If you are looking for the best hamstring exercises to amplify your lower-body strength and protect yourself against injury, you are on the right track. Training these muscles effectively can elevate your athletic performance, improve daily movement, and significantly reduce the risk of recurring strains. Whether you are new to workouts or already dedicated to a weekly fitness routine, your hamstrings deserve targeted attention. Below, you will discover why strong hamstrings matter, how they work, and 10 powerful exercises you can integrate into your routine right away.
Explore the hamstring anatomy
Your hamstrings run along the back of your thighs, spanning from the hip area down toward the knee. Despite commonly being referred to as three muscles, the group technically comprises the biceps femoris (long and short head), semitendinosus, and semimembranosus. Together, these muscles help you bend your knee, straighten your hip, and rotate your thigh, which all play critical roles in walking, sprinting, lunging, and squatting.
When your hamstrings are strong, you will feel more stable and powerful in your day-to-day activities. If they are weak, you might notice tightness, reduced mobility, or even a greater susceptibility to aches and pains. According to research, hamstring injuries commonly occur during explosive activities such as sprinting or kicking [1], so strengthening them can minimize these risks. Understanding the fundamentals of your hamstrings will help you pick exercises that effectively target their main functions.
Understand why hamstring strength matters
Hamstrings are essential for movement, but their benefits extend far beyond basic motion. Adequate hamstring strength helps:
- Optimize athletic performance: Strong hamstrings stabilize the hips and knees and help transfer force through the legs. This is vital for running, jumping, changing direction, and frequent starts and stops in court-based or field sports.
- Decrease injury risk: Studies note that weak or tight hamstrings can easily lead to strains and tears. In fact, hamstring injuries are known for having one of the highest re-injury rates, with half of re-injuries happening in the first 25 days back on the field [2].
- Enhance everyday function: Simple actions like climbing stairs, bending down to tie your shoes, or brisk walking rely heavily on hamstring involvement. Building strength protects you against overuse injuries and supports a more active life.
- Support strong posture: When hamstrings are balanced with your quadriceps and glutes, they support proper pelvic alignment. This helps reduce lower back stress and can even alleviate some chronic back discomfort.
Ensuring that you target your hamstrings properly in your routine is key. The next section will guide you through 10 of the best hamstring exercises, each chosen for its ability to build strength, endurance, and flexibility in these important muscles.
Try these 10 best hamstring exercises
Below are 10 top exercises that can help you develop the strong, resilient hamstrings you need. You can perform these in various combinations, adjusting sets and reps as you go. Mix them into your lower-body workouts, or dedicate a separate hamstring-focused day depending on your goals.
1. Deadlifts
Deadlifts unlock major gains for your entire posterior chain, including your hamstrings. By hinging at the hips to pick up weight from the floor, you force these muscles to activate powerfully.
- How to do it: Stand with feet hip-width apart and the bar (or dumbbells) at your midfoot. Bend your knees slightly, hinge forward, and keep your back straight. Grip the weight, engage your hamstrings, and drive up through your heels.
- Pro tip: Maintain a neutral spine and avoid rounding your lower back. This movement is a fundamental hip extension exercise shown to challenge the hamstrings significantly [3].
2. Romanian deadlifts
Romanian deadlifts (RDLs) are among the most efficient ways to isolate the hamstrings without straining your lower back excessively.
- How to do it: Hold a barbell or a pair of dumbbells in front of your thighs. Keep a slight bend in your knees while hinging forward from your hips. Lower the weight until you feel a deep stretch in your hamstrings, then drive through your heels to return upright.
- Pro tip: Control is key. Move slowly on the descent to maintain tension on the hamstrings. According to various training recommendations, RDLs are considered a pinnacle exercise to build hamstring mass and flexibility [3].
3. Single-leg Romanian deadlifts
Single-leg Romanian deadlifts are excellent for addressing imbalances between your right and left sides. This exercise also tests your balance and core stability.
- How to do it: Stand on one leg and hold a dumbbell or kettlebell in the hand opposite your standing leg. Hinge forward by sending your hips back, allowing your free leg to extend straight behind you. Keep your back flat and your gaze forward. Return to standing by squeezing your hamstrings and glutes.
