Tip The Hamstring Exercise That Beats Leg Curls Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Training Tip The Hamstring Exercise That Beats Leg Curls The lying leg curl is great but it gets boring Plus this can work better by Chris Shugart July 27, 2018April 30, 2021 Tags Kettlebell Training, Legs, Tips, Training Walk into any gym and watch people train their hamstrings. Try not to be all creepy about it. What's the go-to exercise for hammies? It's the lying leg curl machine. It's not a bad exercise either. But is it the best? Researchers decided to find out. The Study Sixteen lifters were recruited for this study, eight women and eight men. The researchers had them do several different hammy exercises: Lying Leg Curl Machine Seated Leg Curl Machine Romanian Deadlift (barbell) Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift (dumbbell) Glute-Ham Raise Machine Bodyweight Glute-Ham Raise (Nordic Curl) Kettlebell Swing Stability Ball Hamstring Curl Reverse Hip Raise (Reverse Hyper) Subjects were strapped up with surface electrodes to test their levels of muscle activation. Weights used were 70 percent of 1RM. Several other sciency things were tested too, but let's not make this boring and instead jump right to... The Results The kettlebell swing slightly outperformed the lying leg curl when it came to biceps femoris activation. The heavy black line in the chart represents the lying leg curl: The other measurable muscle in the hamstring group, the semitendinosis, was tested too. In this case, stability ball hamstring curls, reverse hypers, and bodyweight GHRs outperformed the lying leg curl machine. The amateur anatomists might be screaming right now because the third hamstring muscle, the semimembranosus, wasn't tested. But the REAL anatomy geeks know that you can't put an EMG electrode on the deep semimembranosus, and it's tough to isolate anyway. What This Means to You The lying leg curl machine is great, but don't freak out if someone else is already using it. Do the kettlebell swing and pair it with stability ball hamstring curls, reverse hypers, or bodyweight GHRs (Nordics). Source American Council on Exercise, Kayla Schmitt, B.S., John P. Porcari, Ph.D., Clayton Camic, Ph.D., Attila Kovacs, Ph.D., and Carl Foster, Ph.D., with Daniel J. Green Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Training Straightforward Knee Rehab Few injuries are as debilitating as knee pain. Here's what to do when yours strikes. It Hurts Fix It, Soft-Tissue Techniques, Training Anthony Mychal October 12 Training Total-Body Arm Training Bodybuilding veteran Scott Abel (pictured) has a radical plan to turn arm day into the best fat-burning workout of the week. Training Scott Abel September 23 Training Tip The Worst Way to Deadlift Yes, everyone should deadlift, but one variation should be avoided. Tips, Training Joel Seedman, PhD December 13 Training Tip The Cure for Spaghetti Hamstrings This exercise looks pretty easy. It's not. Bodybuilding, Legs, Tips, Training Paul Carter October 1