Hamstring Curls: 6 Variations From Basic to Advanced

Hamstring curls are isolation exercises that strengthen the muscles on the backs of your thighs by bending the knee and drawing the heel toward the glutes. You can perform hamstring curls with your body weight, a resistance band, dumbbell, stability ball, or gliders, so you don’t need access to a leg curl machine.

Your hamstrings help bend your knees, extend your hips, and rotate your legs. They’re involved in everyday functional activities, including walking and climbing stairs, and work during compound exercises such as squats and deadlifts.

Adding targeted hamstring exercises to your resistance-training routine can help develop lower-body strength and power while strengthening an important part of your posterior chain.

Below are six hamstring curl variations, ranging from beginner-friendly banded curls to the challenging Nordic hamstring curl.

Who Should Do Hamstring Curls?

Hamstring curls benefit athletes, recreational exercisers, and anyone looking to build lower-body strength, prevent injury, or improve functional movement patterns. Whether you’re training for a sport, recovering from an injury, or simply want a more defined backside, hamstring curls can help you reach your goals.

How to Do a Hamstring Curl

While hamstring curl variations differ in equipment and positioning, they all share the same fundamental movement pattern: knee flexion. The goal is to draw your heel toward your glutes in a controlled motion, engaging the muscles on the back of your thigh throughout the entire range of motion.

Focus on these key elements for every variation:

Controlled tempo: Avoid using momentum. Slow, deliberate movements maximize muscle engagement.
Full range of motion: Draw your heel as close to your glutes as possible, then fully extend without locking your knee.
Core engagement: Keep your core braced to stabilize your body and protect your lower back.

1. Standing Hamstring Curl

Difficulty level: easy to moderate

This standing, single-leg hamstring curl can be performed as a bodyweight exercise or with a resistance band looped around your ankles.

Setup:

Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Place your hands on your hips or hold onto a stable surface, like the back of a chair or a wall, for balance.

Movement:

Shift your weight to your right leg and, keeping your left foot flexed, slowly draw your left heel toward your butt.
Once you’ve gone as far as you can go, pause for a second. Slowly lower your left foot to the ground.
Repeat for the specified number of repetitions, then switch legs.

2. Seated Hamstring Curl

Difficulty level: easy to moderate

To perform seated hamstring curls, anchor a resistance band to a pole, weight rack, or heavy fixture at about ankle height. Arrange your chair or bench so that you’re facing the anchor point.

Setup:

Sit on the bench and extend your right leg so there’s a soft bend in your knee. Loop the open end of the resistance band around the back of your right ankle. (Alternatively, you can place the band around both ankles to work both legs at the same time.) There should be a moderate amount of tension on the band. This is your starting position.

Movement:

Keeping your chest up and your shoulders back, slowly draw your right heel back toward the bench as far as you can. Pause for a second.
Slowly extend your leg to return to the starting position.
Repeat for the specified number of reps, then switch legs.

3. Glider Hamstring Curl

Difficulty level: easy to moderate

The glider hamstring curl takes the already challenging glute bridge and dials it up a notch. If you don’t have gliders, try substituting paper plates or wearing slippery socks on hard flooring.

Setup:

Lie on your back with your arms at your sides, knees bent 90 degrees, and left heel resting on a glider.

Movement:

Engage your core and lift your hips so your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your knees. This is your starting position.
With control, slowly extend your left leg by sliding the glider away from your hips.
Go as far as you can while still maintaining control and keeping your hips lifted. Then, use your hamstrings and glutes to slide the glider back toward your hips.
Return to the starting position and repeat for the specified number of reps before switching sides.

4. Lying Hamstring Curl

Difficulty level: moderate to challenging

When performed with a dumbbell between your feet, the lying hamstring curl — also known as the prone hamstring curl — engages the hamstring muscles in both legs. You can also anchor one end of a resistance band to a pole, weight rack, or heavy fixture at about ankle height and slip the other end of the band around one or both ankles.

Setup:

Lie face down with your legs together and your forehead resting on your hands. If you’re using a dumbbell, place the handle between your feet. If you’re using a resistance band, make sure you’re facing away from the anchor point and loop the open end around the backs of both ankles. (If you’d prefer to work one leg at a time, loop it around one ankle and keep the other leg extended on the floor.)

Movement:

Engage your core and, keeping your feet flexed, slowly draw your heels toward your butt. Continue to keep your thighs pressed against the ground.
Once you’ve gone as far as you can, pause, then slowly lower your feet back toward the ground.
Repeat for the specified number of reps. (If you opt for the single-leg lying hamstring curl, complete every repetition on one leg before switching sides.)

5. Stability Ball Hamstring Curl

Difficulty level: moderate to challenging

By introducing an element of instability, the Swiss ball hamstring curl tests your balance and fires up your core muscles while also building strength in your hamstrings.

Setup:

Lie face up with your back on the ground, legs extended, and calves resting on the stability ball. Open your arms to a “T” position to aid balance.

Movement:

Engage your core, contract your glutes, and press the backs of your legs into the ball to lift your butt off the ground until your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles. This is the starting position.
With your feet flexed, slowly draw your heels toward your butt, allowing the ball to roll toward you and under your feet.
Pause, then slowly extend your legs, rolling the ball away from you until your legs are fully stretched out, to return to the starting position.
Repeat, keeping your hips lifted, for the specified number of reps.

