Your hamstrings aren’t just back-of-the-leg filler but critical for strength, speed, and injury prevention. Innovative hamstring training makes a difference, whether you’re sprinting, deadlifting, or just trying to thicken up your posterior chain. But not all hamstring exercises are created equal.
Hamstrings are a biarticular muscle group that crosses the hip and knee joints. That means to train them completely, you need to target both hip extension (think Romanian deadlifts) and knee flexion (like leg curls). They also tend to recover more slowly than quads, so hitting them two times per week with the right mix of volume and intensity is the sweet spot for growth.
In this installment of our “Best to Worst” exercises series, we’re breaking down hamstring exercises by their effectiveness in targeting and stimulating true hypertrophy. From precise, meat-and-potatoes mass-builders to those that might not be worth your weekly volume, this list of best hamstring exercises will help you program with intent—and stack slabs of muscle on the back of your legs.
Best Exercises to Build Your Hamstrings
These exercises are your bread and butter for hamstring development. They load the hamstrings through a full range of motion, keep tension where it counts, and balance knee flexion and hip hinge mechanics. If you want to grow your hamstrings, this is the top tier.
Lying Leg Curls
Classic and laser-focused. Lying leg curls are pure knee flexion, locking your hips in place and dialing in on the hamstrings. They’re easy to progress and allow for killer tempo work.
Coach’s Tip: Try one-and-a-quarter reps to extend time under tension—curl all the way up, come down a quarter, then back up before lowering completely.
Seated Leg Curls
Arguably superior to lying curls due to the stretch position. Sitting places the hamstrings in a lengthened state, increasing muscle damage and growth stimulus.
Coach’s Tip: Keep your butt glued to the seat and avoid chaotic reps. Smooth, full-range reps here will torch your hamstrings.
Stiff-Leg Deadlifts
A staple for loading the hamstrings through a deep hip hinge. With minimal knee bend and a brutal stretch at the bottom, this movement builds size and resilience.
Coach’s Tip: Keep the bar close to your body and push your hips back like you’re trying to touch a wall behind you.
Romanian Deadlifts (RDLs)
Often confused with stiff-legs, RDLs involve a slight knee bend and greater control, making them ideal for hypertrophy. The consistent hamstring tension throughout the movement is unmatched.
Coach’s Tip: Control the eccentric (lowering phase) for 3 to 4 seconds, and keep the reps smooth. Don’t bounce or let momentum take over.
Average Exercises to Build Your Hamstrings
These exercises definitely train your hamstrings, but they come with trade-offs, like over-involving the glutes or limiting tension. Think of these as strong accessory moves (excluding conventional deadlifts) that support your main lifts or provide variety.
Conventional Deadlifts
They build total-body strength and hit the hamstrings hard, but they’re more of a general, strength-defining posterior chain movement. The glutes and low back often dominate, limiting targeted hamstring growth.
Coach’s Tip: Use these for strength development, not isolation. Pair them with curls or RDLs for complete coverage.
Hyperextensions
Glute-heavy? Yes. But with proper form and slight tweaks, you can get solid hamstring activation. The key is controlling tempo and adjusting foot placement.
Coach’s Tip: Point your toes outward and keep your spine neutral to shift more load into the hamstrings.
45-Degree Hip Extensions
Similar to hyperextensions but with a fixed angle. These are slightly more range-limited but still valuable when dialing in the hinge.
Coach’s Tip: Move slowly through the eccentric, and don’t overextend your lower back at the top—focus on the hip hinge.
Nordic Curls
Brutal and effective, but insanely advanced. Nordic curls overload the eccentric portion of knee flexion like nothing else, but most people don’t have the strength to do them correctly or consistently.
Coach’s Tip: Use assistance bands, a partner, or perform only the eccentric (lowering) phase slowly before scaling up to complete reps.
Below-Average Exercises to Build Your Hamstrings
These exercises involve the hamstrings, but don’t directly or effectively overload them. They can be used for variety, mobility, or light activation, but are not your main growth drivers.
Squats
They’ll make your legs strong and thick, but hamstrings take a backseat to the quads and glutes during squats, especially in a typical high-bar or front squat.
Coach’s Tip: Use squats to build the base, but not as a hamstring isolation strategy.
Slider Leg Curls
These look great on Instagram and are helpful for warm-ups or rehab. But they lack overload potential, and you’ll quickly outgrow them in terms of hypertrophy stimulus.
Single-Leg RDLs
Good for balance and control, but not great for maximal hamstring loading. These are better as accessory movements than mass-builders.
Coach’s Tip: Use lighter weights and perfect your hinge mechanics. Treat them as a movement skill, not a muscle-building staple.
Lunges
Lunges hit many lower-body muscles, but the hamstrings aren’t the prime mover. Depending on stride length and torso angle, most of the load shifts to the quads and glutes.
Coach’s Tip: Longer strides with a forward lean can increase hamstring engagement, but don’t expect significant growth from lunges alone.
How To Train For the Best Hamstring Gains
Want to build stronger, thicker, injury-resistant hamstrings? Here’s how to program like a pro:
- Prioritize both hip extension and knee flexion: Combine leg curls and RDL-style movements to hit all heads of the hamstrings.
- Train hamstrings 2x per week: They respond well to moderate frequency with smart volume and adequate rest between sessions.
- Control the tempo: Eccentric-focused reps (3–5 seconds lowering) create more tension, leading to better hypertrophy results.
- Use machines and free weights: Combining machine curls and compound hinge movements gives you the best of both worlds.
- Progress volume or load—not both at once: Add reps, sets, or intensity slowly and avoid jumping too fast between overload variables.
- Train hamstrings after quads? Flip it: Put hamstrings first on leg day occasionally—especially if they’re a weak point.
- Include hamstring finishers: To end sessions with a bang, try drop sets on leg curls or RDL/pulse combos.
The Takeaway
innovative programming + strategic exercise selection = bulletproof hamstrings. If you’re chasing speed, strength, or just next-level legs, build your plan around the “best” exercises, sprinkle in a few “average” ones for variety, and know when to leave the rest for warm-ups or off days.
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