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Exercises

Warm up for hamstrings: lengthen them, then make them curl

Published October 24, 2026

Warm up your hamstrings with 4 minutes of incline treadmill walking, then 10 leg swings per leg, 5 walkouts, 6 single-leg Romanian deadlifts per side with no weight, 8 bodyweight lying leg curls and 8 stability ball leg curls. That covers both jobs the hamstrings do: lengthening as your hips fold and bending your knee. Then do 2 or 3 lighter sets of your first hamstring lift, such as Romanian deadlifts or leg curls.

  1. Treadmill Walk Quads, Glutes, Calves
  2. Leg Swings Hamstrings, Glutes
  3. Walkout Abs, Shoulders, Chest
  4. Single-Leg RDL Hamstrings, Glutes
  5. Band Leg Curl Hamstrings
  6. Stability Ball Leg Curl Hamstrings

Walk uphill for 4 minutes

An incline walk makes every stride open the hip a little further than flat walking does, so the hamstrings warm up with the rest of you. Set the incline high and the speed low.

Uphill walk

Treadmill Walk

Quads, Glutes, Calves

A steep, slow walk warms the back of the legs with every step and costs almost no energy.

How to do it

  1. Set the treadmill to an incline of 8 to 12 and a slow speed.
  2. Walk tall without holding the rails, taking full strides.
  3. Keep going for 4 minutes.

Cues

  • Hands off the rails
  • Long strides

Common mistakes

  • Leaning on the rails: slow down until you can walk freely.

Swap for: Brisk Walk, Stair Climber

Build a session with Treadmill Walk

Move them through a long range

Leg swings, walkouts and single-leg RDLs each take the hamstrings toward a stretch and back, under no load or bodyweight. Let the range grow over the reps without forcing it. Keep long held stretches for after the session.

Front-to-back range

Leg Swings

Hamstrings, Glutes

Each forward swing takes the hamstring toward its end range and lets it go straight away, the gentlest way to loosen it.

How to do it

  1. Hold a support at your side and stand on one leg.
  2. Swing the other leg forward and back, nearly straight.
  3. Let it rise a bit higher each time, 10 per leg.

Cues

  • Relaxed swing
  • Standing leg straight

Common mistakes

  • Rounding the back to swing higher: keep the torso tall.

Swap for: Walkout, Standing Side Leg Raise

Build a session with Leg Swings

Fold and plank

Walkout

Abs, Shoulders, Chest

Folding at the hips with soft knees and walking out works the hamstring stretch into a plank, with your bodyweight doing the work.

How to do it

  1. From standing, fold down until your hands rest on the floor.
  2. Walk them out to a plank, then back toward your feet.
  3. Straighten your legs a little more each rep before you stand. Do 5.

Cues

  • Soft knees first, straighter later
  • Walk the hands, not the feet

Common mistakes

  • Locking the knees from the first rep: let the range come over the set.

Swap for: Leg Swings, Bear Crawl

Build a session with Walkout

Loaded stretch on one leg

Single-Leg RDL

Hamstrings, Glutes

Balancing on one leg while you hinge gives the hamstring of the standing leg a long stretch and makes your hips and ankle stabilize too.

How to do it

  1. Stand on one leg, knee softly bent, with a light dumbbell in the opposite hand.
  2. Hinge forward as the free leg reaches back, until your body is close to level.
  3. Return to standing and do 6 per side.

Cues

  • Hips square to the floor
  • Reach the back heel away

Common mistakes

  • Turning the hip open as the leg rises: keep both hip bones facing the floor.

Swap for: Romanian Deadlift, Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift

Build a session with Single-Leg RDL

Make them work at the knee

The hamstrings also bend the knee. Lying leg curls with no weight and leg curls on a ball warm that job up before any heavy curl or sprint.

Knee bend, light band

Band Leg Curl

Hamstrings

Standing on one leg with a mini band around both ankles, you bend the other knee and pull the heel up behind you. It wakes the hamstrings at the knee in a few easy reps, with no machine and no lying down.

