6 Best Beginner Hamstring Exercises To Build Your Legs

If you're looking to build strong and powerful hamstrings, hamstring exercises are a great place to start.

For those of you who aren't familiar with their anatomy, the hamstrings are three muscles on the back of your thigh that attach to your knee joint. They help bend your knees and extend your hips.

Strengthening them can help improve athletic performance in sports like football as well as reduce injury risk in activities like running and cycling.

---

Best Hamstring Exercises for Beginners

Here's a look at six best hamstring exercises for beginners:

#1 Glute-Ham Raise

You've probably heard about this exercise as a great way to target your hamstrings. However, it's also an incredible lower back strength builder and can help you strengthen your hips as well.

Here's how to do it:

• Sit on a bench with back support and place the heels of your feet on the pad of a glute-ham raise machine, which is typically found in gyms.
• The pad should be adjusted so that when you sit down flat on the bench and extend your legs straight out in front of you, there should be no gap between where they hang and where they touch the pad.
• Grab hold of handles at each end of the machine with palms facing inward.

You want them facing away from each other so that when engaging your arms here and during laterally shifting movements during the workout, tension is placed across multiple muscles groups rather than just one or two at once (such as only extensors being activated during lateral flexion).

---

#2 Romanian Deadlift

The Romanian deadlift is a great hamstring exercise to do, as it doesn't require any equipment, and you can perform it almost anywhere. It's also one of the most effective exercises for building strength, so if your goal is to get bigger muscles, this is one of the best starting points for you.

To get started with this exercise, stand in front of a bench or chair so that when you bend down, your back foot will be on top of it. Keep your feet shoulder-width apart, but turn them slightly outwards so that they're pointing towards the corner of the room behind you. Bend at both hips and knees till they're at about 90 degrees, and return back up again without letting your back round or knees move forward past your toes.

Using a conventional deadlift form, lift the weight up till you lock out. On the eccentric, remember not to reset.

Keep the bar suspended, and pull it back up for another rep. Do as many reps as you can, but try to stay within the 10-12 rep range. If it gets too easy for you, add some more weight and go slower.

---

#3 Stiff-Legged Deadlift

The stiff-legged deadlift is an exercise that works the glutes and hamstrings. To do it, stand with your feet hip-width apart, and hold a barbell in front of you. Bend at the hips, and keep your knees straight to drop down into a bent position. Keep your back straight, and push through your heels as you stand up again.

Repeat this motion for ten repetitions before resting for a minute. If you feel a mild strain in your hamstrings (not the injury kind of strain, the good blood-pumping kind), you're doing it right.

---

#4 Lying Leg Curl

Here's how it's done:

• Lie on your back with legs extended, feet flexed and knees bent at 90°. Place your hands behind your head for support.
• Press through the heels to raise both legs off the floor so that they're parallel to it.
• Keep your knees in line with ankles throughout the movement (avoid letting your knees bow out).
• Lower and repeat 12 to 15 times (or more if needed), breathing out as you raise and inhaling as you lower.

---

#5 Nordic Hamstring Curl

Here's how it's done:

• Start by sitting on the ground with your legs straight behind you, toes pointing down.
• Place a resistance band around each ankle, and cross them so that it creates an 'X' above your feet.
• Bend at the waist, pulling the band down towards your feet till it feels like you're almost touching them (but not quite).
• Hold this position for a second before slowly returning to starting position to complete one rep.
• Use a bar or any kind of resistance as support. Gently lower yourself to the ground without using any momentum. Keep your hands crossed on your chest.
• Do three sets of ten reps for the best results.

---

#6 Alternating Stiff-Leg Deadlift

Here's how they're done:

• To perform this exercise, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, and hold a barbell or dumbbell at waist level.
• Bend forward at the hips, and slowly lower the weight to the floor till it’s just above your feet (don’t let it touch).
• Reverse direction by returning to the starting position, and repeat for the desired number of reps.

---

Takeaway

The aforementioned hamstring exercises can help you build your legs and get stronger.

We recommend starting with the glute-ham raise, Romanian deadlift and lying leg curl. As always, don’t be afraid to experiment with different variations and see which ones work best for you. Remember that variety is important in any exercise programme.

So if one variation doesn’t feel right, try another one till you find something that feels good enough to keep moving forward with.