Comments on: From Dork to Diva: Hamstring curls http://www.stumptuous.com/hamstring-curls Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:03:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Mistress Krista http://www.stumptuous.com/hamstring-curls/comment-page-1#comment-2918 Mistress Krista Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:33:43 +0000 #comment-2918 Danny: Actually there is a sport that involves knee flexion without hip extension: grappling. Many submissions and control positions depend on initiating a strong knee flexion while in hip flexion. I don't use machines like this in training my clients, but since folks starting out may do these exercises, I include them on the site so that they know how to do them properly. Danny: Actually there is a sport that involves knee flexion without hip extension: grappling. Many submissions and control positions depend on initiating a strong knee flexion while in hip flexion.

I don’t use machines like this in training my clients, but since folks starting out may do these exercises, I include them on the site so that they know how to do them properly.

]]> By: Danny http://www.stumptuous.com/hamstring-curls/comment-page-1#comment-2914 Danny Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:20:44 +0000 #comment-2914 Hi Krista, As I said on the deadlift page, I've a couple of comments on hamstring curls. First, you're spot on in your first paragraph. Squats and SL deadlifts/good mornings address hip flexion perfectly. However, your second paragraph isn't quite correct... Isolating and training knee flexion is actually completely counterproductive for sports. Not only does the hamstring curl put a lot of stress on the knee (and for that reason alone should be avoided) but also: 1. It's completely non-functional in that there's no situation where knee flexion happens in isolation of hip flexion, thus the glutes and the hams must be trained to fire together, and you must train compound movements. Even in fast sprinting, the primary movement is in the hip. And cycling too, it all happens from the hip - no part of the pedal cycle has a pure knee flexion component. 2. Hamstring curls fail to address the root cause of hamstring injuries, in running and kicking sports in particular. Which is: the hamstring strain happens when the muscle is fully stretched (e.g. at the end of a kick, and the extreme forward point of the stride, where the hamstring acts as a brake on the shin). Thus, the hamstring should be trained hardest at full stretch, which the curl never does. And which exercise does this best? Yup, the SL deadlift! That said, the negatives (a.k.a. nordic curl) are actually not bad (and a fun exercise!), because you're training the muscle primarily in the eccentric phase, and putting more load on as it's lengthening, while keeping the load light when the knee is fully flexed. They're easy to do without equipment - all you need is a willing partner to hold your ankles. If you can't hold it all the way down, no worries (you're still getting a lot of the eccentric benefit), adopt a press up position and (hopefully!) avoid the face plant, then pick yourself up whichever way, and try again! Hi Krista,

As I said on the deadlift page, I’ve a couple of comments on hamstring curls.

First, you’re spot on in your first paragraph. Squats and SL deadlifts/good mornings address hip flexion perfectly. However, your second paragraph isn’t quite correct…

Isolating and training knee flexion is actually completely counterproductive for sports. Not only does the hamstring curl put a lot of stress on the knee (and for that reason alone should be avoided) but also:

1. It’s completely non-functional in that there’s no situation where knee flexion happens in isolation of hip flexion, thus the glutes and the hams must be trained to fire together, and you must train compound movements. Even in fast sprinting, the primary movement is in the hip. And cycling too, it all happens from the hip – no part of the pedal cycle has a pure knee flexion component.

2. Hamstring curls fail to address the root cause of hamstring injuries, in running and kicking sports in particular. Which is: the hamstring strain happens when the muscle is fully stretched (e.g. at the end of a kick, and the extreme forward point of the stride, where the hamstring acts as a brake on the shin). Thus, the hamstring should be trained hardest at full stretch, which the curl never does. And which exercise does this best? Yup, the SL deadlift!

That said, the negatives (a.k.a. nordic curl) are actually not bad (and a fun exercise!), because you’re training the muscle primarily in the eccentric phase, and putting more load on as it’s lengthening, while keeping the load light when the knee is fully flexed. They’re easy to do without equipment – all you need is a willing partner to hold your ankles. If you can’t hold it all the way down, no worries (you’re still getting a lot of the eccentric benefit), adopt a press up position and (hopefully!) avoid the face plant, then pick yourself up whichever way, and try again!

]]> By: Mistress Krista http://www.stumptuous.com/hamstring-curls/comment-page-1#comment-2904 Mistress Krista Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:30:50 +0000 #comment-2904 Lori: Normal. :) The calf muscle (gastrocnemius) attaches above the back of the knee, so it's involved. Lori: Normal. :) The calf muscle (gastrocnemius) attaches above the back of the knee, so it’s involved.

]]> By: Lori S. http://www.stumptuous.com/hamstring-curls/comment-page-1#comment-2903 Lori S. Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:33:23 +0000 #comment-2903 Hi, I appreciate your articles and am finding some great helps and ideas at this. I'm 50 and am just beginning to do a weight lifting type program and in doing hamstring curls on the machine in my gym, which is more in a kneeling type of a position, I notice that my calves become almost in a charlie horse by the time I've done 10 or so of these with 20 pounds... I have pretty strong legs although I do have some issues with some joints and such being a little stiff. I will practice the squats that you talk about to help with some of the areas that I felt I needed to do these for; but am I doing these wrong, or is this calves thing fairly normal for this excercise? Thanks for your information! Lori Hi,
I appreciate your articles and am finding some great helps and ideas at this. I’m 50 and am just beginning to do a weight lifting type program and in doing hamstring curls on the machine in my gym, which is more in a kneeling type of a position, I notice that my calves become almost in a charlie horse by the time I’ve done 10 or so of these with 20 pounds… I have pretty strong legs although I do have some issues with some joints and such being a little stiff. I will practice the squats that you talk about to help with some of the areas that I felt I needed to do these for; but am I doing these wrong, or is this calves thing fairly normal for this excercise?
Thanks for your information!
Lori

]]>