How To Build Your Hamstrings & Increase Their Size

Just like that, spring is in season! I spent most of this winter attempting to lock into my routines: gym, sleep and creative pursuits. I must admit that I think it’s one of the best times to focus on yourself as life is a little bit quieter than other seasons. 8 months post-injury, I adapted my training to focus on certain muscle groups that are lacking in strength and size. One of those muscle groups are my hamstrings. I am a quad dominant girlie but I know that when I prioritise the growth of one muscle group, I do see the returns of my labour.

My challenge to you for this new quarter and new month is to have audacity. Give whatever muscle group that you want to prioritise everything that you’ve got. Have the audacity to do the exercises that scare you. Train movement patterns that you might see as a weakness. This is your time to challenge yourself and surge through spring. You will be surprised by how much stronger you are and the mental clarity that you will receive in the next 90 days.

Training Legs

Most women train legs at least two times a week. Most likely train them more than any other muscle group. When I first started training, I did not like leg days at all. Once I realised that having a balanced physique meant that I needed to train all muscle groups equally. Or prioritise one group, depending on my goals, my mindset switched. I taught myself how to enjoy leg days more. Then I got into powerlifting and you train legs pretty much everyday.

As I learn more about the science of fitness, I have executed different approaches to build up weaker parts of my body. I made sure to build them into strengths. That has led me to lift numbers that I would have never imagined when I first started out. That is having audacity, which leads me into this new series helping you transform your body one muscle group at a time.

What Are The Hamstrings

The three muscles found at the back of your legs are your hamstrings. They run from the back of your knees all the way to the base of your glutes. The hamstrings are one of the most important muscle groups. You use them in your daily activities such as walking, running, jumping and of course, what you do in the gym. When you train your hamstrings properly, you are building full body strength, boosting your athleticism including your performance in and out of the gym. The stronger your hamstrings, the more you will be able to lift in your squats and deadlifts.

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The Anatomy of the Hamstrings

To understand how to train the hamstrings muscles, you need to know what the muscles are and how they function. The hamstring muscles are made up of three muscles: the long visible muscle (semitendinosus), and the long and short heads (biceps femurs). These are found at the back of your thighs, running from the back of your knees to the base of your glutes. The long visible muscle provides support for knee flexion and hip extension movements. The long and short head muscles are important when it comes to hip extension and pelvic health. These muscles work together to build stability, generate explosive power and assist with multi-directional movements (knee flexion and hip extension).

Importance of Hamstrings

Your hamstring muscles are responsible for aligning your knees and pelvis. One of the things that I have been working on in physiotherapy is stabilising my pelvis as the injury tore and weakened the muscles near my hamstrings and glutes. If you work a desk job, it is very important that you move regularly throughout the day. Unfortunately for those of us with desk jobs, our hamstrings can be tighter because we sit down for too long. Simultaneously, our pelvic health suffers as prolong sitting can weaken the strength and function of the pelvic floor.

Two Types of Hamstrings Movements

There are two joint movements that are effective and necessary to train if your goal is to build up your hamstrings and increase their size. One of the joint movements is very popular. You will see this in a commercial gym more often than the other. I’m pretty sure it is a movement that you do often when exercising. These two joint movements are: the knee flexion and the hip extension.

Knee Flexion

The hamstrings are knee flexors which means that they bend at the knee. This is a key movement pattern to strength and improve knee flexion. By training this movement regularly, your knees will be more stable, more aligned with your pelvis, and it will improve your quality of life when performing daily activities. Moreover, including exercises such as seated or lying hamstring curls, Romanian deadlifts (RDLs) and single-leg glute bridges, will help build up your hamstrings.

Hip Extension

In addition to being knee flexors, the hamstrings are hip extenders which means that they move the leg backwards from the hip joint. The muscles in the body that use the hip extension are the hamstrings, the glutes and the adductors. Some of the exercises shared can be used to train all these muscles simultaneously. That is one of the reasons why you see hamstrings and glutes trained together regularly. Hip hinge exercises are a very good examples of the hip extension joint movement.

Hamstring Exercises To Add In Your Routine

Now that you understand the science behind the hamstring muscles, let’s get into what you are really here for. Any variation of deadlifts will definitely add size and strength to your hamstrings and I’m sure that these are already staples in your routine. If you want this muscle group to become an explosive powerhouse, you need to incorporate a variety of exercises. Here are some of the best exercise to build up and increase their size.

Knee Flexion Hamstring Exercises

Romanian Deadlifts (any variation)

Most deadlift variations target the hamstrings but a RDL takes your quads out of the equation with a slight bend in the knee. This will allow you to get a full stretch in your hamstrings. For strength and hypertrophy (muscle building), start off with 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps.

Lying Leg Curls

Not all gyms will have a lying leg curl machine. If your gym doesn’t, you can still target this muscle using the sister machine: seated leg curls. The biggest mistake that most people make when using this machine is rushing through the reps. Focus on squeezing your muscles hard and build that mind to muscle connection. Your body should not be lifting off the pad. If it is, lower the weight and work on your form.

Seated Leg Curls

The sister machine to lying leg curls and one of my go-to exercises for hamstrings. This exercise will focus on building the long and short heads of the muscle. For this exercise, you want to push your hamstrings all the way back to get a deep stretch. Another modification that you can make while doing this exercise is rounding your back forward to get a deeper stretch and in addition, hit the long muscle.

Nordic Curls

The Nordic Curl is an exercise that you will rarely see in the gym but it is truly a humbling bodyweight exercise to do. If you do try this exercise, feel free to regress the movement by using bands. This is how I do the exercise whenever it is in rotation to help establish that mind to muscle connection.

To perform this exercise, you want to start in a tall kneeling position with your ankles secured with a pad or anchor (think about the lat pulldown anchor for your knees). Keeping your torso upright, pivot your knees and use your hamstrings to slowly lower yourself to the ground. Pause at the bottom and then flex your hamstrings to pull yourself back to the starting position.

Hip Extension Hamstring Exercises

Kettlebell Swings

If you want your hamstrings to be an explosive powerhouse, you have got to add an explosive exercise to match. Kettlebell Swings are mixture between hip extension and knee flexion because it loads your hamstrings and your hips at the bottom position. To get your body to the end position, you need to explode your hips and pelvis forward into an extension. Don’t go too heavy on this to begin with as it is an exercise that you will feel days later.

Good Mornings

Good Mornings are similar to RDLs with the exception that the weight is behind you instead of in front of you. It is a great exercise to help you practice bracing your core and the hip hinge movement. If you feel pain in your back, remove the weights and focus on your form. It is not an ego exercise, use weights and focus on getting the movement right. Slow and controlled actions are necessary.

Cable Pull Through

If you find that Good Mornings overload your spine but you still want to get the benefits out of the movement, try cable pull throughs. It is a great isolation exercise that targets both the hamstrings and glutes without your lower back being compensated. For this exercise, you want to be training with high volumes to create serious muscle growth. Start off with 3 sets of 15-20 reps.

Glute Bridges

You will most likely see people do glute bridges as a bodyweight exercise, but you can also do this with weights. Don’t overlook and underestimate this exercise. You can do it as a single leg exercise to improve muscle imbalances. You can add load, tempo, pauses and isometric holds to add some progressive overload to the movement. Again, focus on squeezing the muscles hard and that mind-to-muscle connection.

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I hope that this post has given you the confidence to try some new exercises to target hamstring development and to challenge yourself to have audacity this quarter. Make sure to hit that subscribe button to join the community and never miss out on a post. Find me on Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok for more powerlifting and wellness content.

Until next time,

Folakemi