Lack of Hamstrings

The reason most people lack hamstrings is because they never get them anywhere near their shortest position. I watch people on a daily basis yank their butts in the air, not knowingly actually taking the hamstring out of the movement as they do so!

Leg Day | 7/16/15

Leg Day is here! Some people like it, most people hate it and true gym rats love it! I love leg day! This workout was a volume based with lots of fun (for some, pain). Creating a set of wheels takes time, effort, intensity and a whole lot of pain threshold. You got to want some legs! Here's the workout in detail:

Hangin' Hammies

In muscle building, most people tend to neglect one of the primary functions of the hamstrings - Hip Extension, and overly stimulate the hams with knee flexion. It is essential to work both primary functions of the hamstrings if you want them to respond. The hamstrings are made up of more fast twitch muscle fibers. Therefore they respond better to heavy weight, lower reps.

What Muscles Does a Deadlift Work?

All of them!
Deadlift - Key Points:
► Keeping your back flat, head NEUTRAL, slowly bend from the waist and knees.
► At the bottom, you should feel a "slight" stretch in your hamstrings - i.e. butt back, not down.
►At this point, driving your heels into the ground FIRST, stand back up to the starting position using forceful contraction of the hamstrings, glutes, quads.
►Do not lean back at the top of the rep. Get to the point where your lats are contracted, not hyper extended at your lower back.

Bigger Hamstrings

Some people genetically have hamstrings which just hang off the back of their legs. For most though, hamstrings can be a hard muscle group to develop and I think there are a number of consistent reasons why this happens!

1. Like your back, you can't visually see them so some people really struggle to visualize that contraction taking place in the same way they can when doing biceps for instance

2. It's very common to see someone use too much back involvement when training hamstrings which ultimately transfers the stress and load directly to the lower back, not the hamstrings

3. Range of motion is often an issue where it's common for people to stop short of full extension (near full!) and more importantly achieve FULL flexion where that contraction really takes place

4. Poor exercise selection, with MANY gyms focusing on seated hamstring curls as their only/best option unless you know better

With that in mind, here is what I will say to you in order to accelerate your hamstrings development.

1. Start the movement by squeezing/tensing your hamstrings (and glutes where applicable) so that the muscle is ALREADY engaged. From here, it is up to you to mentally focus hard enough to maintain the tension!

2. I personally do not like seated leg curls, I much prefer lying leg curls. There's a much better contraction and far less lower back involvement. However, to avoid this even further have your training partner push down and partially massage your lower back as you do lying leg curls. This will help alleviate stress on the lower back, allowing you to focus on squeezing the hamstrings.

3. Beyond lying leg curls, you want to be using exercises like Romanian Deadlifts, Glute ham raises and good mornings.

4. When doing your reps, actively focus on squeezing the hamstrings HARD and continuing with this through the negative and especially at the isometric (contraction) point. REALLY squeeze hard!

Dexter Jackson Trains Hamstrings - Arnold Classic 2015 4 Weeks Out

Dexter with lying leg curls. Next is seated leg curls. They make the hams "pop!" Next is single leg curls. Next is stiff leg deadlifts on the hack squat machine. He talks about football especially being a die hard Cowboys fan.

Justin Compton Carving Out Glutes & Hams

Look at the conditioning through the white pants! This reminds me of Rhoden in his white pants prepping for the Olympia or Arnold. Just freakishly awesome!!!

Ham Training

Let's talk "HAMMIES"...As you know, I’m a big advocate of taking muscles through their full range of motion. This means maximal muscle shortening and lengthening. It may seem like you’re going ‘all the way’ through the movements, but there are countless little body tweaks that can make a WORLD of difference over time in your training - even the application of dosiflexion and plantar flexion at different points in your training. This can be done standing, kneeling or laying.

Raising Compton Episode 5 - Hammering the Hamstrings

Justin knew he needed to balance out his legs with some better hamstrings. He's got a great quad sweep  and with some better hamstrings, would make his legs with a great 3D effect. Give this workout a try!

