How Can You Build Hamstrings To Keep Up With Your Quadriceps?

The quadriceps muscles on the fronts of the thighs are some of the strongest on the body. In most exercises, they are aided by the hamstrings muscles on the backs of the thighs. Strengthening and building the hamstrings can only help you get better results on lower body training. Hamstrings workouts are also essential for building a complete physique.

The hamstrings are like the biceps of the legs. However, you aren’t gonna see nearly as many guys working on them as they do their biceps, that’s for sure. They aren’t the easiest muscle group to get developed to the point where you see the muscles. It takes a low body fat level to really see them.

My workouts for the hamstrings will have the classic exercises you need to build size and strength in these muscles. The best exercises will have you doing some form of the deadlift. Various leg curl exercises will also be done. Another thing about these workouts is that they will also be glute workouts. I basically combine the glutes with the hamstrings in the following workouts.

Hamstrings Workout #1

Deadlifts

This is one of the big dogs in the world of weight training. Proper form is so important when performing the deadlift to prevent injury. It’s a good idea to use your phone to film yourself doing them to check your form. I do 4 straight sets after warming up with 2 to 2.5 minutes of rest between sets. While I normally start heavy, the deadlift is the one exercise I may go up in weight on my second set. I then lighten the weight to get more reps on the last 2 sets.

Jefferson Squat

This exercise has you standing over the middle of a barbell at a diagonal to the bar position. You then lower down to grip the weight with a mixed grip. In this exercise, you lift the weight until it’s between your legs. Because of the way it looks, I prefer doing this exercise when there aren’t very many people around. Train in one stance, then immediately go to the opposite stance to hit your glute/hamstring muscles.

Glute Machine

I never used to do this one but have recently started to. Doing an exercise that targets the glutes is only going to help your deadlift and other leg exercises. I go for a lot of repetitions on one superset with some short pauses here.

Lying Leg Curls

I go for a drop set here to finish my hamstring workout. Make sure to get a nice contraction for every leg curl, going for a feel in the muscles over how much weight you are using.

Hamstrings Workout #2

Stiff-Legged Deadlifts

These are done with slightly bent knees to focus the resistance on the hamstrings and glutes. To prevent rounding the lower back, the bar should only be lowered to about mid-shin before you use the muscles already mentioned to straighten your body. Go for 4 straight sets with 2 minutes to rest between them.

Standing Leg Curls

This is done one leg at a time, going to failure on the first before moving on to the other. I like to go for higher reps to really feel the hamstrings do the work. Go back and forth a few times to really blast the muscles.

Slanted Hyperextension

Get on a slanted hyperextension bench and bend forward at the hips without rounding the back. At this point, raise the body up until it’s straight on the slanted bench. You can use body weight or something not very heavy. I don’t go to all-out failure to avoid injuring my lower back, opting to go for 10 to 15 reps and take a short break before getting another 5 or so reps.

Hamstrings Workout #3

Sumo Deadlifts

These are deadlifts done with the grip inside the legs. The legs are in a wide stance, with the grip having the hands much closer to each other. You’re certainly going to feel this a lot more in your adductor muscles on the insides of your thighs so be sure to stretch and warm up appropriately. Apart from the stance, this is done the same way as a normal deadlift. Try getting four straight sets with 2 to 2 and a half minutes of rest between each of them.

Good Morning

This exercise focuses on the lower back and hamstrings. It’s done by getting into a squat rack under a much lighter weight than you would use while squatting. You then bend forward at the hips, without rounding the lower back, stretching your hamstrings and glutes before returning to the starting position. Keep a slight bend in the knees and get a strong contraction in the muscles at the end of every rep. Honestly, I prefer to not go to failure on this, instead feeling the exercise as much as possible and taking a short rest before getting a few more reps.

Abductor Machine

This is one I’ve just recently started doing to train imbalances in my lower body. You will train the outside glutes and hips when you train on the abductor machine. I’ll either do a drop set or give myself a short break or two before continuing.

Seated Leg Curl

Another version of the leg curl is done to finish off the hamstrings. This one has you seated and curling the weight downward using the muscles on the back of the thighs. I like to do a drop set with two weight drops here for a wicked pump.

When To Do Hamstrings Workouts

I like to train all of the leg muscles together during one workout. First, I’ll do my quadriceps workouts, with the hamstrings next. Calf training will finish off the leg workout. To me, it just makes sense to do this, as I may run or cycle on other days. This can make the legs easy to overtrain if you are splitting up your leg muscles to train them during different workouts.