Hurdle Hops

Muscles worked

The force comes from the hamstrings, which extend the hip and bend the knee, frequently at both joints in the same repetition.

A plyometric repetition is over before a slow contraction could contribute anything, so they have to produce that force immediately on contact.

Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the abductors stop the knee collapsing inward and hold the pelvis square; the adductors steady the thigh against the pull away from the midline; the calves control the ankle and hold the heel position.

The glutes take a share of the work as well.

Every exercise for:HamstringsAbductorsAdductorsCalvesGlutes

How this movement works

The working muscles shorten as they drive the load away from you, and more than one joint changes angle to do it. Load spreads down a chain instead of sitting on one muscle, which is why a compound push handles more weight than any single-joint alternative — and why joint position, not the muscle, is usually what fails first.

It is filed under plyometrics, which trains the stretch-shortening cycle: loaded fast, released immediately. Contact time matters more than volume, so these belong early in a session.

What you need

These train the hamstrings too, using equipment this one does not:

• Inchwormbody only
• Jefferson Squats with Barbellbarbell
• Kettlebell Dead Cleankettlebell
• Lying Leg Curl Machinemachine
• Stiff-Legged Dumbbell Deadliftdumbbell

Difficulty

Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.

Of the 86 hamstrings exercises in this database, 37 are listed at beginner level.