A solid hamstring routine does more than build the back of your legs. The best hamstring workouts help you run more smoothly, protect your knees, and lower your risk of those frustrating pulls that can sideline you for weeks. With a bit of planning, you can get strong, resilient hamstrings without spending hours in the gym.
Below, you will learn how your hamstrings work, which exercises deserve a permanent spot in your routine, and how to organize them into workouts that match your goals and fitness level.
Understand why hamstrings matter
Your hamstrings are a group of three muscles that run from your hips to just below your knees on the back of your thighs. They cross both the hip and knee joints, so they help you bend your knees and extend your hips at the same time. These motions show up every time you walk, run, jump, or stand up from a chair (Hinge Health).
Strong hamstrings are especially important when you accelerate, change direction, or slow down. They pull your body forward when your foot is on the ground, help lift your heel during the swing phase, and control your leg as it swings forward so your knee does not snap straight too fast (Recover Athletics). This combination of power and control is why hamstring training is so valuable for runners and field athletes.
Consistent strengthening does more than improve performance. It also helps balance the front and back of your thighs, which can reduce knee strain and make everyday activities like climbing stairs, gardening, and playing with your kids feel easier (Hinge Health).
Focus on what makes a hamstring workout “the best”
The best hamstring workouts do three things well:
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Train both main functions
Your hamstrings need work in hip extension, think deadlift patterns, and knee flexion, think curl patterns. Physical therapists often recommend combining open chain moves, where your foot is off the ground, with closed chain moves, where your foot is planted, to cover both strength and control in real life positions (Hinge Health). -
Include eccentric training
Eccentric work means your muscles lengthen under load, like when you lower in a deadlift or slowly resist on the way down in a Nordic curl. A 2023 review reported that eccentric hamstring training can reduce injury incidence by roughly 57 to 70 percent and improve the strength balance between your hamstrings and quads (One Peloton). -
Mix strength and speed
Heavy strength work builds muscle and force. Fast, sprint style work teaches you to use that strength quickly. For contact athletes, sprinting is ranked as an S+ hamstring exercise, which is as good as it gets, because it closely mimics the demands that usually cause strains (Jack Tyler Performance).
When you look at your own training, aim to check all three of these boxes over the course of a week.
Build a base with beginner friendly moves
If you are new to strength training or coming back from a layoff, start with simple, controlled exercises that teach you to feel your hamstrings working without overloading them.
Glute bridge
The glute bridge is one of the best beginner hamstring exercises because it activates your entire backside, or posterior chain, without stressing your spine. It can even help correct posture issues like anterior pelvic tilt (Zing Coach).
Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat. Press through your heels to lift your hips until your body forms a straight line from shoulders to knees. Pause, then lower with control. To emphasize your hamstrings, pull your toes up slightly and push more through your heels.
Machine hamstring curl
If your gym has a lying or seated hamstring curl machine, it is a great entry point. Machine curls isolate the back of your thigh with minimal risk of losing form or overloading your lower back (Zing Coach).
Set the machine so the pad rests just above your heels and your knees line up with the machine’s pivot point. Curl the weight slowly, pause, then lower under control. Start light and focus on a smooth squeeze rather than speed.
Romanian deadlift (RDL)
Romanian deadlifts teach the hip hinge, which is the foundation of many hamstring and glute exercises. They emphasize eccentric loading and flexibility, making them a key move even for beginners if you start with modest weight (Zing Coach).
Stand tall with dumbbells or a bar in front of your thighs. Soften your knees, then push your hips back as you lower the weight along your legs. Keep your back mostly straight and stop when you feel a deep stretch in your hamstrings. Drive your hips forward to stand back up.
For your first four to six weeks, aim to do two or three of these exercises twice per week. That is usually enough to wake up your hamstrings, build basic strength, and prepare you for more demanding work (Zing Coach).
Level up with proven strength exercises
Once you have a base, you can build out the best hamstring workouts with heavier compound lifts and single leg work. These moves give you more muscle and strength without requiring complicated programming.
Conventional deadlift
Conventional deadlifts are a classic for a reason. They train hip extension under significant load and recruit your hamstrings along with your glutes, lower back, and core. This makes them one of the top movements for building strong, muscular hamstrings in less time (TrainHeroic).
Set up with the bar over your midfoot, grip just outside your legs, brace your core, and drive through the floor to stand tall. Think about pushing the ground away instead of yanking the bar up. Start with lower reps and focus on a neutral spine.
Romanian deadlifts and single leg RDLs
RDLs, sometimes called stiff leg deadlifts, place more stretch and tension directly on your hamstrings. Keeping a soft knee bend and hinging from the hips helps you feel a strong pull in the middle of the back of your thighs. Single leg variations add a balance challenge and fix side to side strength gaps (TrainHeroic).
Hold a dumbbell in each hand, shift your weight into one leg, and hinge as you let the back leg lift behind you. Move slowly and stay within the range where you can control your hips and spine.
Good mornings and hip thrusts
Good mornings involve a barbell on your upper back and a similar hip hinge pattern to the RDL. They prioritize hip extension and can heavily load your hamstrings when done correctly.
