THE HAMSTRINGS MIGHT NOT be the first muscles you think about when you're plotting out your workout routine—that focus likely goes to the arms, abs, or chest if you're the type of gym-goer most concerned about , or more broadly the lower body or back if you're more concerned about building a balanced body. No regimen can be considered well-constructed, however, without giving some direct attention to the hammies. The leg muscles are invaluable for the types of movements performed by high-level athletes and everyday exercisers alike.
Your hamstrings are essential for walking, running, and jumping—in other words, when you're using your legs, you're more than likely depending on your hamstrings for proper healthy function.
Before we get into the best hamstring exercises you can include in your workout plans, you should learn some more about these leg muscles, how they work, and why they're so important for your strength training practice.
Your hamstrings actually consist of three main muscles: the semimembranosus, the semitendinosus, and the biceps femoris. The biceps femoris includes two separate heads, a long head and a short head.
Both semis and the long head of the biceps femoris originate at the ischial tuberosity in the pelvis—and that’s important. That means they are involved in hip extension. What’s hip extension? That’s what happens when you stand up straight, and your thigh and torso straighten out.
This means that hip extension moves like glute bridges, and even the final act of standing up fully straight and pushing your pelvis forward during a squat, will recruit a lot of hamstring muscle (although these moves won’t recruit the short head of the biceps femoris). Don’t discount such moves when training hamstrings.
Meanwhile, all your hamstring muscles are active during knee flexion, the bending of your knee. Semimembranosus and semitendinosus insert at the tibia, while the biceps femoris insert at the head of the fibula.
Benefits of Training Your Hamstrings
This comes down to what the muscle actually does for you.
The hamstrings are a rare and unique lower-body muscle group that actually acts at two joints. Flexing your hamstrings will bend your knee, much as you do during leg curls. Your hamstrings also act on your hip joint too, driving your hips into “extension,” essentially pushing your hips forward directly under your spine.
Both motions are key to your general movement, and they’re even more important for athleticism. Powerful hip extension, in fact, is widely acknowledged as a key trait for sprinting, jumping, bounding, and lunging.
All of that is exactly why you want to make sure to attack your hamstrings with some vigorous training every week.
The hamstrings are commonly known as the opposing muscle group to the quadriceps, but that doesn’t mean that when one of these muscles is working, the other group is relaxed. Hamstrings and quads work together; in order to stand, you must exhibit both hip extension and knee extension.
This collaborative effort happens more often than you would think with all lower-body exercises. That means you can isolate your hamstrings, but it’s not the lone way to train them; when you’re doing squats and lunges, your hammies are getting plenty of work, too. You'll want to include both , like leg curl, alongside the aforementioned squats and lunges. Think about starting with the more demanding compound movements first, then narrowing your focus to the isolation movements.
If you want to develop your hamstrings into the powerhouses they're supposed to be, you need to use a variety of exercises. Here are the best moves you can mix into your leg day training.
Why: This may be the most well-known lower-body exercise out there, and it’s potentially your hamstrings’ greatest tool for growth. The combination of heavy weight, multi-joint action, and hip extension is a recipe for quality muscular development.
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Why: The Romanian deadlift is a great hip-hinging pattern that involves the hip extension of the deadlift while eliminating any extra knee action or focus.
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Why: The single-leg deadlift has all the advantages of the Romanian deadlift, except it recruits more posterior chain muscles to maintain stability. The gluteus medius jumps into the action to stabilize your femur at the hip joint while you focus your body to remain parallel to the ground.
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Why: This is the most translatable lower body move to everyday life that we have. The hex bar relieves the stress on the upper body by placing the hands in a neutral grip by your sides. This allows you to pack on more weight on, challenging your legs that much more.
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Why: This deadlift variation will force you to take some plates off the bar, but you'll be able to isolate your hamstrings even more. Just don't be tricked by the name—you shouldn't have absolutely locked-out knees here.
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Why: This is the move we’ve all seen in some fitness video at some point, and for good reason. It’s both simple enough that anyone can do it, and useful enough to pack muscle on anyone of any level.
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Why: The barbell hip thrust is similar to the glute bridge, but it challenges hip extension by adding increased load.
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Why: This exercise is all about switching up . Break out of the sagittal plane (front-to-back movement) with this exercise that gets you moving in the frontal plane (side-to-side). That's key for healthy movement and athleticism—which, as we have already discussed, is driven by your hamstrings.
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Why: Think of this exercise as an opportunity to reinforce your hip hinge and core bracing, two important functions on big lifts like deadlifts. Good mornings are similar to Romanian deadlifts—you're just shifting the load to your back, instead of in front of you. Think low weights for this exercise, and focus on the basics of the movement.
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Why: This unilateral staple doesn't isolate your hammies and glutes like some other exercises, but you will build up those lower body muscles if you work the right way. Make sure to focus on setting up properly to get the most out of the movement.
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Why: Level up your standard split squat with some elevation. You'll get even more unilateral strength work while emphasizing even more mobility and flexibility on the rear leg.
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Why: This is your traditional weight room machine leg curl, married to glute- and hamstring-challenging instability. The best part: It’ll rock your lower body with only bodyweight and gravity.
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Why: The basic kettlebell swing is one of the best ballistic moves you can add into a routine. It’s a movement that’s actually similar to a bodyweight broad jump, loading your hips and hamstrings, then forcing you to explode your pelvis and hips forward into extension. It’s a power-packed move that your hamstrings will feel for days, and it has multiple uses: It’ll get your metabolism up, and it trains your upper and mid-back more than you may think, too.
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Why: In the same way driving a sled forward will hammer the quadriceps, dragging it backwards will call on the hamstrings. You’re also training the hamstrings in a real way, placing them in the same position they wind up in when they’re decelerating your lower body.
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Why: The venerable cardio row does more than get your heart rate up; it’ll fire up your glutes and hamstrings, too. In fact, if you row with explosive power, there’s a good chance you’ll get off the rower with your hamstrings and glutes on fire. The movement of the cardio row, when done correctly, somewhat mimics a deadlift and barbell row, with both moves simply on a different plane.
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