The best workout for hamstrings, built for your situation
Published October 12, 2026
The best hamstring workout combines a hip hinge, like the Romanian deadlift, with a leg curl, preferably seated. The hinge trains your hamstrings at the hip and the curl trains them at the knee, so you need both. Do about 14 to 16 hard sets a week split across two sessions, mostly 6 to 15 reps taken 1 to 2 reps short of failure.
Lifters with a year or more of training who have a full gym and hamstrings that lag behind their quads.
Squats build your quads and glutes but left hamstring size unchanged in a 10-week study, so lagging hamstrings need their own work. This add-on gives each of your two leg days a hamstring block, one led by a heavy hinge and one led by a heavier seated curl, for 16 hard sets a week. The barbell hinges and the heavy curl stay at 6 to 12 reps with 2 to 3 minutes of rest; the single-leg RDL and the lighter curl rest 90 seconds and go to 12 and 15 reps. The Nordic is the exception: 3 to 6 reps, stopping 2 short.
Hamstrings A: Hinge
Exercise
Sets × reps
RIR
Rest
Romanian Deadlift2 warm-up sets firstStop when your hips stop moving back
Run Hamstrings A on one leg day and Hamstrings B on the other, so each block happens once a week. Remove the curls and hinges your leg days already have, or you will double your hamstring volume.
How to progress
Use double progression: when every set reaches the top of the rep range at the target RIR, add the smallest load jump next time. Barbells move in 5 lb steps, machines one plate; for Nordics, lower more slowly and further before adding reps.
Anyone training at home with a pair of dumbbells, an exercise ball and something sturdy to hook their heels under.
With no machine, the Nordic and the ball curl take over the knee side and a one-leg-biased hinge makes light dumbbells hard enough. Most sets run 8 to 20 reps at 0 to 1 reps in reserve, because lighter loads build muscle as well as heavy ones when sets end close to failure. The Nordic is the exception: at 3 to 6 reps it stays 2 short of failure, and it goes first while you're fresh. Weekly that's 16 hard sets.
Do this session twice a week with at least two days between, for example Tuesday and Friday. Drop any other hamstring work from your week while you run it.
How to progress
Add reps until every set hits the top of the range, then make it harder without heavier weights: slower lowering on the hinge, one leg on the ball curl, and a longer, slower Nordic. Move to heavier dumbbells once 12 clean reps per leg on the hinge come easy.
Lifters whose hamstrings cramp during curls or who have strained one before and want to train them hard again without guessing.
The order and the effort change, not the muscle. The seated curl goes first, as a simple machine movement that warms your hamstrings up before the hinge, and every set starts 2 to 3 reps short of failure with slow lowering, so you build volume before intensity. Seated keeps your hamstrings long while they work, and the Nordic starts as a partial you control. That's 14 hard sets a week.
Controlled Hamstrings
Exercise
Sets × reps
RIR
Rest
Seated Leg Curl2 warm-up sets firstIf it cramps, stop an inch short of the squeeze
Run this session twice a week with at least two days between. Don't put sprints or heavy deadlifts on the day before.
How to progress
Grow the range first, then the load, then the effort: on the Nordic, lower a little further each week before adding reps; on the curl and hinge, add reps to the top of the range, then load. After 4 smooth weeks, take one RIR off the targets, down to 1.
Without a machine, the Nordic hamstring curl and a floor curl on an exercise ball replace the leg curl, and a dumbbell hinge covers the hip. The Nordic is hard enough to stay heavy for years, because you control how far you lower. Pair it with a hinge you can load with light weights, like the Dumbbell B-Stance RDL, and run the home plan twice a week.
Dumbbells cover the hinge well: the Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift when you have heavy enough weights, and the Dumbbell B-Stance RDL or Single-Leg RDL when you don't, since putting most of your weight on one leg nearly doubles the load on it. Dumbbells can't load a curl, so add Nordics or a ball curl for the knee side.
Hinges train both muscles at once, so a Romanian deadlift or stiff-leg deadlift is the shared anchor. Add a seated leg curl for the hamstrings alone and a hip thrust for the glutes alone, because neither the curl nor the thrust does the other's job. The glutes page has the thrust side in detail.
The hinge you can load heaviest and progress longest. It trains your hamstrings where they cross the hip, which a leg curl can't do.
How to do it
Start standing with the bar at your thighs, hands just outside your legs, feet hip-width.
Unlock your knees a little and keep that bend fixed for the whole rep.
Push your hips straight back and let the bar slide down your thighs, keeping your back flat.
Stop when your hips stop moving back, usually around mid-shin, then drive your hips forward to stand.
Cues
Hips back, not chest down
Bar touches your legs the whole way
Knees stay where they started
Common mistakes
Bending your knees more as you go down turns it into a squat. Fix the knee angle at the top and keep it.
Chasing depth by rounding your lower back. End the rep where your hips stop traveling back.
