11 Best Hamstring Exercises to Supersize Your Leg Day

They're known as the biceps of your legs. You should be using these movements to pump them up just as hard as your guns

When it comes to training legs, the hamstrings are serious heavy-hitters. Work them properly and you'll not only add full-body strength, you'll build athleticism and boost sporting performance. Stronger hamstrings will also boost performance – you'll be able to lift more – in your squats and deadlifts.

Yep, your hamstrings are one of, if not the most important muscle groups, and plays a part in almost of all of your daily activities, from walking, running, jumping and, of course, your workout. Recent research has even indicated that larger hamstrings are directly correlated with faster sprint performance.

It's pretty clear that building stronger, more explosive hamstrings will dramatically increase your performance in and out of the gym.

Luckily for you, we’ve got 11 of the best moves to strengthen, add size and increase the power of your hamstrings. Throw a few of these into your next leg day.

But first, a quick anatomy lesson.

The hamstrings consist of a trio of muscles located at the back of your thigh, running from the back of your knees all of the way up to your glutes. These muscles work synergistically to provide stability, generate explosive power, and facilitate multi-directional movement.

The superstar of the hamstrings – the biceps femoris. This muscle, comprised of a long and short head, dominates the outer posterior region of your thigh. The biceps femoris plays a key role in flexing the knee joint and extending the hip joint, making it crucial for running, jumping, and explosive movements.

Next up is the semitendinosus. With its tendon-like structure, this muscle provides essential support for knee flexion and hip extension. Its remarkable flexibility and ability to generate force make it invaluable for a wide range of activities, including sprinting, deadlifting, and maintaining stability during lower body exercises.

Completing the hamstring triad is the semimembranosus. Nestled beneath the semitendinosus, this muscle is responsible for knee flexion, hip extension, and rotation. Its unique position and function contribute to overall hamstring strength and stability, enabling efficient movement and injury prevention

Traditional squats and deadlifts will undoubtedly add size and strength to your hamstrings. But you’re already doing those, right? These movements focus on the parts of your legs that you can't see in the mirror. Whether you train in a fully-equipped gym, with basic kit at home, or even just your own bodyweight— there's a hamstring move here for you.

Why: A slightly tweaked version of the traditional deadlift. Keeping your knees at a fixed angle takes your quads out of the equation and allows you to get a full stretch in the hamstrings. If you struggle with flexibility and find yourself rounding your back in order to get the bar or dumbbells back to the ground, perform your first rep as a traditional deadlift, then only lower your weights as far as your mobility allows— pushing your hips back until you feel a deep stretch in your hamstrings.

Form check: Lift a barbell or a pair of dumbbells or kettlebells to hip height, feet at shoulder-width and glutes tensed (A). With a slight bend in the knees, push your hips back and slowly lower the bar towards the ground (B), pinching your shoulders back and maintaining a flat back. When you feel a stretch in your hamstrings, pause and lift to the starting position. Keep each rep slow and controlled, if you begin to feel soreness in your lower back, end the set and rest.

Why: Kettlebell swings may not allow you to use as much weight as deadlifts and squats, but what you lose in weight you make up for in speed. A seriously explosive movement that trains your hamstrings to accelerate at warp speed, before bracing and decelerating. Perfect for building the type of athleticism that carries over to just about every sport.

Form check: Hinge down with a flat back and take a kettlebell from the floor in front of your body. ‘Hike’ the bell back between your legs, high between your thighs (A). Drive your hips forward, bringing your torso up to standing and use the momentum to explosively blast the bell up to eye level (B). Squeeze your glutes and abs, hard, in the top position before letting the momentum return you back into the hinge position and straight into the next rep. Keep your torso flat and knees soft throughout.

Why: Somewhat of a variation of the Romanian deadlift that takes your grip strength out of the equation while adding emphasis to the spinal erector muscles, another critical muscle group in the ‘posterior chain’.

Form check: With a barbell sitting across your upper back as if you’re about to perform a squat and a slight bend in the knees, (A) push your hips back and slowly lower your torso towards the ground until it's parallel (B), pinching your shoulders back and maintaining a flat back throughout. When you feel a stretch in your hamstrings, pause and reverse the movement to the starting position. Keep each rep slow and controlled, if you begin to feel soreness in your lower back, stop and reassess your form.

Why: The hybrid love-child of the squat and the good morning, the kang squat is about as brutal as it sounds, but it's also brutally effective. You won't be able to use as much weight as you can in a traditional squat, but your hamstrings will certainly feel the burn. As you begin to add more weight, you can simply stand up out of the bottom of the squat instead of pushing your hips up first into a good morning position. This will enable you to use more load on the ‘eccentric’ portion that targets the hamstrings.

