Exercise Profile
- Target Muscle Group
- Exercise TypeStrength
- Equipment RequiredMachine
- MechanicsIsolation
- Force TypePull
- Experience LevelBeginner
- Secondary Muscles
None
Target Muscle Group
Hamstrings
Leg Curl Overview
The lying leg curl is an isolation exercise primarily targeting the hamstrings (the muscles at the back of your thighs).
This exercise helps improve hamstring strength and flexibility, knee stability, and overall leg development. It also helps correct muscle imbalances by isolating the hamstrings without involving other muscle groups like the quads.
It’s an effective exercise for building strength, improving athletic performance, and preventing injuries, especially for activities that rely heavily on knee flexion, such as running and jumping.
Leg Curl Instructions
- On a leg curl machine, adjust the pad so it sits comfortably just above your ankles, and ensure the backrest is set to match your body size.
- Select the desired weight and position your body face down on the machine, keeping your torso flat and your legs extended straight.
- Place your feet under the ankle pad and hold onto the machine's handles for stability. This is the starting position.
- Slowly bend your knees and bring your heels toward your glutes by contracting your hamstrings.
- At the top of the movement, pause briefly and squeeze your hamstrings.
- Slowly return to the starting position, fully extending your legs. This is one rep.
- Perform the desired number of repetitions.
Leg Curl Tips
- To fully engage the hamstrings, perform the movement slowly and with control, especially when lowering your legs.
- When your legs curl up, pause briefly at the top and squeeze your hamstrings for maximum contraction.
- Exhale as you curl your legs up, and inhale as you slowly lower them back down.
- Use a full range of motion. Aim to fully extend your legs at the bottom and bring your heels as close to your glutes as possible at the top.
28 Comments
What do I do if I workout at a college and they don’t have this in the gym.
Hi Bryce, if the gym has a cable station, a standing Leg Curl would work. You could also do these with a dumbbell between your feet.
Lie face toward ground on mat, use dumbell of apt weight. Hold db tightly bw feet. Move forelegs towards hips and back. 10-12 reps, 5 sets, try increasing weight carefully. Don't drop db ever.
What does super set mean with squat?
Hi Lola, this means you do one exercise immediately after another. So, if the exercises were squat and leg curl, then you would start with squats, then immediately go into leg curls with no rest. Rest after the second exercise.
TRX straps are a great way to find some alternatives if you don't have weights you want or machines. There is a hamstring curl using TRX straps that will shred your hammy's!
To give a little idea of what I have to work with......I live in a very very rural area. Walmart is 45 minutes away to give you a complete picture here. The only gym we (our community) has is one put together by a non-profit thrift store, and just about the majority of our equipment is out dated, or donated. Which I am not complaining at all. We are blessed this group worked so hard to put this together for our community. I am really working hard to get myself ready to compete on the stage. If I'm not being creative with the equipment then certain excercises do not get done. With that being said there is only so creative you can get, and only so much bodyweight excercise you can get it. Things I need to do like the leg curl is really hard for me to figure out, along with like leg extensions, glute focused excercises, pull ups, pek focused, rope extension, tricep focused, lat pulldown, hack squats, leg press just to name a few. Does anyone have suggestions? I have researched and researched different ways to do these excercises and others and either I am missing it, or cannot find it. Any kind of help will be greatly appreciated. This is a huge goal I am trying to reach, and I'm stumped.
Congrats on your effort! I’ve seen good workouts here with only dumbbells or body weight
Really late, but I've been using household objects to try it instead. Things like suitcases.
Brandy
I don’t know if you solved the issues with leg curls but a Swiss ball where your legs are on the top part of the Swiss ball and your back on the ground and you are pulling slowly with legs you can get to where you can do it single leg double leg works wonderful, and it adds stability to the legs check YouTube leg curls with Swiss ball!
Hello everyone,
I have a problem. I work out at home with a bench that has a leg curl/extension hinge. When I place the pad behind my ankles I can't get a full range of motion (over 90 degrees) at the concentric portion of the movement, but when I move down to try and get a better range of motion I often find my hips coming off the bench and/or my lower back curling backwards. Can someone please tell me what I should do? I am around six feet tall.
Thanks,
Ben.
Can I do the seated leg curl instead?
I'm not sure, this is what I wanted to ask since my gym only has a seated one, have you found an answer yet?
Yes to both of you. The seated version is actually better than this version in my opinion.
Hi, I am only 5 Ft 5 Inch Tall..
my thigh size is 22inchs..
and i want to lose fat from that part..
but i think if i would do this workout...it won't help! right!?
You can’t target fat loss, so no, doing one particular exercise is not going to help you lose weight or inches in that area. You need a well rounded consistent fitness program with cardio and resistance training to lose fat.
You will not lose fat unless on a caloric deficit or maintenance. No matter how much calories u burn from cardio. its all about calories in and calories out :D
Do you add weight after each set or use a consistent weight through all sets? Thanks
What does "double drop set" mean?
what would be a sub for this excluding squats with free weights?
Seated leg curls will be a sub for this. ;-)
How I figure out the weight to start?, do I increase the weight or the repetitions?, when I should increase it?. how many times a week I should this exercise?
I realize that I've been doing this slightly wrong now, thanks alot!
Is there a way of doing these work outs without the use of machines because am doing this at home
You can buy leg weights with straps that can offer a similar workout, but they usually are not heavy enough and often a waste of time. However, you can sometimes get lucky and get these machines for a good deal from a secondhand shop, be it online or your local store. I just swapped the exercise out for weighted squats.
Hi Steve. Is there a good alternative for leg curl?
The stiff leg deadlift is a popular choice. Also, check out our database of hamstring exercises for more options:
https://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/hamstrings
I actually use the modified hamstring raise.