Hip thrusts, where your upper back rests on a bench and you drive your hips up with a bar or weight across them, primarily target your glutes. With intentional foot placement, you can involve your hamstrings more, for example by placing your feet slightly farther out, and continue building your entire backside (TrainHeroic).
Isolation and accessory work
Seated and lying hamstring curls deserve a spot in advanced routines too. In fact, seated curls are ranked as S tier for contact athletes, right alongside RDLs, because they challenge the hamstrings in a stretched position at the hip and knee (Jack Tyler Performance).
Other helpful accessories include kettlebell swings, which get a B level rating but are especially useful in rehab or lighter sessions, and hip extensions or glute ham raises on specialized benches for focused work at the knee and hip (Jack Tyler Performance, TrainHeroic).
Add eccentric power with Nordic curls and bridges
If you want to get the most from your time, it is worth including at least one eccentric focused exercise in your hamstring workouts. These moves have strong research support for both strength and injury prevention.
Nordic hamstring curls
Nordic curls involve kneeling, anchoring your feet, and slowly lowering your body forward using your hamstrings to resist gravity. They are very challenging, but you can start with assisted or shortened range versions if you are a beginner (Zing Coach).
Nordics are the most research backed exercise for reducing hamstring injuries in runners, partly because they strengthen the muscle while it is lengthening, just like what happens during fast running (Recover Athletics). Nine weeks of consistent Nordic work has been shown to significantly lengthen muscle fibers in the biceps femoris long head by adding sarcomeres end to end, which may reduce the risk of overstretch injuries (Stanford Human Performance).
There is a catch. Those sarcomere gains can drop off after about three weeks without training, and short three to four week pre season blocks may not be enough to create lasting changes. To keep the benefits, you need to include Nordic variations regularly over the long term (Stanford Human Performance).
Eccentric bridge variations
If full Nordic curls feel out of reach, you can get similar eccentric benefits with bridge based exercises. Eccentric bridges and bridge walkouts strengthen your hamstrings as they lengthen and are easier to scale by adjusting range of motion or load (Recover Athletics).
The bridge curl, where you lift your hips, slide your feet away, then pull them back while staying in a bridge position, hits both hip extension and knee flexion and gives your core a stability challenge at the same time (Hinge Health).
Do not ignore sprinting for performance and injury prevention
If you play a field or court sport or you run, sprinting should be part of your best hamstring workouts. It is ranked S+ for contact athletes because it trains your hamstrings in the exact way they are loaded in your sport (Jack Tyler Performance).
Research using smartphone based motion capture has shown that your hamstrings stretch more intensely and quickly when you accelerate from lower speeds compared to when you run at a steady top speed. This helps explain why many strains happen during accelerating or cutting, not cruising (Stanford Human Performance).
The same study found that your individual acceleration style matters. Poor control of your pelvis and torso as you accelerate can cause rapid hamstring stretching. Monitoring these patterns with tools like OpenCap can help coaches flag athletes at higher risk and adjust their training or technique accordingly (Stanford Human Performance).
Even without tech, you can benefit from short, controlled sprints once or twice per week, on top of strength training. Start with a thorough warmup, include a few buildup runs, and focus on smooth form rather than all out effort right away.
If you care about performance or play a sport that involves running, combining regular sprinting with eccentric hamstring work like Nordics is one of the most effective long term protection strategies you can use.
Put it together: sample hamstring workouts
You can organize the exercises above into simple weekly structures that fit around your existing training. Aim to work your hamstrings 2 to 3 times per week, and try to increase the load or difficulty every 4 to 8 weeks as you get stronger (One Peloton).
Beginner strength focus, 2 days per week
Day 1
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Glute bridge: 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps
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Machine hamstring curl: 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps
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Light RDL with dumbbells: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Day 2
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Glute bridge or bridge curl: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps
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Single leg RDL (bodyweight or light dumbbells): 3 sets of 8 reps per leg
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Optional: easy kettlebell swings: 2 sets of 12 to 15 reps
Intermediate strength plus eccentric work, 2 to 3 days per week
Day 1, heavy
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Conventional deadlift: 4 sets of 4 to 6 reps
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Seated hamstring curl: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps
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Nordic curl variation: 3 sets of 4 to 6 controlled negatives
Day 2, lighter
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Romanian deadlift: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps
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Bridge walkouts or bridge curls: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps
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Single leg RDL: 3 sets of 8 reps per leg
Optional Day 3, speed and control
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Warmup, then 4 to 6 short sprints of 20 to 40 meters at 70 to 85 percent effort
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Finish with light eccentric bridges or curls: 2 sets of 10 to 12 reps
Adjust sets and reps based on your time and recovery. If you are very sore, keep the volume lower and focus on smooth technique rather than chasing fatigue.
Make your hamstring training stick
To get the most from your time with these best hamstring workouts, consistency is your biggest ally. Research on Nordic curls shows that even impressive adaptations at the muscle fiber level start to fade after just a few weeks away from training (Stanford Human Performance). The same principle applies across your routine.
Pick two or three exercises you can perform confidently, repeat them regularly, and progress gradually. Over time, you will notice more stable knees, smoother running or walking, and a stronger, more powerful stride.
