hamstring exercises

[redleg]

ok my gym sucks!! i do squats for my main exercise, but all they have for hamstrings is a prone leg curl machine. the one with the independant legs. so all i have been doing for hams is straight leg D/L's; or romanian D/L; or the prone leg curls. any suggestions for exercises i can do with such limited equipment. looking for a variety.

 

[Fatty4You]

From what i have been told, stiff [strait] leg deads are super for your hamstrings.... With those and the leg curl machines, i dont know what else they make for hamstrings.

-Fatty

 

[2Shy]

My gym really lacks in the equipment department. I doubt that yours has a glute-ham machine (I understand they're rare). If they have a pulley station, try some pull-throughs. They really work the glutes and hams.

http://www.elitefts.com (sorry I can't get the link tool to work) has a video of these being done.

 

[redleg]

i do pull thrus already but i feel them more in the hips than hams, and glutes.

 

[PolishHammer1977]

squats never hurt anyone

 

[collegiateLifter]

good mornings. i like 'em as do atleast a few others on this board.

 

[jerkbox]

squats and stiffies are all you need...

 

[b fold the truth]

good mornings, rev hypers, glute ham raises...be creative!!!

B True

 

[Ehiems]

45% leg press machine? High, wide foot position usually hits those hams!

 

[spatts]

Squats.

 

[Citruscide]

I love stiff legged deadlifts... they hit mine like NOOObody's business... Squats hit mine too ... combinding the two exercises really do the trick.

Now... thinking about these Zercher... thingies I keep hering about...

C-ditty

 

[supersizeme]

Squats never did much for my hams that I could tell. I was never sore in my hamstrings after a day of doing squats and no ham-specific work. I also thought stiff legged deadlifts were the "end all be all" of hamstring exercises and thus never did a leg curl for the first 2 years of my training. I was sl dl'ing 300lbs for reps at that point thinking that my hams were strong. Then one day I sat down on a leg curl machine for the hell of it and got a whopping 60lbs for 10 reps before hitting failure. I don't know if it was due to extremely weak hams or weak tendons, but I have been leg curling ever since and am now up to 150 for 11 after 6 months. Obviously this has thickened my hams up, and they get sore every single time. I trained them on Monday and they are still sore right now.

 

[michaelcoutts]

i find it hard to stiff legged deadlifts due to my poor flexibility.

The bar gets absolutely no where near the ground so u can imagine how difficult it is.

Sprinting and powerful running is damm good for the hamstrings. Thats why all of those 100m sprinters have good hams.

 

[TxRugby_8]

Gastoric Ham Raises. I'm sure your gym doesn't have the machine but you can get creative. If i'm at a gym that doesn't have them i use the incline ab board. I lay it flat on the floor. You kneel on the board with your legs under the pads and just lower yourself to the ground and raise yourself back up. for the first 2 or 3 weeks you'll basically be doing negatives because it's one of the hardest exercises to do but it definitly reaks major benefits. one of the number one exercises for incresing running speed and hamstring power. the majority of pro track athletes, or any pro athlete for that matter, incorprates this into their routine. try it out, you're hammys and ass will love you for it.

 

[redleg]

tx rugby 8, sounds like my kinda exercise. nay ideas of where i can find some pics or vids of it in action. i love trying new exercises i need varitiy in my work out