Find out how to Do the Nordic Hamstring Curl: Alternate options, Advantages, and Muscle tissue Labored

The Nordic hamstring curl is having a second amongst athletes and coaches.

The 2 major causes for this are that it’s a easy train that you are able to do at residence or on the gymnasium with none particular gear, and it might even be notably good at defending the hamstrings in opposition to accidents.

On this article, you’ll study what the Nordic hamstring curl is, why it’s helpful, find out how to carry out it with correct type, the most effective Nordic hamstring curl options, and extra.

What Is a Nordic Hamstring Curl?

The Nordic hamstring curl is a body weight train that primarily trains the hamstrings.

Sometimes, you carry out it by kneeling on the ground and having a accomplice pin down your ankles, reducing your chest towards the ground by leaning ahead, and reducing your self in a managed method to the ground.

You then raise your self again up by urgent off the ground along with your arms and pulling along with your hamstrings.

That mentioned, there are a number of methods to carry out the Nordic hamstring curl, a lot of which contain items of kit that assist you to carry out it extra comfortably and with out the help of a coaching accomplice. 

Nordic Hamstring Curl Gear

Listed below are among the most typical items of kit used to carry out the Nordic hamstring curl: 

• Nordic Hamstring Curl Machine: A Nordic hamstring curl machine (often known as a glute ham increase machine or GHD) is a steel body with pads in your knees and ft. It lets you carry out the Nordic curl extra comfortably as a result of the knee pad helps your knees, and the foot pad locks your ft into place, making the train really feel extra secure.
• Nordic Hamstring Curl Bench: A Nordic hamstring curl bench is a flat bench with pads to help your knees and anchor your ft to the bench, enabling you to carry out Nordic ham curls comfortably with out a accomplice.

Nordic hamstring curl benches are comparatively small, making them a very good resolution for those who train at home and have restricted house.

• Nordic Hamstring Curl Strap: A Nordic hamstring curl strap is a size of sturdy materials (sometimes nylon) with a foot pad at one finish and an “anchor” (often made from rubber) on the different. To make use of it, you slip the strap beneath a door and entice it in place utilizing the rubber anchor, then hook your ft beneath the foot pad. 

Nordic hamstring curl straps supply much less help than different Nordic hamstring curl gear, however they’re additionally the most affordable, smallest, and lightest possibility, which implies they’re very best when you have a restricted price range or like to coach at residence or whereas traveling. 

Nordic Hamstring Curl: Advantages

Hamstring strains are the most common lower-body harm in athletes, notably those that play sports activities requiring high-speed and explosive actions, equivalent to sprinting, soccer, football, rugby, and basketball.

The principle advantage of the Nordic curls is it decreases your danger of injury by rising your hamstrings’ eccentric energy and fascicle size.

In different phrases, it trains your hamstrings to be robust of their lengthened place and it lengthens your hamstring’s muscle fibers, each of which make you significantly much less possible (~51% much less possible in response to some research) to get injured whereas performing athletic actions, equivalent to accelerating, decelerating, or altering path at pace. 

What’s extra, studies suggest that the Nordic hamstring curl may enhance athletic efficiency by boosting agility, 10-meter dash pace, and soar efficiency.

Nordic Hamstring Curl: Muscle tissue Labored

The hamstrings are made up of three muscle tissues: The semimembranosus, semitendinosus, and biceps femoris. The Nordic hamstring curl trains all three in addition to the glutes, decrease back, and calves to a lesser diploma. 

Right here’s how the primary muscle tissues labored by the Nordic hamstring curl look in your physique:

Nordic Hamstring Curl: Kind

One of the best ways to study find out how to do a Nordic hamstring curl is to separate the train into three elements: arrange, descend, and curl.

1. Arrange

Kneel on a yoga mat or cushioned pad going through away out of your coaching accomplice and have your accomplice maintain your legs round your ankles and pin your ft to the ground. Arise straight in order that your shoulders and hips are over your knees and your physique kinds a straight line out of your head to your knees. 

(It’s also possible to anchor your ft to the ground utilizing particular Nordic hamstring curl gear, equivalent to a Nordic hamstring curl bench or strap, a loaded barbell, or by wedging your ft beneath one thing heavy like a settee.)

Place your fingers in entrance of your chest along with your palms going through towards or away from you, relying in your desire. 

2. Descend

Whereas flexing your glutes, hamstrings, and abs and sustaining a straight line between your head and knees, decrease your chest towards the ground by leaning ahead, utilizing your hamstrings to make sure the motion is sluggish and managed.

