Nordic hamstring curl

Why it's here

The Nordic curl lowers your body forward from a kneeling position while the hamstrings brake the fall, with nothing but your ankles held. In MRI trials against groups that did not train, it grew the hamstrings by about 11% in twelve weeks ^[1] and grew the semitendinosus in ten ^[2]. Its growth is uneven: it favours the semitendinosus, and a hip-bent curl grew the biceps femoris long head several times more ^[1].

The evidence

• Training study Forty-two young men trained for twelve weeks (34 sessions) with Nordic curls, a hip-bent weight-stack curl with the lowering emphasised, or no training. Nordic curls grew the hamstrings by 11% and the biceps femoris long head by 5%, against 18% and 19% for the hip-bent curl; the untrained group did not change. In the knee-bending muscles that do not also extend the hip, Nordic curls produced about twice the growth of the hip-bent curl ^[1].
• Training study Thirty recreationally active men did ten weeks of Nordic curls, hip extensions, or no training. Both exercises grew the semitendinosus compared with no training, by similar amounts; hip extensions grew the biceps femoris long head more than Nordic curls did ^[2].
• Training study In a blinded randomised trial of thirty-six adults without resistance-training experience, nine weeks of Nordic curls grew hamstring volume by about 11% — the semitendinosus by about 24% — where a third group did not train ^[3].

How to do it

1. Kneel on a pad with your ankles held down by a partner, a bench or a Nordic machine, and your body upright from knees to head.
2. Keeping your hips straight, lower your body forward as slowly as you can, braking with your hamstrings.
3. Catch yourself with your hands when you can no longer hold the descent, and push back up to the start.
4. The movement is very hard at first; lowering only partway, or using a machine with a counterweight as one trial did ^[3], makes it easier.

Stop an exercise that causes significant or unusual pain and have it assessed. This page describes the movement; it is not rehabilitation advice.

Making it harder over time

This is a isolation exercise in the Progressive Overload Calculator, which adds weight in steps of 2%–5% once every set reaches the top of your rep range, and adds reps until then.

Alternatives

• Seated leg curl — Curls the knee with the hips bent, which stretches the hamstrings further. In the same people, it grew them more than the lying curl did.
• Lying leg curl — The most common hamstring machine. It grew the hamstrings by about 9% in twelve weeks, though the seated version grew them more.
• Stiff-leg deadlift — A hip hinge with nearly straight knees. In a nine-week randomised trial it grew the hamstrings by about 7%, most of all the semimembranosus.