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Exercises

Machine hamstring exercises: leg curls and hip extension machines

Published October 19, 2026

The best machine hamstring exercises are the seated leg curl and the lying leg curl, followed by the kneeling and one-leg curls for training each side alone. Add one hip-extension machine, the multi-hip or a cable kickback, because curls only bend the knee and your hamstrings also straighten the hip. A lat pulldown seat can double as a cable-assisted glute-ham raise if your gym has no GHR bench. Two curls and one hip extension, taken close to failure, cover the whole muscle without a barbell.

  1. Seated Leg Curl Hamstrings
  2. Lying Leg Curl Hamstrings
  3. Kneeling Leg Curl Hamstrings
  4. Glute Ham Raise Hamstrings, Glutes
  5. Single-Leg Leg Curl Hamstrings
  6. Multi-Hip Glute Extension Glutes

Leg curl machines

Every leg curl bends your knee against a pad, and the difference between them is your hip angle. Seated and kneeling curls bend the hip, which stretches the hamstrings before the curl starts; lying curls keep the hip straight. Training both angles across the week beats doing more sets of just one.

Hamstrings, seated knee curl

Seated Leg Curl

Hamstrings

Sitting bends your hips, which pre-stretches the hamstrings before the knee even moves, so every rep starts with the muscle long. If your gym has both curl machines and you only have room for one, this is the one to keep.

How to do it

  1. Adjust the back rest so your knees line up with the machine's pivot, and set the lower pad just above your heels.
  2. Lock the thigh pad down firmly on top of your legs and hold the handles.
  3. Press the lower pad down and back, knees bending, until your heels pass under the seat.
  4. Hold the bottom for a second, then let your legs come up slowly until they are nearly straight.

Cues

  • Thigh pad tight
  • Lean forward slightly for more stretch
  • Squeeze at the bottom

Common mistakes

  • Leaving the thigh pad loose so your legs lift off the seat: clamp it down before the first rep.
  • Cutting the rep short at the top to move more weight: the stretched end is the useful part, so get your legs nearly straight every rep.

Swap for: Lying Leg Curl, Kneeling Leg Curl, Glute Ham Raise

Build a session with Seated Leg Curl

Hamstrings, prone knee curl

Lying Leg Curl

Hamstrings

Lying face down puts your hips straight, so the hamstrings curl from a fairly short starting length and you can feel the bottom half of each rep load up quickly. It is the most common leg curl in any gym and the easiest one to learn, which makes it the default first pick on this page.

How to do it

  1. Set the pad so it sits on the back of your lower legs just above the heels, and line your knees up with the machine's pivot, just past the end of the bench.
  2. Lie face down, hold the handles, and press your hips into the pad.
  3. Bend your knees and pull the pad toward your glutes as far as it goes, keeping your hips down.
  4. Take two to three seconds to let your legs straighten again, stopping just short of the weight stack touching, then curl again.

Cues

  • Hips pinned to the bench
  • Knees in line with the pivot
  • Slow on the way down

Common mistakes

  • Lifting your hips off the pad to finish the curl: that turns it into a hip movement. Lower the weight until the hips stay put.
  • Letting the stack slam between reps: keep a little tension at the bottom so the hamstrings never switch off.

Swap for: Seated Leg Curl, Single-Leg Leg Curl, Nordic Hamstring Curl

Build a session with Lying Leg Curl

Hamstrings, kneeling one-leg curl

Kneeling Leg Curl

Hamstrings

Kneeling with your torso leaning over the pad bends your hip more than the lying curl does, so the hamstring is worked from a longer position, one leg at a time. Many gyms have this machine tucked in a corner where it is rarely taken.

How to do it

  1. Kneel with one knee on the knee rest and the other leg's ankle hooked under the roller pad, forearms on the support.
  2. Keep your back flat and your hips square to the machine.
  3. Curl your heel toward your glutes as far as the machine allows.
  4. Return over two to three seconds to an almost straight leg, finish the set, and switch legs.

Cues

  • Square hips
  • Heel to glutes
  • Long, slow return

Common mistakes

  • Arching the lower back to swing the weight up: brace your abs and use a weight you can lift with the knee alone.
  • Rushing the lowering half: the slow return is where most of the work happens on a curl.

Swap for: Single-Leg Leg Curl, Seated Leg Curl, Lying Leg Curl

Build a session with Kneeling Leg Curl

Hamstrings, one-leg prone curl

Single-Leg Leg Curl

Hamstrings

A plate-loaded or split-arm lying curl lets each leg work on its own, so a stronger side cannot carry a weaker one. Use it when one hamstring is clearly behind or when you just want to feel each side do its own share.

How to do it

  1. Settle onto the bench chest-down with both ankles under their pads and your knees just past the end of the bench.
  2. Hold the handles and keep your hips pressed down.
  3. Curl one leg toward your glutes while the other stays straight and relaxed.
  4. Lower it under control, finish all reps on that side, then switch. Start each set with your weaker leg.