Form check: With a barbell sitting across your upper back (A) push your hips back and slowly lower your torso towards the ground ala the good morning (B), pinching your shoulders back and maintaining a flat back. When you feel a stretch in your hamstrings, drop your hips until you’re in the bottom of a squat position (C). Pause here before lifting your hips and reversing the movement back to standing.

Why: While most lunge variations work the hamstrings, the reverse lunge takes the emphasis off the quads and gives the back of the legs some serious stimulus. You can load with a barbell, dumbbells, kettlebells or simply use your bodyweight, but whatever you choose, take your time on each rep and avoid slamming your back knee from the ground repeatedly. Not just because this will target the hamstrings more efficiently, but because it's a good idea.

Form check: Stand tall holding a pair of dumbbells at your sides or a barbell on your back (A), take a long step backward with one leg, bending your front leg until your back knee gently touches the ground (B). Stand up and forward explosively, pause and repeat with the opposite leg.

Why: A bodyweight movement that's easy to overlook but shouldn't be underestimated. Bridges can be employed single-legged, with both legs, with added load, in holds and with legs raised to add some extra oomph. Take your time on each rep and focus on really connecting with the hamstrings and squeezing them hard, throughout.

Form check: Lay flat on the ground with bent knees, raise your feet on a bench or plates if you can. Lift one leg from the ground, putting all of your weight into the other (A). Press your foot down, lifting your hips from the ground until they’re fully extended. Squeeze your glutes and hamstrings hard (B). Pause here before slowly lowering your hips back to the ground.

A seriously humbling bodyweight movement that's up there with a double bodyweight squat or deadlift in terms of difficulty that can be easily regressed using bands. Nordic curls build strength through your hamstrings like nothing else, increasing your jumping and sprinting prowess.

Form check: Assume a tall kneeling position and secure the backs of your ankles under a pad, or a have partner hold them (A). Keeping your torso upright, lean forward, pivoting from your knees and using your hamstrings to resist and slow down the movement as you move towards the ground. Pause in the bottom position (B) before flexing your hamstrings to pull you back to an upright position. Wrap a band around your chest and attach it to something above your head for assistance, and use your hands to push yourself away from the floor to help.

An upgraded version of the bodyweight bridge, but still a lot easier than the Nordic curl. You can use a Swiss ball, suspension trainer, floor sliders or even the seat of a rowing machine to add a bit of much needed ‘knee flexion’ to your bridges, unlocking the bodyweight hamstring curl.

Form check: Lay flat on your back and place one, or both feet in the handles of a suspension trainer or atop a Swiss ball (A). Draw your heels back towards your glutes, lifting your hips from the ground (B). Squeeze your hamstrings and glutes as hard as possible, before slowly reversing the movement until your legs are straight.

The GHR may require some specialist equipment (or some even more specialist DIY), but it's an excellent movement that works your hamstrings, glutes and lower back, using just your bodyweight, making it great for warm-ups or high rep finishers. You can add load by simply holding a dumbbell or looping a resistance band around your neck.

Form check: Secure your feet in a glute ham machine with your knees on the pad and torso upright (A), lower your upper body while keeping your hips extended, maintaining a rigid, straight line from your shoulders to your knees. Once your torso is parallel to the ground (B) contract your glutes and hamstrings to raise your body back up.

A real grinder of a movement that will also boost your stamina and build some serious ‘real world’ strength. The sled drag has no ‘eccentric loading’ which essentially means the ‘lowering portion’ of a lift – this is where the majority of the (positive) muscle damage occurs in most exercises. Feel free to stick in sled drags between leg days, to drive blood into your lower body and speed up recovery.

Form check: Attach straps or a rope to your sled and grip with both hands (A). Explosively march backward with small but powerful steps (B). Focus on the tension in your hamstrings as you stride backwards. It's going to start burning, but push (or pull) through.

This one probably goes without saying, but if you want to target your hamstrings, specifically, and you have access to a machine specifically designed to do so, you’d be remiss to not at least try it. As with every other entry on this list, don't rush your reps, focus on squeezing your hamstrings hard and establishing a strong ‘mind/muscle connection’.

Form check: Depending on the exact machine you have access to, you may be seated or laying prone. With straight legs secure the back of your ankles above (or below) the pads (A) and draw your feet towards your glutes, as far as you can (B). Squeeze your hamstrings hard in the fully flexed position before slowly lowering back to the start.

6 Alternatives to the Barbell Deadlift

Dwayne Johnson's Brutal Leg Day

How Ryan Reynolds Stays in Shape at 46

Romanian Deadlift: How to Do It with Perfect Form

How to Get a Six-Pack in Four Weeks

45 Best Exercises for Beginners to Try at Home

How to Calculate Your One Rep Max

Chris Hemsworth's Core Building Session

What Is Resistance Training?

The Ultimate Training Plan for Over 50s

How to Train like Luke Evans

20 Best Back Exercises For Building Muscle