maratoolFloor Glute-Ham Raise
How to do the floor glute-ham raise
- You can use a partner for this exercise or brace your feet under something stable.
- Begin on your knees with your upper legs and torso upright. If using a partner, they will firmly hold your feet to keep you in position. This will be your starting position.
- Lower yourself by extending at the knee, taking care to NOT flex the hips as you go forward.
- Place your hands in front of you as you reach the floor. This movement is very difficult and you may be unable to do it unaided. Use your arms to lightly push off the floor to aid your return to the starting position.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the hamstrings, which extend the hip and bend the knee, frequently at both joints in the same repetition.
Even with a single joint doing the moving, the muscle is not working alone — the calves control the ankle and hold the heel position; the glutes finish hip extension.
Every exercise for:HamstringsCalvesGlutes
How this movement works
One joint changes angle and the resistance travels toward you along a single arc. Nothing is positioned to help, so tension stays where you aimed it and the usable load drops sharply against a multi-joint pull for the same muscle. Protect the range of motion; buying weight by shortening the arc defeats the point.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
These train the hamstrings too, using equipment this one does not:
- Flutter Kicksbench + body only
- Front Leg Raisesbody only
- Glute Ham Raisemachine
- Good Morningbarbell
- Hamstring-SMRfoam roll
Difficulty
Listed at intermediate level. It assumes you already own the underlying pattern and can hold position under load — if the position breaks before the target muscle tires, drop back to a beginner variation until it does not.
Of the 86 hamstrings exercises in this database, 35 are listed at intermediate level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.