Cues

  • Weaker leg first
  • Hips flat the whole set
  • Same reps both sides

Common mistakes

  • Twisting your pelvis toward the working leg: lighten the load until both hip bones stay on the pad.
  • Doing more reps on the strong side: match the weaker leg's count, then stop.

Swap for: Lying Leg Curl, Kneeling Leg Curl, Cable Leg Curl

Build a session with Single-Leg Leg Curl

Glute-ham raise on a machine

Lowering your whole body with the knees as the hinge is one of the hardest hamstring exercises there is. The pulldown seat version uses the cable stack to make it lighter, so you can train it for real sets instead of a single grinding rep.

Hamstrings, cable-assisted knee curl on a pulldown seat

Glute Ham Raise

Hamstrings, Glutes

Kneeling backward on a lat pulldown seat with your calves under the thigh pads turns the pulldown into a glute-ham raise station, and holding the bar behind your neck lets the cable stack take part of your body weight. It trains the hamstrings much like a nordic curl, but the stack makes it scalable, so you can do full reps long before you could do a free nordic.

How to do it

  1. Kneel on the pulldown seat facing away from the machine, with your lower legs hooked under the thigh pads.
  2. Reach back and hold the bar behind your neck. More weight on the stack means more help.
  3. Keep your hips straight and lean forward as a single unit until your body is close to parallel with the floor.
  4. Pull yourself back up by bending your knees and driving them into the seat, keeping your hips extended.

Cues

  • Knees to shoulders in one line
  • More stack, more help
  • Pull with the heels

Common mistakes

  • Bending at the hips to make the lean easier: that removes the hamstrings. If you cannot stay straight, add assistance.
  • Dropping into the bottom: lower as slowly as you lift.

Swap for: Nordic Hamstring Curl, Seated Leg Curl, Lying Leg Curl

Build a session with Glute Ham Raise

Hip extension machines for the hamstrings

These move your leg backward from the hip with the knee straight, the job your hamstrings share with your glutes. They are the machine answer to the Romanian deadlift, and the reason a machine-only hamstring routine does not need a barbell.

Glutes and hamstrings, machine hip extension

Multi-Hip Glute Extension

Glutes

Leg curls only bend the knee, but your hamstrings also extend the hip. The multi-hip machine trains that second job one leg at a time with your back unloaded, so it covers the hip side of the hamstrings for anyone who cannot or does not want to hinge with a barbell.

How to do it

  1. Set the machine's roller pad to the back of your thigh, just above the knee, and stand side-on with the working hip lined up with the pivot.
  2. Hold the handles and lean your torso slightly forward with a flat back.
  3. Drive your leg back until it lines up with your torso, keeping the knee mostly straight.
  4. Let the leg come forward slowly and repeat, then switch sides.

Cues

  • Pivot at the hip joint
  • Push the pad back with the thigh
  • No arching at the end

Common mistakes

  • Arching your lower back to push the leg farther: the rep ends when your leg lines up with your body.
  • Bending the knee and pushing with the foot: keep the leg long so the hip does the moving.

Swap for: Machine Glute Kickback, Cable Pull-Through, Glute Ham Raise

Build a session with Multi-Hip Glute Extension

Glutes and hamstrings, cable kickback

Machine Glute Kickback

Glutes

An ankle strap on a low cable lets you kick one leg straight back against a constant pull, so the hip-extension half of the hamstrings works with the glutes. It is the hip-extension option when the multi-hip machine is missing or taken.

How to do it

  1. Strap the cuff around one ankle, attach it to the low pulley, and face the machine holding the frame.
  2. Lean slightly forward and put your weight on the standing leg with a soft knee.
  3. Sweep that leg straight back until it lines up with your torso, squeezing at the end.
  4. Let it return forward under control and repeat, then switch legs.

Cues

  • Lean in a little
  • Leg long, foot relaxed
  • Squeeze, then return slowly

Common mistakes

  • Swinging the leg with momentum: pause for a second at the back of every rep.
  • Twisting the hip open to get the foot higher: keep both hips facing the machine.

Swap for: Multi-Hip Glute Extension, Cable Glute Kickback, Band Glute Kickback

Build a session with Machine Glute Kickback

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. Open one in the session builder to change a pick, price it from a recent set, and add it to RIRLift.

Session 1

Every curl machine and a multi-hip

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets19 a week
  • Per workout~25 min
  • EquipmentSeated Leg Curl, Lying Leg Curl, Hip Abductor

You train at a well-equipped gym with the lying, seated and kneeling curl machines plus a multi-hip, and you want hamstrings built entirely from machines.

Two curls a session, one with the hip bent (seated or kneeling) and one with the hip straight (lying or the one-leg lying), so the hamstrings are trained at both lengths every week, and one hip-extension machine for the part of the muscle curls cannot reach. Machines are stable enough to take to 0 to 1 reps in reserve without form breaking down, so curls run at RIR 1 with the last set to 0, and the hip extension stays at 1. Each session is 9 to 10 working sets.