How to do it

  1. Loop a light mini band around both ankles and stand tall with your feet under your hips, one hand on a wall or rack if you want balance.
  2. Keep your thighs side by side and bend one knee, drawing that heel up toward your seat against the band.
  3. Pause for a breath when your shin is close to level with the floor, then let the foot come back down slowly.
  4. Finish the reps on that leg, then switch.

Cues

  • Knees stay next to each other
  • Heel up, not the hip forward
  • Slow on the way down

Common mistakes

  • Swinging the thigh forward to lift the heel higher: keep the knee pointing at the floor and accept a shorter range.
  • Leaning the chest forward to cheat the rep: stay tall and use a lighter band.

Swap for: Stability Ball Leg Curl, Lying Leg Curl

Build a session with Band Leg Curl

Curl with a bridge

Stability Ball Leg Curl

Hamstrings

Holding your hips up while you roll a ball in makes the hamstrings bend the knee and hold the hips at once, a step up from the band curl.

How to do it

  1. Lie face up with your heels on a stability ball and your arms on the floor.
  2. Lift your hips into a bridge.
  3. Roll the ball toward you by bending your knees, then roll it back out without dropping your hips. Do 8.

Cues

  • Hips stay up
  • Roll slow

Common mistakes

  • Letting the hips drop as the ball rolls out: stop the set when you cannot keep them up.

Swap for: TRX Leg Curl, Band Leg Curl

Build a session with Stability Ball Leg Curl

Lighter sets of your first hamstring lift

Climb toward your working weight in 2 or 3 sets with fewer reps each time. Romanian deadlifts and machine curls take regular warm-up sets; nordics need a couple of easy partial reps instead.

First lift: hinge

Romanian Deadlift

Hamstrings, Glutes

The Romanian deadlift loads the hamstrings in their longest position. Two lighter sets with the bar let you find the bottom of your range before the heavy sets.

How to do it

  1. Start standing with the bar at your hips, hands just outside your thighs.
  2. Send your hips back with soft knees, sliding the bar down your thighs.
  3. Stop when the hamstrings won't let you go lower with a flat back, then stand tall.

Cues

  • Hips back, not down
  • Flat back at the bottom

Common mistakes

  • Turning it into a squat: the knee bend stays small and fixed.

Swap for: Stiff-Leg Deadlift, Single-Leg RDL

Build a session with Romanian Deadlift

First lift: machine curl

Lying Leg Curl

Hamstrings

Lying face down on the machine trains the hamstrings at the knee. Two lighter sets get the knees moving smoothly before the hard sets.

How to do it

  1. Lie face down with the pad just above your heels and your knees just off the bench edge.
  2. Curl the pad toward your glutes without lifting your hips.
  3. Lower slowly to straight legs.

Cues

  • Hips down
  • Three seconds down

Common mistakes

  • Jerking the weight up: if you need to swing, it is too heavy.

Swap for: Seated Leg Curl, Band Leg Curl

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Machine curl, seated

Seated Leg Curl

Hamstrings

Sitting bends the hip, so the hamstrings work from a longer position than on the lying machine. Swap it in when that machine is free.

How to do it

  1. Sit with the backrest set so your knees line up with the machine pivot and the pad behind your lower calves.
  2. Lower the thigh pad onto your legs, then curl the pad down and under.
  3. Return slowly until the legs are nearly straight.

Cues

  • Knees on the pivot
  • Control the return

Common mistakes

  • Letting the weight stack slam: keep tension all the way back.

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

Build a session with Seated Leg Curl

Hardest hamstring lift

Nordic Hamstring Curl

Hamstrings

Lowering your body forward from kneeling with your ankles held is a heavy hamstring load. Warm up with a couple of short partial reps before full ones.

How to do it

  1. Kneel on a pad with a partner holding your ankles.
  2. Keeping your body straight from knees to head, lean forward as slowly as you can.
  3. Catch yourself with your hands, push back up, and repeat. Start with partial lowers for the warm-up.

