Exercises for Hamstrings for Stronger and Muscular Legs

Exercises for hamstrings are extremely important to have well-developed legs. Your hamstrings make up a significant portion of your lower body, and must be worked on for overall growth and improvement in strength.

Before understanding the exercises for hamstrings that’ll make your legs powerful and strong, it’s beneficial to understand the muscle group properly.

---

What are hamstrings?

Hamstrings (Photo via Alora Griffiths/Unsplash)

As mentioned, this muscle group is an important part of your overall leg muscles. It’s one of the muscles in the back of your thigh. Now, hamstrings are made up of three muscles:

1. The biceps femoris
2. The semitendinosus
3. The semimembranosus

Hamstrings originate from the pelvis and run along the back of the thigh, cross the knee joints, and insert into the bones of the lower leg - tibia and fibula.

Primarily, hamstrings are responsible for functions such as bending the knee, hip extension, pelvis stabilization, and other knee joint movements.

Hamstrings play a vital role in certain activities such as running, climbing, and jumping, especially in sports such as basketball, football, and sprinting.

---

Exercises for hamstrings you must do

Deadlift (Photo via Alora Griffiths/Unsplash)

The following are some of the best hamstring exercises for your legs.

---

Deadlifts

• Stand with your legs shoulder-width apart
• Keep a barbell on the floor and add suitable weights
• Bend forward from your hips and grab the barbell with your palms facing you
• Keep your back straight and pull the weight upwards
• Push your hips forward as you lift the weight off the ground

---

Lunges

• Stand with a dumbbell in each hand
• Move one leg forward while the other remains in place
• Lower yourself so your back knee moves towards the floor
• Keep lowering until your front thigh is parallel to the floor
• Push yourself back up to the starting position

---

Romanian deadlift

• Keep your legs shoulder-width apart
• Keep a barbell in front of you and add suitable weights to it
• Grab the barbell with a overhand grip, keep your knees slightly bent, and your back straight
• Lift the barbell off the floor and only lower it to the point you feel a stretch on your hamstrings

This variation of deadlifts targets the hamstrings specifically, while the traditional deadlift targets the entire lower body.

---

Hamstring curls

You can use the leg curl machine for this exercise or you can use the free-weight version below.

• Lie on a mat with your legs extended
• Keep one end of a dumbbell between the soles of your feet or hold a swiss ball between the feet
• Slightly lift your upper body but keep your hips and knees pressed onto the floor
• Curl your legs along with the weight towards your glutes from the knees
• As you lower the weight, you’ll feel the weight on your hamstrings
• Repeat this exercise for at least 12-15 reps for proper impact

---

You must remember that even when your hamstrings are in a large muscle group, you shouldn’t train them with the heaviest possible weight. It’s better to follow a progressive overload routine to ensure that you’re continuously challenging the muscle fibers and pushing them to grow and become stronger with time.

---

Exercises for hamstrings: Best hamstring stretches

Knowing about the exercises for hamstrings is important, but it’s also important to know about the stretches.

It’s recommended that you stretch your muscles before a workout session to activate muscle fibers and protect yourself from injuries.

• Forward bend
• Standing hamstring stretch
• Butterfly stretch
• Downward-facing dog

---

Training your hamstrings at home?

Hamstring exercises at home (Photo via ÇAĞIN KARGI/Unsplash)

If you’re more into home workouts, it’s essential to know the best hamstring exercises at home.

Here are the following:

• Bodyweight squats
• Lunges
• Glute bridges
• Single-leg deadlifts

More often than not, exercises for hamstrings at home will be the same as bodyweight hamstring exercises. However, you can do the same exercises that are suitable for the gym if you have a proper home-gym setup.

---

Benefits of strong hamstrings

The final step to learning about hamstrings and why you should add exercises for hamstrings to your leg routine is by knowing the benefits of the same.

• Improves athletic performance
• Reduces risk of injury
• Improves balance and posture
• Improves functional movement
• Improves aesthetics