As you close to the ground, put your fingers out to catch your physique and forestall your chest from hitting the ground. 

3. Curl

Whereas sustaining the straight line between your head and knees, pull your physique again to the beginning place utilizing your hamstrings. If mandatory, push off the ground along with your fingers to provoke the curl.

The curl is a mirror picture of what you probably did throughout the descent.

Nordic Hamstring Curl: Alternate options

1. Assisted Nordic Hamstring Curl

Within the assisted Nordic hamstring curl, you wrap one finish of a resistance band round one thing sturdy a number of ft above your head (a chin-up bar, for instance) and the opposite round your chest. Which means the band helps a few of your weight as you carry out the train, successfully making your physique lighter and the train simpler to carry out. 

The advantage of the assisted Nordic hamstring curl is that it lets you practice your hamstrings with an identical motion to the common Nordic curl, even whenever you’re not robust sufficient to do the train along with your physique weight. This helps you develop the energy it’s essential carry out Nordic curls unaided. 

2. Razor Curl

The razor curl is a body weight train that trains the hamstrings and glutes equally to the Nordic curl. The draw back of the razor curl is that it requires a glute ham developer, or GHD, which is a specialised piece of kit that few business gyms have.

3. Seated Leg Curl

The leg curl is a superb train for strengthening your hamstrings, particularly the biceps femoris and semitendinosus muscle tissues. Moreover, as a result of it includes a machine, it’s simpler to study and carry out than the Nordic hamstring curl, making it a very good possibility for people who find themselves new to weightlifting and don’t have the energy to carry out the Nordic curl (but!).

FAQ #1: Are you able to make a DIY Nordic hamstring curl machine?

Sure. 

To do the Nordic hamstring curl at residence, safe your ft beneath one thing heavy like a mattress or sofa and kneel on one thing tender, like a yoga mat, blanket, or pillow, and carry out the train as regular. 

FAQ #2: What’s the most effective Nordic hamstring curl development?

A Nordic hamstring curl development is a sequence of workout routines that provide help to progress from not having the ability to do a Nordic curl to doing all of your first Nordic curl with correct type. 

Right here’s my favourite Nordic hamstring curl development:

1. Seated Leg Curls: The leg curl will provide help to construct the required energy to progress to Nordic hamstring curl variations.

2. Assisted Nordic Hamstring Curls: Utilizing a band to help a few of your physique weight makes the train simpler and lets you practice your hamstrings with an train that intently mimics the body weight Nordic curl, which helps you construct the energy it’s essential carry out the train unaided. 

As soon as you are able to do 3 units of 15 reps, you need to be robust sufficient to maneuver onto body weight Nordic curls. 

3. Body weight Nordic Hamstring Curls: Initially, you’ll in all probability have to make use of your arms to push off the ground to finish reps of the Nordic hamstring curl. Over time, attempt to rely much less on this help and extra on the energy of your hamstrings to tug your self to the beginning place.

For most individuals, the body weight Nordic curl won’t ever be “straightforward,” so there’s no cause to progress additional. Nevertheless, if you are able to do 3 units of 15 reps with minimal (or no) help out of your arms, progress to the weighted Nordic hamstring curl.

4. Weighted Nordic Hamstring Curls: One of the best ways to carry out the weighted Nordic hamstring curl is with a weighted vest or a backpack full of weights. If you happen to don’t have a weighted vest obtainable, you possibly can clasp a weight plate to your chest. Bear in mind, nevertheless, that for those who’re holding a weight plate, you possibly can’t stop your physique from falling ahead along with your fingers if issues go pear-shaped.

FAQ #3: Glute Ham Elevate vs. Nordic Curl: Which is healthier?

It relies upon.

Within the Nordic hamstring curl, your ft and knees are consistent with one another (each on the ground), whereas within the glute ham increase, the knee pad locations your knees barely beneath your ft. Which means the “lever arm” (on this case, your torso and thighs) is barely longer within the Nordic curl, which is why the Nordic curl feels tougher than the glute ham increase.

As such, individuals use every train to realize totally different outcomes.

Athletes are inclined to favor the Nordic hamstring curl as a result of it focuses on coaching the hamstrings eccentrically (as they lengthen), which is essential for stopping accidents and bettering athletic efficiency.

Nevertheless, individuals who wish to construct muscle are inclined to favor the glute ham increase as a result of it locations much less emphasis on the eccentric (reducing) portion of the train, and extra emphasis on the concentric (lifting) portion, which is usually preferable for muscle progress.