Supine Hamstring Curls is a beginners exercise that will help build strength in hamstrings. I recommend using them in circuits or super sets with squats or dead lifts.
Main Muscles: Hamstrings
Key Points:
– Keep your back straight, core tight and hips off of the floor
– Begin with your Achilles on the ball and knees locked
– Pull your heels towards your buttocks and extend your legs back out
If you are unable to keep your back arched and chest up when bending over you should not reach for the floor. For some people (especially beginners) getting the leg bent into a 90 degree angle is enough.
Main Muscles: gluteus maximus, hamstrings, quadriceps
Key Points:
– Keep your chest high, back straight & core tight
– Give yourself plenty of space between the bench and your lead leg
– Keep your foot flat and push through the heel of the lead leg
– Squat until the knee on your lead leg is less than 90°
Experiencing a swivel, or swerve, caused by a muscular imbalance in the hips, is a common issue that can affect the rhythm of your squats and risk injury. The root of the problem is normally tight hip flexors (mainly the iliopsoas muscles), adductors, abductors, a weak gluteus muscle, or a combination of several of the above. Therefore it is also wise to incorporate stretches that target those muscles along with single leg exercises, such as Bulgarian squats, lunges, box step ups, etc.
In this video, I will give you a cool training hack that can be used during squats to help correct the problem, but before getting to this point I recommend going through a few weeks of glute activation to make sure that you are able to squat with proper form using full range of motion.
There are quite a few biomechanical issues that could prevent a person from squatting ass-to-the-grass. In some cases, the anatomy of the bones in a person’s legs (femur and tibia) can play a major role, but even those people should be able to squat low enough to get their legs just below a 90° angle, at least. If you are not getting lower than 90° while squatting you will not be using your glutes at all. In other words, you’re cheating yourself!
Assuming that you are among the most common groups of gym goers, and that your femur and tibia bones are around about the same length, you will have to use some crafty techniques in order to bring your posterior muscles back out of their slumber if they have been hibernating. Dominant quadriceps can stop you from targeting and accessing these muscle fibres.
Decline hip thrusters are great for glute activation. As explained in the vid, this exercise is a straight forward way to hit glutes while excluding quads. This move also works for people who have to overextend their lower backs in order to get all the way down, or fall victim to a combination of both.
Resistance bands give us the opportunity to train anywhere and this video will teach you how to dead lift in a place as inconvenient as… I dunno… your hotel room?…
Main Muscles: Hamstrings, Gluteus Maximus, Latissimus Dorsi
Key Points: – Keep your back straight, ass out and chest high – The band should be under the arches of your feet – Drive your feet through the floor and thrust your hips forward when exploding upwards – Use a slow, controlled movement on the descent – Use full range of motion
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