# Lying Leg Curl (Machine): how to do it

- Main muscles: hamstrings
- Also works: calves
- Equipment: machine
- Level: beginner
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/lying_leg_curl/23e8fc1a68/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Lie face down with your kneecaps just off the end of the bench.
2. Hook the roller just above your heels and hold the handles.
3. Curl your heels towards your backside.
4. Pause, then lower slowly until your legs are nearly straight.

## Cues

- Keep your hips pressed into the pad.
- Pull your heels up, not your hips.
- Slow on the way down.

## Common mistakes

- Lifting your hips to help the curl.
- Swinging the weight up with momentum.
- Letting the weight drop back down.

## Starting position

Selectorised lying (prone) leg curl machine. The bench has a raised section under the hips, so the hips sit a little bent (about 25°) while the chest rests lower. Lie face down with the hips on the hip pad and the kneecaps just off the end of the bench, so the knee joints line up with the machine's pivot. The roller sits on the back of the lower legs just above the heels, over the Achilles tendons. Hold the handles under the front of the bench, chin resting or head neutral, gaze down. Start with the legs almost straight and the stack lifted just off its rest.

## The movement

Only the knees move. Bend both knees together, pulling the roller up in an arc towards the backside, until the shins are past vertical. Pause briefly, then lower slowly back to the start. The hips stay pressed into the pad the whole time; the low back does not arch and the backside does not lift. The feet stay relaxed with the toes pulled a little towards the shins.

## End position

Start: knees about 5° short of straight.

## Tempo

1.5 s curl, 0.5 s pause, 2.5 s lowering, about 0.5 s with the legs out (stack still off its rest).

## Form in numbers

| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Hip flexion on the angled pad, held | 25° | 0–35° (machine) | [1] [2] |
| Roller above the ankle joint | 7 cm | 5–10 cm | [2] |
| Knee flexion at the start | 5° | 0–10° | [1] [2] |
| Knee flexion at the end of the curl | 100° | 90–110° | [1] |
| Hip lift off the pad | 0 cm | ≤ 1 cm | [2] |

## Sources

1. [Maeo et al. 2021, Med Sci Sports Exerc, "Greater hamstrings muscle hypertrophy but similar damage protection after training at long versus short muscle lengths"](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7969179/)
2. [ExRx, Lever Lying Leg Curl](https://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Hamstrings/LVLyingLegCurlH)
3. [ExRx, Lever Seated Leg Curl](https://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Hamstrings/LVSeatedLegCurl)
4. [NASM, Lying Leg Curl](https://www.nasm.org/resource-center/exercise-library/lying-leg-curl)

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/lying-leg-curl