Swap for: Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift, Stiff-Leg Deadlift, Landmine RDL
Knee curl at long length
Seated Leg Curl
Hamstrings
Sitting bends your hips, which keeps your hamstrings stretched while you curl. In a 12-week trial, seated curls grew the hamstrings more than lying curls with the same sets and reps.
How to do it
Adjust the seat so the machine's pivot sits level with the side of your knee.
Drop the thigh pad until it pins your legs, then set the ankle pad low on your calves.
Lean your chest a little forward, grip the handles, and curl until your heels are tucked as far under the seat as the machine goes.
Let the pad rise slowly until your knees are almost straight before starting the next rep.
Cues
Lean your chest slightly forward
Full stretch at the top
Slower on the way up
Common mistakes
A loose thigh pad lets your hips lift and cut the stretch. Clamp it down before the first rep.
Stopping short of a straight knee. Let the pad come almost all the way up every rep.
Swap for: Lying Leg Curl, Kneeling Leg Curl, Cable Leg Curl
One-leg hinge, more load per side
Single-Leg RDL
Hamstrings, Glutes
One leg carries the whole dumbbell, so moderate weights become a hard hinge, and it catches a side that's been coasting. Use it after the heavy hinge, when balance matters less than effort.
How to do it
Hold a dumbbell in the hand opposite your working leg and stand on that leg with the knee slightly bent.
Hinge forward, letting your free leg rise behind you in line with your torso.
Lower until you feel a strong stretch in the back of the standing thigh, keeping your hips square to the floor.
Drive through your standing heel to return upright.
Cues
Hips square, toes down on the back leg
Reach the dumbbell toward your standing foot
Touch a wall or rack for balance if you need to
Common mistakes
Opening your hip toward the ceiling. Point the back foot's toes at the floor.
Rushing the lowering to save your balance. Hold something steady and slow down.
Swap for: Dumbbell B-Stance RDL, Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift
Straighter-knee hinge, from the floor
Stiff-Leg Deadlift
Hamstrings, Glutes
Keeping your knees nearly straight puts more of the stretch on your hamstrings than a Romanian deadlift. It gives the second hinge of the week a different range without adding a new skill.
How to do it
Stand with the bar over your mid-foot, feet hip-width.
Soften your knees just enough to unlock them, then hinge down to grip the bar outside your legs.
Flatten your back and stand up by driving your hips forward, keeping your knees nearly straight.
Lower under control by pushing your hips back, as far as your back stays flat.
Cues
Soft knees, not locked
Flat back sets the depth
Bar close to your shins
Common mistakes
Locking your knees hard. Keep a small bend so the stretch lands in the hamstrings, not behind the knee.
Pulling from the floor with a rounded back. Elevate the plates on blocks if you can't reach the floor flat.
Swap for: Romanian Deadlift, Good Morning, Landmine RDL
Knee curl, lowering only, no machine
Nordic Hamstring Curl
Hamstrings
You lower your whole body with your hamstrings, which makes it one of the hardest curls there is and needs no machine. Training it grew the hamstrings and lengthened their fibers in a 10-week trial.
How to do it
Kneel on a pad and anchor your heels under a loaded bar, a heavy couch, or a partner's hands.
Keep your hips straight so your body forms one line from knees to head.
Lean forward as slowly as you can, resisting with your hamstrings, until you can't hold it any longer.
Catch yourself with your hands, push off the floor, and use as little help as possible to return.
Cues
Hips forward, no bend at the waist
Fight for every inch on the way down
Push back up, don't curl up
Common mistakes
Bending at the hips to shorten the lever. Squeeze your glutes and keep a straight line.
Dropping fast once it gets hard. Stop the set where you can no longer control the lowering.
Swap for: Stability Ball Leg Curl, TRX Leg Curl, Seated Leg Curl
Hinge biased to one leg, light dumbbells
Dumbbell B-Stance RDL
Hamstrings, Glutes
Your back foot only steadies you, so the front leg does most of the work with far less balance demand than a single-leg RDL. Light dumbbells become hard enough for a home plan.
How to do it
Hold a dumbbell in each hand and step one foot back so its toes line up with your front heel.
Put about 80 to 90 percent of your weight on the front foot, front knee slightly bent.
Hinge your hips back and lower the dumbbells along the front shin until your hips stop moving back.
Drive through the front heel to stand, then finish all reps before switching sides.
Cues
Front heel does the work
Back foot is a kickstand
Dumbbells close to the front leg
Common mistakes
Shifting weight onto the back foot as the set gets hard. Keep it light on its toes.
Squatting down instead of hinging. Hold the front knee angle and move only at the hips.
Swap for: Single-Leg RDL, Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift
Floor curl, home machine replacement
Stability Ball Leg Curl
Hamstrings
It trains your hamstrings at the knee while your hips stay lifted, which makes it the closest thing to a leg curl machine at home. It goes from two legs to one when it gets easy.
