Tag: Hamstrings
Crazy Workout To Build Your Hams and Glutes
Develop Your Hamstrings and Glutes With This Workout
Posterior (the muscles you can’t see in the mirror directly) can be the hardest to develop as it’s difficult to establish a mind-muscle connection with muscles you can’t see while training.
Pancakes look great on a plate and not in jeans. If you have non-existent hamstrings and glutes, this workout will help put an end to your suffering. Leave no stones unturned while following this workout.
Dumbbell Sumo Squat – 3 Set 15-12-10 Reps
Squats are arguably the best leg building exercise. In this workout, you’ll be performing the dumbbell sumo squats as they are better at targeting your hamstrings and glutes as compared to the conventional squats.
For the dumbbell sumo squat, stand on a couple of aerobic steppers to create a deficit between yourself and the floor. Hold a dumbbell with your arms fully extended towards the floor. At the bottom of the movement, the lowest part of the dumbbell should go below the top of the steppers.
Barbell Hip Thrusts – 3 Sets 15-12-10 Reps
Barbell hip thrusts are one of the most underutilized exercises. Most people make the mistake of overloading the bar and following a small range of motion. Don’t let your ego ruin the exercise and use weights with which you can follow the complete range of motion.
The barbell hip thrusts focus primarily on developing your glutes. At the top of the movement, your quads and upper body should be in a straight line while your lower legs should be perpendicular to the floor.
Leg Curls – 3 Sets 20-15-10 Reps
Leg curls are a staple in most leg training workouts but many people leave gains on the table by performing the exercise incorrectly. While performing the leg curls, place your ankles under the pad so they are a fist’s distance apart.
Lift the weight in an explosive manner. Hold and squeeze your hamstrings at the top of the movement for a couple of seconds. Return to the starting position with a slow and controlled movement. Repeat for the recommended reps without resting at the bottom of the movement.
GHD Extensions – 3 Sets 15-12-10 Reps
We can thank CrossFit for bringing the GHD extensions to the mainstream. If you don’t have access to a GHD machine at your gym, you can ask someone to sit on your lower legs while you perform the exercise on a flat bench.
The GHD extensions work your hamstrings and glutes. If you have relatively weaker glutes and hamstrings, you would want to work on them by performing other exercises before tackling the GHD machine.
Good Mornings – 3 Sets 15-12-10 Reps
Good mornings are a golden-era classic exercise. To perform the good mornings, stand with a barbell placed across your shoulders and feet in a shoulder-wide position. Slowly lower your torso by bending at your hips while keeping your knees slightly bent.
The right motion while performing the good mornings should feel like doing the stiff-legged deadlifts but with the barbell on your shoulders instead of your hands. You should also consider using safety bars while performing the good mornings to eliminate any risk of injury.
Which is your favorite hamstring exercise? Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
*Header image courtesy of Envato Elements
Check Out This Intense Lower Body Workout for Ripped Calves and Hams
Leg day. There. I said it.
Leg day can be one of the most challenging and often neglected aspects of being a bodybuilder. It’s confusing, it’s hard, and — let’s be honest — it wants what chest day has. Have you been training your legs for a long time but feel like your progress has stalled? Check out the intermediate lower body workout below for an excellent way to train your calves and hamstrings.
Please remember that this is an intermediate level workout intended for those who already have at least 1 – 2 years of serious strength training. We have a wide variety of leg workouts available here at Generation Iron to accommodate those who are just looking to get started.
How long should I be practicing this workout?
You can adjust the program to your level of comfort. Ideally, it should be performed for 8 weeks. However, if you’re stretched a little thin right now and don’t have that much time to get in a workout, you can modify it to be shorter and last for 6 weeks — though don’t expect incredible, long-lasting muscle to be built in that time.
Or, if you’re in a headspace where you’re really trying to motivate yourself, you can go harder and do it for 12 weeks. The most important thing is to make it work with however you’re currently working out, otherwise you won’t actually do it.
How often should I do it during the week?
You should cycle through lower body and upper body splits throughout the week however you feel most comfortable. Assuming you workout most or every day, you should consider doing this lower body workout two to four days every week, depending on how much you’re working out the other parts of your body.
Just try and match however much work you’re putting into your hams/quads with what you’re doing for your upper body and you’ll be fine. Also, make sure to take rest days in between those days so your muscles have a chance to heal.