- Pro tip: If you struggle to keep balance, rest your free foot lightly on the floor between reps or use a wall for minimal support. Single-leg variations boost unilateral strength, which helps reduce the chance of muscle compensation and injury [4].
4. Nordic hamstring curls
Eccentric training (where you slow down the lowering phase) is one of the most effective ways to prevent hamstring injuries, and Nordic hamstring curls are a gold standard for this method.
- How to do it: Kneel on a padded surface with your feet anchored under a stable object or partner. Cross your arms over your chest. Slowly lower your upper body forward by extending at the knee. Once you can no longer control the descent, catch yourself with your hands and push back up to the starting position.
- Pro tip: Aim for 3 sets of about 5-6 slow, controlled reps. Research shows that Nordic curls are highly recommended for preventing hamstring strains [2].
5. Lying hamstring curls
Lying hamstring curls can be performed on a machine at the gym or with a resistance band at home, helping you target knee flexion specifically.
- How to do it: Lie face-down. If you are using a machine, hook your heels under the pad. If you are at home, anchor one end of a resistance band and loop the other end around your ankles. Curl your feet toward your glutes by bending the knees, pause briefly, then straighten your legs with control.
- Pro tip: Use a smooth, controlled tempo to fully engage the hamstrings. If you notice your back arching, reduce the load so you can maintain a stable core [5].
6. Good mornings
Despite the name, good mornings can be done at any time of day. This exercise closely resembles the RDL but typically uses a barbell placed on your upper back.
- How to do it: Stand with the barbell resting across your shoulders. Keep your chest up, core tight, and knees slightly bent. Hinge forward at the hips until your torso is nearly parallel to the floor, pausing when you feel tension in your hamstrings. Slowly return to standing.
- Pro tip: Keep your spine neutral to protect your lower back. Good mornings, when performed properly, effectively train the hamstrings via the hip hinge pattern similar to an RDL.
7. Glute bridges
Many people think glute bridges only work the glutes, but the hamstrings also share the load, especially if you adjust your foot placement.
- How to do it: Lie on your back, knees bent, feet planted hip-width apart. Slide your heels a bit farther from your hips if you want to feel more hamstring involvement. Drive through your heels to lift your torso until your knees, hips, and shoulders form a straight line. Slowly lower down.
- Pro tip: Glute bridges are especially helpful if you are easing back into exercise or want a simple movement to reinforce the mind-muscle connection. For added challenge, elevate your heels on a step or bench.
8. Bulgarian split squats
Bulgarian split squats emphasize the quads, but your hamstrings work significantly to stabilize and extend your hips at the bottom of the movement.
- How to do it: Stand lunge-length away from a bench or step. Rest one foot behind you on the bench (laces down). Lower your back knee toward the floor, keeping most of your weight in the front heel. Push through the heel to return to the start.
- Pro tip: Keep your torso upright. You can hold dumbbells at your sides or a single weight in front of your chest for extra resistance.
9. Kettlebell swings
Kettlebell swings offer a dynamic movement pattern that powers up your entire posterior chain, with the biceps femoris, a key hamstring muscle, highly activated [4].
- How to do it: Stand with feet slightly wider than hip-width. Grip a kettlebell in both hands, hinge at the hips, and let the kettlebell swing back between your legs. Explosively drive your hips forward to swing the kettlebell up to about chest height. Control the downward arc by hinging at the hips again and repeating fluidly.
- Pro tip: Focus on snapping your hips, not lifting with your arms. This explosive hip extension is the secret to firing up your hamstrings and glutes.
10. Seated hamstring curls
Seated hamstring curls isolate the semitendinosus muscle a bit more than lying variations, and they are often more comfortable on the lower back.
- How to do it: Sit on a hamstring curl machine with your lower legs behind the pad. Grab the handles on either side of your seat for stability. Curl your feet under, hold for a second, then return to the starting position with controlled tension.
- Pro tip: Pull your feet past 90 degrees if you can. According to recommendations, using a smooth motion and full range of motion can maximize hamstring activation [5].