Cues

  • Straight line, knees to head
  • Fight the fall

Common mistakes

  • Bending at the hips to make it easier: keep the hips locked open.

Swap for: Glute Ham Raise, Stability Ball Leg Curl

Build a session with Nordic Hamstring Curl

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

Romanian deadlift day

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts1× a week
  • Working sets14 a week
  • Per workout~25 min
  • EquipmentTreadmill, Dumbbells, Resistance Bands, Barbells +1

Your session starts with Romanian deadlifts and your hamstrings feel tight.

All three range moves come first because the RDL loads the hamstrings in a stretch. The work sets run at 2 reps in reserve, hard enough to count while leaving a little in the tank.

RDL day
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Treadmill WalkSeconds. Steep incline. 4 × 60 4 0 s
Leg SwingsPer leg. 1 × 10 4 0 s
Walkout 1 × 5 4 0 s
Single-Leg RDLPer side. No weight. 1 × 6 4 15 s
Band Leg Curl 1 × 8–10 4 15 s
Romanian Deadlift2 warm-up sets first 3 × 6–10 2 2:30 min
Lying Leg Curl 3 × 10–15 1 90 s
How to run it
Walk, then do the range moves and curls, then build up on the RDL.
How to progress
Add weight when you can hit 10 reps at 2 reps in reserve on every set.
Open in the session builder

Session 2

Machine leg curl day

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets22 a week
  • Per workout~20 min
  • EquipmentTreadmill, Resistance Bands, Exercise Ball, Seated Leg Curl +1

Your session is mostly machine leg curls.

The range moves get one short set and the two curl warm-ups do more of the work, since the machine trains the knee. Curls are easy to recover from, so the work sets go to 1 rep in reserve.

Curl day
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Treadmill WalkSeconds. 3 × 60 4 0 s
Leg SwingsPer leg. 1 × 10 4 0 s
Band Leg Curl 1 × 10 4 0 s
Stability Ball Leg Curl 1 × 8 4 15 s
Seated Leg Curl2 warm-up sets first 3 × 10–15 1 90 s
Lying Leg Curl 2 × 10–15 1 90 s
How to run it
Walk, swing, then the two curls, then the seated machine.
How to progress
Add reps first, then weight.
Open in the session builder

Session 3

Nordic curl day

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts1× a week
  • Working sets11 a week
  • Per workout~20 min
  • EquipmentTreadmill, Dumbbells, Exercise Ball

You train nordics and want the hamstrings ready for a heavy lowering.

Single-leg RDLs and ball curls build up both hamstring jobs, then partial nordics stand in for warm-up sets. Keep 1 to 2 reps in reserve on nordics, which are very hard to recover from when taken to failure.

Nordic day
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Treadmill WalkSeconds. 4 × 60 4 0 s
Walkout 1 × 5 4 0 s
Single-Leg RDLPer side. 1 × 6 4 0 s
Stability Ball Leg Curl 2 × 8 4 15 s
Nordic Hamstring Curl2 warm-up sets firstPartial reps for the warm-up sets. 3 × 3–6 2 2:30 min
How to run it
Do the full warm-up, then 2 partial nordic reps, then your work sets.
How to progress
Lower a little further each week before you add reps.
Open in the session builder

Make it fit you

Questions

How do I warm up my hamstrings?

Walk on an incline for a few minutes, then do leg swings, walkouts and single-leg RDLs, then a couple of leg curls with no weight, then lighter sets of your first lift.

Does stretching count as a hamstring warm-up?

Short moving stretches do. Long holds do not warm the muscle much, and fit better after training.

What is the fastest way to loosen tight hamstrings before training?

A few minutes of incline walking, then leg swings and walkouts, letting the range grow each rep.

How do you do a hamstring hinge stretch?

Stand on one or both legs with soft knees, push your hips back with a flat back until you feel the back of your thighs pull, then stand up again. That is the single-leg RDL and walkout here.

Should I warm up hamstrings before leg day?

Yes, especially before deadlifts, RDLs and curls. Even one set of leg swings and walkouts helps.