Hamstring Training

HAMSTRINGS have two functions, knee flexion and hip extension. Both functions need to be trained DIFFERENTLY.
Knee flexion - low reps (2-8)
Exercises: seated or lying leg curls
Hip extension - higher reps (8+)
Exercises: stiff-leg or Romanian deadlifts, reverse hypers, barbell
good mornings, glute bridges

Lagging Hamstrings

Lagging hamstrings? Next time you’re training hamstrings with any type of hamstring curl (standing, kneeling, or lying), try keeping your ankle joint in dorsiflexion during the concentric and overloading the hamstring through plantar flexion during the eccentric phase. Dorsiflexion is simply the process of pulling your toes upward. This simple manipulation works to weaken the gastrocnemius (your calves) to take it out of the movement.

Plantarflexion, which points the toes, will ALSO allow for a different hamstring firing pattern. Little changes such as this can go a long way. Regardless of what lower body exercise you’re doing, it’s important to be mindful of foot placement in order to achieve maximum results.

Dennis Wolf Hamstring & Glute Workout 4 Weeks Out from the ASC 2014

Dennis starts with seated leg curls. Next is lying leg curls. Next is single leg curls. Next is glute kickbacks. Next is stiff legged deadlifts. Dennis is weighing 284 in the morning of this video. Next is hyperextension for glutes. Thanks for his support group and his fans. Let the haters hate!

Arnold Classic: Jose Raymond Hamstring Workout

Jose talks about his meeting with Arnold story. He talks about training with Evan and DLB in future videos. He talks about hamstring training. He talks about the 212 Arnold lineup. He talks about how his nephews called him for his birthday.

Exercise 1) Lying Leg Curl

4 sets x 15 - 20 reps

Exercise 2) Unilateral Leg Curl

4 sets x 15 - 20 reps

Exercise 3) Seated Leg Curl

4 sets x 15 - 20 reps

Exercise 4) Stiff Legged Deadlifts

4 sets x 15 reps

Quadriceps Touch-Up

Exercise 5) Leg Extensions

4 sets x 15 reps

Exercise 6) Smith Lunges /Single Leg Squat

4 sets x 10 - 12 reps

WHO WANTS AWESOME HAMSTRINGS?? by Ben Pakulski

First and foremost, I try to educate you so that you not only know how to perform exercises properly, but so that you also know WHY it is the proper way.
Here goes.....

The Hamstring is a group of 3 muscles. As most of you know, these muscles act to flex the knee joint. Semimembranosus, Semitendonosus, and Biceps femoris. The one HUGE factor that many of you do not know is that two of these muscles also act to extend the hip joint (therefore they effect TWO joints!).

Why do you care or why does this matter?
Well, as with any exercise you do, your goal should be to get a muscle as short as possible(atleast at some point during the workout) -ex/full squeeze on a leg extension is a greater contraction(shortening) than you can get on a leg press or squat.

Ever notice when you start going heavy on leg curl that your ass starts kicking up in the air? Well this is because the body has a natural defense mechanism that tries to keep a muscle from getting too short(so it kicks your ass up which actually LENGTHENS the hamstring from the opposite end.) Muscles are weakest at their extremes of the range, so your body tries to avoid these positions. Doing the exercise this way, shortens the muscle from both ends!!

Whats my point?
In order for you to get a maximal contraction of the hamstring, the HIP JOINT must be extended!
For you non-fitness geeks out there, this means essentially what you might look like if you were standing perfectly tall and just slowly extended one leg straight behind you without bending over at all(keep chest up). This movement may only be 3 or 4 inches behind you until you feel it start to stretch in the front of your hip, or feel your glute contract.
While maintaining this position of Hip Extension, now try to curl your leg. Even with no weight, you will feel a crazy contraction. Right?

Transferring this to the weight room.....
The easiest way to know you're in the proper position to execute this movement, is to ensure that your chest is up and your hips are thrust forward(until your glutes contract).
Keep the glutes contracted thru the entire movement, letting your butt kick up in the air takes stress and tension off the hamstrings.

You will need to use SIGNIFICANTLY LESS weight as first. This is a new movement and it is getting the muscle much shorter than you ever have before. (muscles are weakest at their extremes of the range remember!) The cool part is, if you get your hamstrings strong in this REALLY short position, it will be exponentially stronger in the midpoint of the range.... what does all this mean???
GROWTIIIIME!!!!