Use tips for proper form
Even the best hamstring exercises can fall short if your technique is off. These tips will help you get the most out of each movement:
- Warm up thoroughly: Before your main session, spend a few minutes with dynamic stretches such as leg swings or lunges. Research from April 2024 advises dynamic stretching over prolonged static stretching to maintain muscle strength going into your workout [6].
- Engage your core: A strong core stabilizes your torso and keeps your back flat. This is especially important for exercises like deadlifts and good mornings.
- Monitor knee alignment: Let your knees track the same direction as your toes. Avoid letting them cave in since that can strain other parts of your legs.
- Keep a neutral spine: Resist the urge to hyperextend or round your lower back. A neutral spine protects against injury.
- Control the tempo: Rushing through exercises can reduce muscle activation. Emphasize slow, controlled lowering (eccentric phase) to work your hamstrings thoroughly.
- Progress gradually: Add weight, increase reps, or modify more challenging variations only when you can maintain proper form for every rep.
Build your hamstring workout plan
How often and how hard you train your hamstrings can drastically impact your results. Here are some guidelines:
- Volume and frequency: Research suggests completing 10 to 16 total sets of hamstring exercises per week helps reduce the risk of injury [7]. You can split this volume across multiple days to prevent excessive fatigue.
- Sets and reps: If you aim for hypertrophy and overall strength, 6 to 20 reps per set are common. Protocols from companies like Iron Bull Strength recommend up to 10 sets of hamstring work per session, spread across three exercises, and repeated at least twice a week [8].
- Rest intervals: Longer rest periods (around 90 to 150 seconds) can support strength development if you are lifting heavy loads or doing demanding exercises like Nordic hamstring curls. Shorter rests can add a conditioning element for advanced trainees.
- Exercise selection: Choose two or three hamstring-dominant movements each session. Combining a hip-dominant exercise (like Romanian deadlifts) with a knee-flexion exercise (like lying or seated curls) ensures comprehensive muscle stimulation.
- Progressive overload: Track weight, sets, and reps to ensure you are gradually increasing the challenge on your hamstrings. This process could involve adding weight, doing extra reps, or adopting more advanced variations.
Prevent injuries and stay consistent
Hamstrings have a high rate of re-injury, primarily because people often rush back into activity without fully rehabilitating the muscle. Follow these strategies to keep your hamstrings healthy for the long run:
- Emphasize gentle progress: If you have a history of hamstring issues, ramp up your training slowly. Eccentric exercises such as Nordic curls have been found to be particularly effective for preventing future strains [2].
- Favor dynamic stretches before workouts: Save static stretching for after your session. Prolonged static stretches of 30 seconds or more before strength training may negatively impact maximal force output, as reported by Advanced Physical Therapy in April 2024 [6].
- Address chronic tightness: If your hamstrings stay tight or painful despite regular stretching, you may have an underlying muscle weakness. According to research, adding hamstring strengthening routines can improve flexibility, reduce discomfort, and boost functionality [6].
- Seek professional help: If you suspect a sprain or a more severe injury, a physical therapist can design a customized rehabilitation plan and determine whether stretching or strengthening is most appropriate [1].
- Maintain consistency: A consistent training schedule helps you progress steadily, and it also gives your body time to adapt. Aim for at least two hamstring-focused workouts per week, as recommended by multiple sources, to retain gains in strength and flexibility.
Finally, do not neglect your other muscle groups. Balanced leg training that also targets your glutes, quads, and core muscles will keep your body in harmony. Focused hamstring work is a must, but synergy across different muscle groups translates to better overall stability and performance.
Whether you are a runner hoping to boost your top speed or you are simply looking to stay active and injury-free, prioritizing your hamstrings pays off. With the 10 best hamstring exercises listed here, you have plenty of options to design a routine that matches your goals, equipment, and comfort level. Commit to consistent sessions, bump the challenge up gradually, and remind yourself to celebrate each new milestone of strength. Over time, well-trained hamstrings will support you in athletic feats, daily tasks, and everything in between. Keep that momentum going, and watch how far your strong legs can take you.