Intermediate Leg Workout for Ripped Calves and Hams
Seated Leg Curl — 5 sets of 5 – 10 reps
Start off with a seated leg curl. Many of the muscle groups in the leg respond well to high intensity training rather than high endurance training, so it’s good to start strong and hit it hard.
Stiff Leg Deadlift — 5 sets of 5 – 10 reps
The stiff leg deadlift is an excellent modulation of the standard deadlift that really helps you feel the burn through the back of the leg and develop resistance in those muscles.
Standing Calf Raise — 5 sets of 8 – 12 reps
Moving into the calf portion of the workout, this is a great way to warm up that area of the body and build muscle.
Leg Press Calf Raise — 5 sets of 8 – 12 reps
A little bit more challenging than the standing calf raise, this helps build muscle in these groups by gradually increasing the intensity.
Donkey Calf Raise — 5 sets of 5 – 10 reps
This really encourages muscle growth in the lower leg and can be challenging at this point, so feel free to reduce the amount of sets/reps in this group to your comfort level.
Seated Calf Raise — 5 sets of 8 – 12 reps
Moving into the cool down period of the workout, this calf raise shouldn’t be skipped, since it builds the foundation for workouts to come.
The Ultimate Workout To Build Ripped Hamstrings
Build Jacked Hamstrings With This Workout
Want to know what ripped hamstrings look like? Imagine a few steel chains running under the paper thin skin at the back of your legs. These chains are what are used to lower and raise your torso when you bend forward to touch your toes or in exercises like the deadlifts.
Hamstrings can be a stubborn muscle group to develop. It’s hard to establish a mind-muscle connection with the hamstrings as they’re at the back of your legs and you can’t look at them in the mirror while training.
Lying Leg Curls – 4 Sets 15 Reps
You’ll be performing a combination of isolation and compound exercises in this workout to smoke your hams. The compound lifts help in building strength and size of the muscle and the isolation movements improve the conditioning.
You’ll start off with the lying leg curls (an isolation exercise) to activate and engage your hams. The concentric (upward) movement should be explosive, and the eccentric should be slow and controlled.
Sumo Squats – 3 Sets 12-10-8 Reps
The sumo squats target the hamstring and abductors primarily. Stand with your feet placed more than shoulder-width apart and point your toes outwards. You should go as deep as possible without leaning forward to target your hamstrings optimally.
If you have trouble performing the barbell sumo squats, you can use a dumbbell. Stand on an elevated platform (like aerobic steps) and take the same stance as you would during the barbell squats.
Hold a dumbbell with both your hands while your arms are fully extended towards and perpendicular to the floor. Your arms will remain in the same position throughout the exercise.
Dumbbell Deadlifts – 3 Sets 12-10-8 Reps
Remember the steel chain reference at the beginning of the article? You need to bring it in practice in the dumbbell deadlifts. Place your toes on quarter plates to better isolate and recruit your hamstrings.
Maintain a slight bend in your knees and lower your torso by bending at your hips while pushing them back and focusing on your hamstrings. Keep your back arched and go as low as you can without recruiting your lower back.
Supersets
Standing Hamstrings Curls – 3 Sets 20-15-12 Reps
Standing hamstrings curls are an isometric exercise which helps in building conditioning and fixing any muscle imbalances. If you don’t have access to a standing hamstring curl machine, you can use a leg extension machine.
GHD Hyperextensions – 3 Sets 10 Reps
Superset the standing hamstrings curls with the GHD hyperextensions. The GHD hyperextensions were brought into the mainstream by CrossFit athletes and are an incredibly effective exercise to annihilate your hamstrings.
Barbell Hip Thrusts – 3 Sets 12-10-8 Reps
Barbell hip thrusts are one of the most underutilized exercises when it comes to hamstring training. Although the hip thrusts can help you in building meaty hams, you should avoid them if you have an impending lower back injury.
Place your upper back on a flat bench while you have a barbell placed across your groin. Use padding around the barbell to avoid it from digging in when you thrust. Hold and contract your hams at the top of the movement for a couple of seconds before returning to the starting position.
Header image courtesy of Envato Elements
Do you train your hamstrings and quads on the same day? Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook and Twitter.
Weight Training To Build Massive Muscular Legs!
Weight Training To Build Massive Muscular Legs! Leg day is always the hardest day – both mentally and physically – this is why Doug Fruchey is breaking down his tried and true leg day workout for building mass and strength. The more strength you build, the most weight you can put up, the more mass…
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