Take 6 weeks(42 days) to learn this before trying to go heavy. One key point to remember, (THIS IS HUGE....) "when trying to learn a movement(or motor pattern-as your body/brain know it), forced reps will actually slow down progress because it will teach improper movement patterns" The goal of learning any new movement is to do it perfectly with no flaws until you can do it without thinking about it. Assume it will take about 6 weeks minimum.

Now GET TO WORK! And don't be afraid to send me pics of your badass new hammers in 6 weeks! #EducateAndDominate

Dennis James Hamstring Workout for Master Olympia

 Funny how D.J. is watching the Food Network on the way to the gym. He starts with seated leg curls. Next is lying leg curls. Next is stiff legged deadlifts. Next is walking lunges indoors & outside. Thanks his Flex team.

PHIL HEATH 5 WEEKS OUT TRAINING HAMSTRINGS

Phil starts with lying leg curls, 4 sets of 10-12 reps. Next is stiff-legged deadlifts. Next is standing leg curl, 4 sets of 10 reps. Last is seated leg curls, 4 sets of 10 reps. It's all about feel the muscle contraction than the stack on the weights.

Big Bad Dennis Wolf Hits Hams, Blasts Calves & Smashes Shoulders 5 Weeks Out from the 2012 ASC!

Big Bad Wolf Hammers Hams and Blasts Calves 5 Weeks Before 2012 ASC

 

Dennis starts with seated leg curls. He hits a lot of sets for them. Next is lying leg curls, 4 sets. Next is reverse hack squats. He learned this from Dennis James. Next is hyperextensions. Now, it's calves time. He starts with donkey calf raises & seated calf raises, 4 sets.

 

Dennis Wolf Hits Shoulders Five Weeks Out!

 

Dennis starts smith machine shoulder press. At one point of his sets, he does pressing from a sticking point to blast them. Next is seated side laterals. I noticed he turns out the wrist plus, he did drop sets. Next is standing side laterals. He's doing as many as he can. Next is reverse pec deck. Next is behind the back shrugs. 

Photo courtesy by MD

Chris Minnes Kills Hams Before 2011 Excalibur

Chris Minnes Kills Hams Before 2011 Excalibur

 Chris starts with lying leg curls to warm up the hams. After that, he hits deadlifts. He's a former powerlifter so he went pretty heavy for deadlifts. Next is Romanian deadlifts. At this point, his hams are on fire. Next is seated leg curls. Going high reps with these & then he supersets with horizontal leg press. Next is abductor machine & squeezing the glutes & finishing with drop sets. At 3 weeks out, he's still taking 4,500 calories. Which is surprising. 

Photo courtesy by MD

NEW! 4x Mr Olympia JAY CUTLER Demolishes Hamstrings in prep for Olympia!

4x Mr. Olympia Bodybuilder Jay Cutler Demolishes Hamstrings

Jay starts with lying leg curls: 2 warm up & 3 working sets. Next is seated leg curls: 3 sets. Next is a one legged squat (almost a lunge). Next is stiff legged deadlifts: 3-4 sets. I love these! Next is one legged curl. 1st prep Jay's had without no strains or tweek in the prep. Hany Rambod is also in the video. They are working on bring out the detail & with a 3D look.

Photo courtesy by MD

Dennis Wolf Wreaks Havoc on Hams and Calves 3 Weeks Out from the 2011 Mr Olympia!!

Dennis Wolf Wreaks Havoc on Hams and Calves 3 Weeks Out from the 2011 Mr Olympia

 

Dennis starts with seated leg curls: 2 warm up sets & 4 working sets. I like these too. Next is lying leg curls: 3 working sets. He does a lot of reps for hams but you need to though. Next is reverse hack squats. I've done these in a long time. He loves this exercise. Next is hyperextensions for the glutes not the lower back: 3 working sets. On to calves, standing calf raise is the 1st exercise. 2 warm up sets & 3-4 working sets. Next is seated calf raises:3-5 working sets. He thanked his support group.

 

Photo courtesy by MD