Hamstrings Exercises

The hamstrings are another larger group of muscles and are important to strengthen and stretch to avoid injuries.

The Hamstring muscles include:

• biceps femoris
• semitendinosus
• semimembranosus

These muscles do the opposite of the quadriceps (see those exercises here) meaning they flex or bend the knee and extend the hip. 

What Do the Hamstrings Do?

The hamstrings muscles work together to walk, run, squat, ascend and descend stairs.

They are also very commonly injured in sports. I mean who hasn’t heard of some athlete that has a hamstring strain. It is very important in rehab of knee and hip injuries to strengthen the hamstrings muscles. 

But it is just as important to stretch the hamstrings. Tight hamstrings can lead to not only injuries of the knee and hip but also the low back. Check out my stretching post here!

Research has shown hamstring tightness can lead to low back pain. Check out the research here.

Following a knee surgery for example, hamstring flexibility it focused on early because if the hamstrings are too tight, the patient will be unable to straighten the knee completely. This can lead to abnormal walking pattern and other issues.

Hamstring Exercises:

Prone Leg curls

Squats

Straight leg deadlift

Nordic curl

Kettlebell swing

Banded hamstring curl

With the Hamstring exercises, I will perform 2-3 of these above on my leg day. Performing 3-4 sets of 10 depending on how heavy the resistance.

Since the hamstrings are another large group of muscles, focusing on them during a leg workout can be important. I will even do a hamstring heavy workout at least once a month, when I am not doing quadriceps heavy.

Be prepared for soreness following any type of exercise. In my opinion, if soreness does not occur then did you even workout?