6. Nordic Hamstring Curl

Difficulty level: challenging

If you’re looking for a challenge, give the Nordic hamstring curl a shot. Performed from a kneeling position, this advanced movement requires enough hamstring strength to both lower and lift your torso with control.

Setup:

Start in a tall kneeling position. (Place a rolled-up towel or pad under your knees for comfort.) Anchor your feet by slipping your heels under a heavy weight rack or piece of furniture, or ask a partner to hold your feet in place.

Movement:

Keeping your core engaged, slowly lean forward at your knees and lower your torso to the floor. Use your glutes and hamstrings to control your descent.
Once your quads are touching the floor or are a few inches from it, allow your hands to catch the weight of your body against the ground. Immediately draw yourself back up to a tall kneeling position using your hamstrings and glutes. If necessary, use your hands to assist you.
Repeat for the specified number of reps.

Hamstring Curl Variations Comparison

Variation	Difficulty Level	Equipment Needed	Primary Benefit
Standing Hamstring Curl	Easy to moderate	None or resistance band	Balance and single-leg strength
Seated Hamstring Curl	Easy to moderate	Resistance band, chair or bench	Beginner-friendly isolation
Glider Hamstring Curl	Easy to moderate	Gliders or paper plates	Core and glute engagement
Lying Hamstring Curl	Moderate to challenging	Dumbbell or resistance band	Bilateral hamstring loading
Stability Ball Hamstring Curl	Moderate to challenging	Stability ball	Balance and core activation
Nordic Hamstring Curl	Challenging	Anchor point or partner	Injury prevention and eccentric strength

Hamstring Curls: Benefits

Your hamstring muscles play a critical role in flexing your knees and extending and rotating your hips. You need them for everyday movements like walking, running, squatting, climbing stairs, and bending over.

Adding hamstring curls to your workout can help you maintain healthy functional movement patterns by strengthening these muscles, but that’s not their only benefit. Here are a few more reasons to consider incorporating leg curls into your strength-training routine.

Versatility

There’s a hamstring curl option for every level of ability and experience, and you can easily make each variation harder or easier by adjusting the resistance. Just look at the above list of options to find the right fit for your fitness level.

Strength and power

Hamstring curls help develop lower-body strength and explosive power. The hamstring muscles contain a large amount of type II muscle fibers, which are responsible for quickly generating large amounts of force. So, whether you play a sport or just want to climb stairs faster, hamstring curls can help you get there.

Injury prevention

Hamstring curls may reduce sports-related hamstring injuries by up to 51 percent. Research shows that regularly performing the hamstring curl — the Nordic hamstring curl, specifically, which applies load to the hamstrings as they are lengthened — is particularly effective for injury prevention.

Addresses imbalances

Hamstring curls help restore and maintain muscular balance between the front and back of your legs. As visual creatures, we tend to focus on the “mirror muscles,” or the body parts we can see, and forget about the muscles that make up the posterior chain. This can create problematic muscle imbalances that can lead to movement compensations and injury.

Exercises that strengthen the muscles that run along the backside of the body, like the hamstring curl, can help correct these imbalances.

A shapely rear

Hamstring curls can help accentuate your butt, making it look tighter and more lifted. It’s not all about the legs. Hamstring curls can trigger hypertrophy, or muscle growth, which helps create a more shapely booty.

What Muscles Do Hamstring Curls Work?

Hamstring curls primarily target the three muscles that make up the hamstrings: the biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and semitendinosus.

While some leg curl variations like the stability ball hamstring curl and the glider hamstring curl engage the glutes and deep core muscles, all hamstring curl exercises primarily target the hamstrings, a group of muscles located on the backs of your thighs.

The anatomy of the hamstrings, which originate at the pelvis and insert into the knee just above the calves, is comprised of three separate muscles.

Biceps femoris

The biceps femoris is the outermost hamstring muscle responsible for knee flexion and hip extension. Comprised of both a long head and a short head, it also rotates the lower leg when the knee is slightly bent and rotates the thigh when the hip is extended.

Semimembranosus

The semimembranosus is the innermost hamstring muscle responsible for knee flexion and hip extension. It also functions to assist in both thigh and lower-leg rotation.

Semitendinosus

The semitendinosus is located between the biceps femoris and the semimembranosus and shares the same primary functions: knee flexion, hip extension, and assisting with rotation.

Details

Our Top BODi Picks for Hamstring Training and Recovery

BODi Strength Programs

BODi fitness programs offer trainer-led strength workouts for people who prefer following structured programming instead of building individual workouts themselves.

Look for programs that combine hamstring exercises with movements for the quads, glutes, and other major muscle groups to develop balanced lower-body strength.

Beachbody Performance Recover

Beachbody Performance Recover is designed for post-workout nutrition and combines whey protein with carbohydrates. It can be used after demanding strength workouts as part of an overall nutrition plan that provides enough protein, calories, and other nutrients to support recovery.

Shakeology

Shakeology is an all-in-one daily nutrition shake rather than a dedicated post-workout recovery shake. It combines protein with additional nutritional ingredients, so its role in a nutrition routine is different from a product specifically formulated for post-workout recovery.