Hamstring Curl

3-POINT SET-UP:

1. Head, neck, upper back, and palms down on carriage

2. Feet slightly wider than hip width distance apart on front platform

3. Pull low ribs in towards belly button and brace your core

Body Part • Direction • Action Verb:

• PUSH your palms into the carriage engaging your triceps/posterior delts and press your feet firmly into the front platform. Knit your ribs in towards your belly button, brace your core, posteriorly rotating your pelvis into a neutral position. Then DRIVE your hips up towards the ceiling.

Range of Motion:

• Range of motion will be specific to individual clients in this exercise. If you notice a client’s hips drastically dropping or knees caving inwards, limit range of motion.

 Kinetic Checkpoints:

HEAD:

✅ SAME AS PLANK

SHOULDERS:

❌ Shoulders rounded forward

✅ Engage rear delts, pushing the back of your shoulders towards the carriage (think chest opener)

HIPS:

❌ Hips sinking

❌ Hips tucked at top of bridge (which will cause you to pull from your knees)

✅ Hips stay frozen in a neutral position throughout range of motion

KNEES:

❌ Knees caving inwards or bowing outwards

✅ Knees stay tracked over feet, focusing on driving them apart as you press up into bridge

HANDS/FEET:

✅ Palms remain pressed into carriage engaging triceps and rear delts

✅ Push feet into front platform maintaining all three point of contact of the foot (tripod) for optimal posterior chain engagement

Talking Points:

• Remember “less is more” for hamstring curls. Clients will often produce too large ROM. Have clients learn first how to control a bridge, then introduce the curl (few inches in and out) and have them slowly increase their ROM once they have demonstrated the ability to do so.

• A great “regression” for this exercise is to combo the movement with a glute bridge/hamstring curl series.