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Nordic Hamstring Curls (without bending arms)?

5 min read

Asked by: Lisa Ross

How do you do a Nordic hamstring curl without a partner?


Very hard so band over the shoulders I'm holding it here just so it stays in place I'm going to lean forward as far as I can keeping my hips forward and then pull with my hamstrings.

How do you do Nordic hamstring curls?

And it ends up becoming more of this razor curl where your hip extending. As you knee extend to where you get flat towards the floor. And then you pull back up using your hamstrings.

What do Nordic hamstring curls work?

Nordic hamstring curls build stronger hamstring muscles.



The Nordic hamstring curl is one of the best hamstring exercises for improving muscle hypertrophy on the backs of your legs. The Nordic hamstring curl activates all three muscles within the hamstring—the biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and semitendinosus.

What type of movement is a Nordic curl?

Nordic Curls are a kneeling, bodyweight leg exercise that especially activate the hamstrings. The hamstrings are essential for walking, running, jumping and pivoting at the pelvis. They involve the careful and controlled lowering and raising of the body with the feet, lower legs and knees in a fixed position.

How do you do the Nordic?

The Nordic hamstring curl involves kneeling on a pad (for knee comfort) and lowering under control while the ankles are held in place by a partner, a loaded barbell, or any other immovable object. Then extend the hamstring muscles to lean forward, I- lean forward from the knee, not from the hip.

What is the best hamstring exercise?

Best Hamstring Exercises

  • Lying Leg Curl.
  • Hamstring Slide.
  • Toes-Elevated Dumbbell RDL.
  • Dumbbell Good Morning.
  • Razor Curl.
  • Single-Leg Stability Ball Curl.


How do you set up banded Nordic curls?

Set your feet underneath the knee pad and grab onto the band behind your head with both hands. Keeping your hips extended, slowly lower yourself to a parallel position with the floor. Flex your hamstrings and pull yourself back to the starting position while keeping your torso in a straight line.

What is a hamstring curl machine?

Dr. Laskowski: The seated hamstring curl is an exercise you can do with a weight machine to work the muscles in the back of the thigh. As the name implies, the seated hamstring curl targets the hamstring muscles here in the back of the thigh. Strong hamstring muscles help to protect your ligaments in the knee.

Are Nordic curls safe?

Performed properly, the Nordic Hamstring Curl can be an excellent exercise, but take on too much too soon and you run serious risk of a hamstring strain.

Are Nordic curls good for knees?

Nordic hamstring curls only strengthen across the knee joint, as the hip is held in a fixed position. Nonetheless, they have been shown to prevent injuries. Let yourself fall from a kneeling position while someone holds your feet. Catch yourself just before you reach the floor, push up and repeat.

Do Nordic curls work glutes?

Even though the glute ham raise primarily targets the hamstrings, glutes, the core stabilizers are targeted to maintain rigidity of the torso to maintain posture. While the nordic curl targets the muscles of the hamstrings, specifically the biceps femoris, the semitendinosus, and semimembranosus.

Will Nordic hamstring curls make you faster?

A recent research study assessed the impact Nordic hamstring curls have on sprint speed and hamstring strength. The study found the exercise can both improve hamstring eccentric strength — lengthening the muscle against resistance — and sprint speed.

Why are Nordic curls so hard?

One reason the Nordic curl is so difficult is that it works through knee flexion and extension with little or no hip movement. So the back of your legs do all the work.

Do sprinters do Nordic curls?

The Nordic curl improves sprinting ability by increasing eccentric strength by the mechanisms outlined above, which increases its active muscle stiffness, which enhances the ability of the sprinter to store energy in the swing phase of the running gait cycle.

Are Nordic curls good for calves?

When performed well, this exercise can put a huge demand on the calf complex, particularly the gastrocnemius, the hamstrings, using each muscle belly, and the glutes, most notably the gluteus maximus.

Are hamstring curls effective?

The hamstring curl is an excellent exercise for strengthening your back thigh muscles, which can reduce your risk of injury. Just make sure you avoid arching your back in the process.

Do hamstring curls work glutes?

Hamstring curls work muscles throughout your lower body.



Hamstring curls activate your glutes, your quadriceps, and your calf muscles (including the gastrocnemius muscle that runs down your leg and the soleus muscle near your Achilles tendon) as secondary muscles during the movement pattern.

Do leg curls make your bum bigger?

The muscles that make up your butt — gluteus maximus, gluteus minimus and gluteus medius — are involved in controlling stability and movement at the hip joint. Therefore, during most types of leg curls, the butt muscles are not recruited and therefore won’t increase in size.

What exercise lifts your buttocks?

Squats are great butt lifting exercises to build a strong, toned bum with very little equipment. The squat works your gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus, as well as your hamstrings, quadriceps, calves, abs, obliques, and lower back muscles.

How do you get a perky bum?

5 Exercises For A Perkier Bum

  1. Barbell Squat. To add some resistance to your squat, try squatting with dumbbells. …
  2. Lunges. Although this is one of the simpler ways to work on your bum, it’s certainly one of the most effective. …
  3. Glute Bridges. …
  4. Weighted Kickbacks. …
  5. Curtsy Lunge.


Why is my bum getting bigger with exercise?

Bottom Line. If you are worried about your butt getting bigger with exercise, it helps to understand what is necessary to actually increase muscle. The muscles in your buttocks will only increase in size if you lift very heavy weights (for 6 to 12 reps) or if you eat a high-calorie diet.