Hamstrings exercise
Nordic Hamstring CurlHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Hamstrings
- Also works
- Glutes
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Level
- Advanced
How to do it
How do you do the Nordic Hamstring Curl?
- Kneel upright with your heels hooked under a roller or held by a partner.
- Keep a straight line from your knees to your head.
- Lean forward as slowly as you can, resisting with your hamstrings.
- Catch yourself on your hands in a press-up position.
- Push off lightly and curl back up to kneeling.
Cues
- Hips stay forward; don't stick your bottom out.
- Slow and steady all the way down.
- Hands ready to catch.
Common mistakes
- Bending at the hips to make it easier.
- Dropping fast as soon as it gets hard.
- Arching your lower back.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Kneel on the pad, knees hip-width apart, shins level, and hook the heels under the roller so the ankles are held firm. Feet pointed (ankles plantarflexed), tops of the feet facing down. Kneel upright: knees bent 90°, thighs and trunk vertical, so the shoulders, hips and knees stack in one line. Hands up in front of the chest, palms forward, elbows bent, ready to catch. Glutes squeezed, stomach braced, head in line with the trunk. A partner holding the ankles is the usual alternative and works the same way.
The movement
Lean forward slowly by letting the knees straighten, resisting with the hamstrings. The body stays one straight piece from knees to head, with only a slight bend at the hips. Keep the speed slow and even for as long as possible. When the hamstrings can no longer hold the speed, let the body fall the last part and catch it on both hands in a press-up position, elbows bending to absorb the landing. Pause, then push off the floor with the hands just enough to start the rise, and curl back up to upright with the hamstrings, keeping the same straight line.
End position
Top: kneeling upright, knees 90°. Controlled phase ends: body about 20° above level. Bottom: hands on the floor, elbows bent, chest a hand's width above the floor. | Measure | Target | Accept | Source | | ------- | ------ | ------ | ------ | | Kneeling pad height above the floor | 40 cm | 15–50 cm | [2] | | Knee flexion at the top | 90° | 80–95° | [1], [2] | | Hip flexion while lowering | 10° | 0–20° (never over 30°) | [1], [2] | | Low-back arch | none | neutral lumbar curve | [2] | | Knee flexion where control ends (break point) | 20° | 0–45° | [2] | | Controlled lowering, 90° to the break point | 4 s | 3–6 s | [2] | | Ankles | plantarflexed, toes pointing back | neutral allowed | [3] | | Knee spacing | hip-width | 15–30 cm | [1] | | Hands at the catch | under the shoulders, press-up position | shoulder-width ± 10 cm | [1] | Derivation: from knee to head the 1.75 m avatar is about 1.2 m long, shoulders about 0.93 m from the knee. At 20° above level the shoulders are about 0.32 m above the knee pad, about 0.72 m off the floor, so the hands reach the floor with the arms angled forward and the catch is short. [2] asks for at least 15 cm between the shins and the surface the hands land on.
Tempo
0.4 s upright, 4 s controlled lowering, 0.5 s fall and catch, 0.3 s pause on the hands, 0.8 s push-off, 1.5 s curl back up.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kneeling pad height above the floor | 40 cm | 15–50 cm | [2] |
| Knee flexion at the top | 90° | 80–95° | [1][2] |
| Hip flexion while lowering | 10° | 0–20° (never over 30°) | [1][2] |
| Low-back arch | none | neutral lumbar curve | [2] |
| Knee flexion where control ends (break point) | 20° | 0–45° | [2] |
| Controlled lowering, 90° to the break point | 4 s | 3–6 s | [2] |
| Ankles | plantarflexed, toes pointing back | neutral allowed | [3] |
| Knee spacing | hip-width | 15–30 cm | [1] |
| Hands at the catch | under the shoulders, press-up position | shoulder-width ± 10 cm | [1] |
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Nordic Hamstring Curl is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
Sources
- FIFA Medical (F-MARC), The 11+ warm-up programme, Exercise 9: Nordic hamstrings, hospital copy at
- Alt and Schmidt 2021, Sports Med Open 7:91, "The ANHEQ evaluation criteria: introducing reliable rating scales for assessing Nordic hamstring exercise quality"
- Keerasomboon et al. 2026, J Hum Kinet 102:133–143, "Characteristics of hamstring electromyographic activity and the break-point angle during Nordic hamstring exercise at different ankle positions"
