Here is all the information you need to know about training hamstrings!
And if you dont want to read, you can just check out this video!
Exercises and movement patterns
There are 2 types of exercises that you need to include in your hamstring workout:
1. Hip hinge exercise
2. Isolation exercise
Hip hinge exercises
The hip hinge exercises that i recommend the most are for example the romanian deadlift, the stiff leg deadlift, or goodmornings.
Any of these exercises will give you an amazing stretch of the hamstrings.
Isolation exercises
And when it comes to the hamstring isolation exercises, its an easy choice.
Do hamstrings curls, you really cant go wrong with this exercise.
But if you dont have access to the hamstring curl machine, you can go with the nordic hamstring curl, that is also a very a good exercise.
One thing you should keep in mind, is that doing ONLY isolation exercises simply wont cut it.
You also need to be doing one of the hip hinge exercises, otherwise you will NOT get anywhere.
Number of workouts
As with a lot of other body parts, 2 workouts per week is where you want to be.
There is not really a reason to do more than that.
Number of sets
The number of sets per week i recommend is exactly 12 sets.
I believe, that 12 sets per week is the ideal spot, there is not really a reason to go over that number.
Which basically means, that you will do 6 sets of a hip hinge exercise, and 6 sets of an isolation exercise per week.
Rep ranges
You need to split your exercises into:
1.Main exercise
2.Isolation exercise
This will make it much easier to understand.
Main exercise
For the main exercise, we will select one of the hip hinge movements.
My recommended rep range for the main exercise, is 5-15 reps.
So you can choose between the 5-8, 8-12 or the 12-15 rep range.
Any of these rep ranges are good, so choose based on what you enjoy the most.
Isolation exercise
As i mentioned earlier, for the isolation exercise we will use either the hamstring curl machine, or the nordic hamstring curl.
The rep range for the isolation exercise can be anywhere from at least 8reps all to way to 30reps.
But most of the time, you should aim somewhere between 12-20reps.
Example routine
This is how the example hamstring focused part of your workout could look like:
RDL vs SLDL
Let me show you the difference between the romanian deadlift, and the stiff leg deadlift.
Because people get them mixed up all the time.
There are 3 main differences between the two of them.
The first difference, is the starting position.
On the romanian deadlift, you start from the top position, and on the stiff leg deadlift, you start from the bottom position.
The second difference, is the position of your shins relative to the bar.
On the romanian deadlift, you keep the bar close to the shins.
And on the stiff leg deadlift, you keep the bar a away from the shins.
And the third difference, is the knee flexion.
As you can see by the name, on the stiff leg deadlift, your legs are stiff, which means they are almost straight.
But on the romanian deadlift, you bend the knee a little bit more than on the stiff leg deadlift.
This is how you can easily distinguish between the two exercises!
And yes, these exercises are very similar, so dont stress if you are not sure which one of them you are doing exactly.
As long as you are getting a good stretch in the hamstrings, it really doesnt matter that much.
Hip hinge technique
This is very important, because a lot of people complain that they dont feel their hamstrings at all, when they do any of the hip hinge exercises.
And they always try to blame the exercise, but the problem is in your technique.
So this is what you need to do:
When you perform a hip hinge movement, think of the hamstrings as if they were strings on a harp.
To play, you need the strings to be fully stretched.
If they are not, then you are not making any sound, in other words, you are making no gains.
This is the number 1 thing you need to pay attention to when you do any of the hip hinge movements.
And dont forget to keep your back straight, and keep your chest up, this is essential if you want to perform the hip hinge exercises correctly.
Thats all you need to know about training hamstrings!