Leg-Up Hamstring Stretch

Muscles worked

The muscles under tension are the hamstrings, which extend the hip and bend the knee, frequently at both joints in the same repetition.

A stretch loads them at the far end of the range they normally work in, so the position you hold is itself the resistance.

Every exercise for:Hamstrings

How this movement works

One joint moves, and it moves the load away from the body. With nothing recruited to assist, the target muscle reaches its own limit rather than the limit of the weakest link in a chain — which makes this useful for adding volume after the heavy compound work, not for opening a session.

It is filed under stretching, so the target is range of motion rather than force — a position you can settle into and breathe in, held long enough for the tissue to give.

What you need

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

• Lunge Pass Throughkettlebell
• Lying Leg Curl Machinemachine
• Muscle Snatchbarbell
• Natural Glute Ham Raisebody only
• 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.