Keeping your hips high, pull the ball in toward your glutes until your feet are flat on top of it.
  4. Roll the ball back out slowly until your legs are straight again, without letting your hips sag.

Cues

  • Hips up before you curl
  • Heels dig into the ball
  • Slow on the way out

Common mistakes

  • Letting your hips drop as the ball rolls in: the curl gets easier because your hamstrings stop holding the bridge.
  • Rushing the roll-out: take two to three seconds on it.

Swap for: TRX Leg Curl, Band Leg Curl, Lying Leg Curl

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Back extensions and swings

These train the hamstrings and glutes together to extend the hips, at higher reps and, with the swing, at speed.

Hamstrings and glutes, back extension

45-Degree Back Extension

Glutes, Hamstrings

On the 45-degree bench, rounding less and pushing your hips into the pad moves the work from the lower back to the hamstrings and glutes. Hold a plate to your chest when body weight gets easy.

How to do it

  1. Set the pad so it sits just below your hip bones, then hook your heels under the foot rollers.
  2. Fold your arms over your chest and stand straight in line with the bench.
  3. Bend forward at the hips until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings.
  4. Lift your torso back to a straight line with your legs, squeezing your glutes, and stop there.

Cues

  • Hinge at the hips
  • Stop at a straight line
  • Squeeze your glutes at the top

Common mistakes

  • Arching back past a straight line at the top: the rep ends when your body is straight.
  • Setting the pad too high so it blocks your hips: you should be able to fold freely over it.

Swap for: Back Extension, Superman, Weighted Back Extension

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Hamstrings and glutes, ballistic hinge

Kettlebell Swing

Glutes, Hamstrings

The swing trains the hips to extend hard and fast, the way they do in sprinting and jumping. Sets of 10 to 15 with a heavy bell add power that slow lifts do not.

How to do it

  1. Stand with your feet a little wider than your hips, the bell set about a foot in front of you.
  2. Hinge down, grip the handle with both hands, and hike the bell back between your thighs.
  3. Snap your hips forward to stand tall, letting the bell float up to about shoulder height on straight arms.
  4. Let it fall back between your legs as you hinge again, and go straight into the next rep.

Cues

  • Hips snap, arms just hold on
  • Stand tall at the top
  • Bell passes high between the thighs

Common mistakes

  • Squatting the swing by bending the knees deeply: push your hips back and keep the shins nearly vertical.
  • Lifting the bell with your shoulders: if your arms are working, the hips are not driving it.

Swap for: Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift, Kettlebell Deadlift, Superman

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Put them together: example sessions

Each session below picks from the exercises above for one situation, with the sets, reps, rest and RIR filled in.

Session 1

Gym, two hamstring sessions a week

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets18 a week
  • Per workout~30 min
  • EquipmentBarbells, Seated Leg Curl, Hyperextension, Lying Leg Curl

You train in a gym with a barbell and leg curl machines and want stronger hamstrings for lifting or sport.

Each day has one hinge and one or two curls, so both hamstring jobs are trained twice a week. Day 1 has 9 sets and Day 2 has 9, 18 for the week, with the heavy RDL kept to one day.

Day 1: RDL
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Romanian Deadlift2 warm-up sets first 4 × 5–8 2 3 min
Seated Leg Curl 3 × 8–12 1 90 s
45-Degree Back Extension 2 × 10–15 2 90 s

Open Day 1: RDL in the session builder

Day 2: Curls
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Good Morning2 warm-up sets first 3 × 6–8 2 2:30 min
Lying Leg Curl 3 × 8–12 1 90 s
Nordic Hamstring CurlLower as slowly as you can. 3 × 3–6 2 2 min

Open Day 2: Curls in the session builder

How to run it
Add these to two leg days, three or four days apart. Do the hinge before any squats if hamstrings are your priority.
How to progress
Add 5 to 10 pounds on the RDL and good morning when every set reaches the top of the range at 2 reps in reserve. On curls, add reps, then a plate. For Nordics, lower more slowly before going further toward the floor.
Open in the session builder

Session 2

Home with dumbbells and a ball

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets19 a week
  • Per workout~25 min
  • EquipmentDumbbells, Exercise Ball, Kettlebells

You train at home with dumbbells, a stability ball and a partner who can hold your ankles.

Single-leg RDLs and ball curls make modest dumbbells enough for hamstring strength. Day 1 has 10 sets and Day 2 has 9, 19 for the week.

Day 1
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift1 warm-up set first 4 × 8–12 2 2 min
Single-Leg RDLPer leg. 3 × 8–10 2 90 s
Stability Ball Leg Curl 3 × 8–15 1 1 min

Open Day 1 in the session builder

Day 2
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Kettlebell Swing 3 × 10–15 2 90 s
Nordic Hamstring CurlLower as slowly as you can. 3 × 3–6 2 2 min
Stability Ball Leg CurlOne leg once two legs gets easy. 3 × 10–15 1 1 min

Open Day 2 in the session builder

How to run it
Train Day 1 and Day 2 two or three days apart, so the hamstrings are no longer sore from the RDLs when the Nordics come round. Have someone kneel behind you and hold your ankles for Nordics.
How to progress
On the RDLs, add reps until every set reaches the top of the range, then a heavier dumbbell. On ball curls, move to one leg once you get 15 reps on two. On Nordics, aim to control a little more of the way down each week.
Open in the session builder

Session 3

Field sports and sprinting

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets17 a week
  • Per workout~25 min
  • EquipmentDumbbells, Kettlebells, Glute-Ham Bench, Barbells +1

You play soccer, rugby, football or another sport with sprinting, and want hamstrings that keep producing force at sprint speed.

Sprinting asks the hamstrings to work hard while they lengthen, so this plan leans on Nordics and the assisted glute ham raise, plus a single-leg hinge and swings for hip power. Each day has 8 or 9 sets, 17 for the week, at effort levels that leave your legs fresh for training.

Day A
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Nordic Hamstring CurlLower as slowly as you can. 3 × 3–5 2 2 min
Single-Leg RDL1 warm-up set firstPer leg. 3 × 6–8 2 90 s
Kettlebell Swing 3 × 8–12 2 90 s

Open Day A in the session builder

Day B
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Glute Ham Raise 3 × 5–8 2 2 min
Romanian Deadlift2 warm-up sets first 3 × 5–6 2 3 min
Lying Leg Curl 2 × 8–10 1 90 s

Open Day B in the session builder

How to run it
In season, do Day A early in the week and Day B no later than two days before a game. Off season, both days can be heavier, at 1 rep in reserve.
How to progress
Add Nordic reps or a slower lowering each week. On the single-leg RDL and swings, add weight once every set reaches the top of the range.
Open in the session builder

Make it fit you

Questions

What is the best exercise to strengthen hamstrings?

The Romanian deadlift for the hip side and the seated leg curl or Nordic curl for the knee side. You need one of each, since the hamstrings both extend the hip and bend the knee.

Are squats good for hamstrings?

Not very. The hamstrings stay about the same length through a squat, so they do little work. Use RDLs and curls to train them directly.

Does walking strengthen hamstrings?

Walking keeps them moving but does not load them enough to build strength. Hard sets of hinges and curls, close to failure, are what make them stronger.

How can I strengthen hamstrings without machines?

Use dumbbell and single-leg RDLs, stability ball curls, Nordic curls with your feet anchored, and kettlebell swings. The home plan on this page is built from those.

How often should I train hamstrings?

Twice a week, with 12 to 20 hard sets in total split between hinges and curls. Hamstrings can be sore for a couple of days after RDLs and Nordics, so leave two or three days between sessions.