After dinner, my daughter and her fiancé followed me back into my home gym…
“So whether we train quads or glutes first, should we train hamstrings third?”
“Yes, your hamstrings will get a bit of work when you train quads and glutes, so they should be nicely warmed up.”
“What’s the go-to exercise for hamstrings? Let me guess: stiff-legged deadlifts.”
“No, that’s more of an add-on stretch move for hamstrings and posterior-chain synergy. Believe it or not, I like leg curls, even if the machine has even resistance throughout the stroke.”
“So lying leg curls are good?”
“I prefer the seated leg curl, as that provides a bit more stretch and maintains a bend at your waist for best hamstring activation.”
“Got it. Ditch the lying leg curls.”
“Well, you can do the lying version every so often. Some even have a built-in ‘hump’ at your waist to help better engage the hamstrings. I’m just not a fan of going facedown on someone else’s front juices.”
“Ew, disgusting. We always wipe down the machine first.”
“That’s a good habit. Then burn the towel after the workout.”
“So you don’t have a seated or lying leg curl in your home gym. What do you do for hamstrings?”
“Well, I see someone hasn’t bothered to read Old Man Young Muscle.”
“We have. Well, we’ve looked through it, but I can’t remember what’s in it for hamstrings.”
“I do an exercise that I call torso floor rolls. I lock my heels on a bench and put a foam roller under my back. Then I pull my torso toward the bench with my hamstrings—like this…”
“That looks kind of awkward.”
“It is, till you get used to it. With focus I can really feel my hamstrings working. Gotta move slowly though. It’s all I had in this home gym when I wrote the new ebook. Once I got my cable machine, I started doing standing one-leg leg curls. I usually do both now, as they’re very different. I like the variation in muscle-fiber recruitment order I get from different exercises.”
“So do you do anything else for hamstrings? Should we do anything else?”
“After leg curls, seated or lying, I suggest a set or two of dumbbell semi-stiff-legged deadlifts for stretch. Your glutes are the primary mover, but that’s okay—you’re using the move to stretch the hamstrings under load. Keep a slight break in your knees and the dumbbells close to your legs. Also, flat back, no rounding, and stop the downward movement at about mid-shin.”
“Don’t the hamstring get stretched on seated leg curls? You are bent at the waist.”
“They do, but I like the synergy of working the posterior chain and the enhanced stretch with the semi-stiff-legged deadlift. But you’re right, you don’t have to include it for stretch if you’re doing the seated leg curl.”
“So don’t use a barbell on the stiff-legs?”
“You can if you like. I just prefer the freedom dumbbells allow. Locking my hands on a bar tends to pull at my bum shoulder.”
“You old people and your ailments. Haha.”
New: Get the ideal exercise for each muscle, the best add-on moves for ultimate mass, complete 35-minute workouts, exercise start/finish photos, and details on building muscle fast and efficiently in Old Man, Young Muscle.
And you still get The Muscle-On, Belly-Gone “Diet” ebook FREE for a limited time when you add Old Man, Young Muscle to your mass-building library. Go HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
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