How to do it
Pick a ball that puts your hips a few inches off the floor when your legs rest on it, and set it under your lower calves.
Press your arms into the floor and drive your hips up until knees, hips and shoulders line up.
Dig your heels down and drag the ball toward you until your knees point at the ceiling, without letting your hips drop.
Push the ball away over 2 to 3 seconds until your knees straighten, hips still high, then repeat.
Cues
Hips stay high the whole set
Heels dig into the ball
Slow on the way out
Common mistakes
Hips sagging as you roll the ball out. Squeeze your glutes and shorten the range until they stay up.
Rolling the ball out fast. Take 2 to 3 seconds to straighten your legs.
Swap for: TRX Leg Curl, Band Leg Curl, Nordic Hamstring Curl
Controlled hinge, self-set range
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift
Hamstrings, Glutes
Dumbbells hang at your sides, so you can stop exactly where the stretch is firm and adjust the range set to set. That control is why it's the hinge in the cramp-prone plan.
How to do it
Stand with a dumbbell in each hand in front of your thighs, feet hip-width, knees slightly bent.
Push your hips back and let the dumbbells slide down the front of your legs.
Stop at a firm stretch in the back of your thighs, with your back still flat.
Drive your hips forward to stand, squeezing your glutes at the top.
Cues
Stretch, not strain
Dumbbells brush your legs
Lower for 3 to 4 seconds
Common mistakes
Letting the dumbbells drift forward. Keep them touching your legs to keep the load on your hamstrings.
Going deeper than you control. Your range ends where your back stays flat and the lowering stays smooth.
Swap for: Romanian Deadlift, Dumbbell B-Stance RDL
Make it fit you
Seated over lying curls
If your gym has both, pick the seated curl. Bending at the hip keeps your hamstrings stretched through the rep, and seated curls grew them more than lying curls in a direct comparison. If only a lying machine is free, use it and let your knees open fully at the bottom of every rep.
Hamstrings that cramp mid-set
If they cramp at the top of a curl, switch to the seated curl, stop an inch short of the full squeeze, keep your toes relaxed, and rest longer between sets. If they only cramp on the last reps, end each set one or two reps earlier.
Short on time
Keep the first exercise of each routine and cut the third. You keep most of the hard sets and the more important movement of the day. On the add-on plan, superset the curl with a calf raise or an ab exercise to save rest time.
Hardest movement first
Start each session with the movement that falls apart first under fatigue. That's the heavy hinge on Hamstrings A, the heavy seated curl on Hamstrings B, and the Nordic at home. The controlled plan is the exception: a seated curl first gets your hamstrings ready before you load the hinge.
Count hamstring sets on their own
Squats left hamstring size unchanged in a 10-week study, so don't count squat or leg press sets toward your hamstrings. Log reps in reserve on every hinge and curl; RIRLift shows weekly hard sets per muscle, so you can see whether hamstrings actually got their 14 to 16.
Questions
What is the best workout for your hamstrings?
One hip hinge plus one leg curl, twice a week. A Romanian deadlift and a seated leg curl for 3 sets each per session, 6 to 15 reps, 1 to 2 reps short of failure, covers both jobs the muscle does. The add-on plan above is built on that pattern.
What are the top 3 exercises for hamstrings?
The Romanian deadlift for the hip, the seated leg curl for the knee, and the Nordic hamstring curl for hard lowering with no machine. If you can only do two, make it a hinge and one curl rather than two hinges.
Is the seated or lying leg curl better?
Seated, for muscle growth. A study measuring muscle activity found lying curls light up the hamstrings strongly, but a 12-week trial that measured actual growth found seated curls grew them more, 14% versus 9%. Measured growth beats a snapshot of activity.
Do squats work hamstrings?
Barely. In a 10-week study, full and half squats both grew the quads and glutes but left hamstring size unchanged. Your hamstrings need a hinge and a curl of their own.
Are hamstrings difficult to grow?
They're easy to undertrain, which looks like the same thing. Squats left hamstring size unchanged in a 10-week study, so a squat-heavy program plus a few sets of curls leaves them behind. Train them with both a hinge and a curl for 10 or more hard sets a week.
How to build bulletproof hamstrings?
Train them hard and often, including heavy lowering. Across studies of 8,459 team-sport athletes, programs that included the Nordic hamstring curl had about half the rate of hamstring injuries. Start with partial Nordics and lengthen the range week by week.
How many sets a week for hamstrings?
About 10 to 20 hard sets if you've been training a while, fewer if you're new. More weekly sets tend to build more muscle, and splitting them across two sessions works at least as well as one. The plans here land between 14 and 16.
Can you train hamstrings without machines?
Yes. Use the Nordic hamstring curl and a ball or TRX curl for the knee side and a dumbbell hinge for the hip. Take the high-rep sets close to failure, because lighter loads build muscle as well as heavy ones when the set is hard.