Hamstrings A
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Seated Leg Curl1 warm-up set firstThigh pad tight. Last set to 0 RIR. 4 × 8–12 1 90 s
Lying Leg CurlHips down. 3 s lowering. 3 × 10–15 1 75 s
Multi-Hip Glute ExtensionPer leg. Leg in line with torso. 3 × 10–15 1 1 min

Open Hamstrings A in the session builder

Hamstrings B
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Kneeling Leg Curl1 warm-up set firstPer leg. Weaker leg first. 3 × 8–12 1 75 s
Single-Leg Leg CurlPer leg. Match reps. 3 × 10–15 1 75 s
Multi-Hip Glute ExtensionPer leg. Pause 1 s at the back. 3 × 12–15 1 1 min

Open Hamstrings B in the session builder

How to run it
Run Hamstrings A and B on your two leg days, or after an upper day if you train legs once. Keep 48 hours between them.
How to progress
Add one rep per set until every set hits the top of its range at the target reps in reserve, then move up one pin on the stack and start back at the bottom of the range.
Open in the session builder

Session 2

One leg curl machine and a cable stack

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets20 a week
  • Per workout~25 min
  • EquipmentSeated Leg Curl, Glute-Ham Bench, Adjustable Cable

Your gym has a single seated leg curl, a lat pulldown and a cable column, and nothing else for hamstrings.

The seated curl carries the session because it is the only true hamstring machine you have, so it gets 4 sets. The pulldown seat becomes a glute-ham raise station for a harder, body-weight knee curl, and the cable kickback stands in for the missing multi-hip. The glute-ham raise is the hardest move here, so it stops at 2 reps in reserve with longer rest, while the curl and kickback go to 1. Ten working sets, once or twice a week.

Hamstrings
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Seated Leg Curl1 warm-up set firstLean forward. Hold 1 s at the bottom. 4 × 8–12 1 90 s
Glute Ham RaisePulldown seat. Body straight, knees to shoulders. 3 × 6–10 2 2 min
Machine Glute KickbackPer leg. Pause at the back. 3 × 12–15 1 1 min
How to run it
Do it on leg day after squats or presses, or on its own as a short posterior-chain session. Set the glute-ham raise stack heavy enough that the last rep is slow but clean.
How to progress
On the glute-ham raise, progress by lowering the stack one plate at a time once all sets hit 10 reps. On the curl and kickback, add reps, then load.
Open in the session builder

Session 3

No barbell hinges, 20 minutes

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts1× a week
  • Working sets6 a week
  • Per workout~15 min
  • EquipmentLying Leg Curl, Hip Abductor

You skip deadlifts and Romanian deadlifts, because of your lower back or because you simply prefer machines, and hamstrings get one short slot a week.

With no hinge, the hip side of the hamstrings has to come from the multi-hip machine, and the knee side from a lying curl, done as a superset so the whole thing fits in about 20 minutes. Neither move loads your spine, so you can push the curl to 0 to 1 reps in reserve. Six working sets is a modest weekly dose, enough to keep progressing if you train them hard every week.

Hamstring Superset
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
A1 Lying Leg Curl1 warm-up set firstSuperset with hip extension. 3 × 10–15 0 90 s
A2 Multi-Hip Glute ExtensionPer leg. Straight from the curl. 3 × 10–15 1 90 s
How to run it
Superset the two moves: one set of lying curls, straight to one set of multi-hip extensions per leg, rest 90 seconds, repeat three times.
How to progress
Add a rep each week. When the lying curl reaches 15 reps on all sets, add weight and add a fourth round once a month if you want more volume.
Open in the session builder

Make it fit you

Questions

What machine works hamstrings best?

The seated leg curl. Sitting bends your hip, so your hamstrings are already stretched when the curl starts, which makes each rep harder through a longer range. If you have it, add the lying curl on a second day so the muscle is trained with the hip straight as well.

Do hamstring curls make your glutes bigger?

Not much. A leg curl bends the knee, and your glutes do not cross the knee, so they barely work. For glutes from a machine, use the multi-hip extension or a cable kickback, which move the leg back from the hip.

What is the difference between leg curls and leg extensions?

A leg curl bends your knee against a pad behind your lower leg and trains the hamstrings on the back of your thigh. A leg extension straightens your knee against a pad in front and trains the quads on the front. Most leg days use one of each.

What are the big 3 leg exercises?

Most lists name the squat, the deadlift and a lunge or leg press. For a machine-only lower body, the equivalents are a leg press or hack squat for quads, a seated or lying leg curl for hamstrings, and a hip extension machine for glutes and the hip side of the hamstrings.

Can you build hamstrings with only machines?

Yes. A curl covers the knee side of the muscle, a hip extension machine covers the hip side, and both can be taken close to failure safely. Aim for 8 to 12 hard sets a week across those two movement types.

How many sets of leg curls should I do?

Three to four hard sets per session, ending 0 to 2 reps short of failure, done once or twice a week. If you curl twice a week, use a different machine angle each day.