Leg curls in a lying machine - working on the hamstrings

What muscles work

What muscle groups work when extending the legs in a supine position? Their function is to tighten the joints in the knee area.

This forces the use of the following muscle classes:

• Biceps - located on the outer half of the posterior femoral surface, in other words, on the biceps.
• Semimembranosus - the inner area behind the thigh.
• Semitendinosus - occupies the inner plane of the posterior thighs, above the membranosus muscle.
• Gastrocnemius - the top and middle surface of the lower leg at the back.

The upper torso muscles (bottom and middle trapezius, as well as the serratus anterior muscles) act as stabilizers.

If you regularly train, you can get a beautiful body contour, the proportions will visually look aesthetically pleasing (especially important for back surfaces), and the chance of getting bruises in other fitness categories is reduced.

Bent-legged hip raise[edit | edit code]

Source:
“Bodybuilding.
Book trainer" .
Editor:
Oksana Usoltseva
Ed.
: Eksmo 2013

Inventory

: fitball, gymnastic mat.

Core muscles

: hamstrings, buttocks, abs, cadriceps.

Additional muscles

: psoas, rhomboid, teres dorsi.

Level of training

: average.

Step 1

. Lying on your back, bend your legs at an angle of 90°. Your shins should be parallel to the floor. The feet lie on a fitball.

Step 2

. Keeping your abs tight, lift your hips until your body is straight.

Step 3

. Hold the position for a few seconds and then slowly lower to the floor.

Legs bent at the knees put additional stress on the quadriceps. Straight legs reduce the load by more actively engaging the muscles of the back and buttocks.

Benefits of Exercise

Leg bending in a lying simulator is characterized by the following advantages:

• This is an isolated workout, it allows you to “tone” the buttocks and the back of the limbs.
• Increases the size of the femoral biceps (middle zone).
• Can be used as a “finishing treatment” to get ripped muscles.
• Improves strength in other exercises (it’s easier to squat with a barbell, the bench press improves).
• Minimizes the appearance of ripples at the junction of the buttock and the joint under the knee.
• Many variations are known.
• Simplicity that even a beginner can handle.

An impressive list of “pros” for a relatively simple training.

Frequent bending of the legs while lying down ensures balance between the muscles in front and behind. This balance is required not only for beauty, but it also prevents injuries. Working on one side of a joint without developing the opposite side leads to imbalance and serious damage in the future.

Execution technique

Initial position

Preparation for bending the legs at the knees while lying down depends on the height of the athlete, the length of the bench and the position of the roller for fixation:

• The pad is positioned so that you start with your knees slightly bent and move your heel toward your buttocks with relative ease.
• It is important to make sure that the clamp does not roll onto the heel, but remains on the bend, near the heel tendon.
• When choosing a mass, it is necessary to take into account the experience and strength of the athlete. You should not choose too much weight; the exercise is not related to the development of strength.

To take the initial position, we lie down on the bench with the top of our head up and rest our feet on the pad of the unit.

Movement

What is the technique for bending legs while lying down? It is necessary to perform a number of simple steps:

• Bend your knees so that your heels move towards your buttocks.
• The movement must be continued until the heels rest on the soft spot or as long as the shins allow.
• During the peak period of amplitude, the femoral biceps should be tensed, and then the pelvis should be straightened and the feet should be lowered.
• The number of repetitions is from 10 to 20, and more is possible. It is important to stick to your fitness plan.

Chic ladies are advised to perform leg curls while lying on their stomachs in several approaches with a light load. This method burns fat, improves muscle tone and creates an attractive figure.

Men do fewer repetitions, but lift more weight. This increases the volume of the femoral biceps and makes them stronger. This way you can add mass to your calves and make other tasks easier.

Help from Garant Clinic specialists

Therapeutic exercises are a fairly effective way to combat a bunion on the toe in the first stages of the formation of pathology, but in the second and third stages of the disease, physical exercise will not help. In such a situation, surgical intervention is necessary.

Modern medical practice performs operations to remove hallux valgus using laser technology. Qualified specialists will quickly, carefully and painlessly get rid of bunions using modern medical equipment. Only specialists of the highest category operate modern devices for laser surgery, and the procedure itself is absolutely painless and does not require specific training.

Removing bunions is an innovative technology that has many advantages: no need for general anesthesia, minimal incisions and blood loss, excellent results from an aesthetic point of view. Another advantage of the method is the short rehabilitation period, during which our specialists will also monitor and support the patient.

Recommendations and errors

Experts give a number of tips to those who plan to perform lying double leg curls:

• Before you start exercising, you will have to thoroughly stretch and warm up your muscles.
• The first approach is best done with minimal weight (in a situation where this exercise is recorded in the first half of the workout).
• If you install the roller too close to the heels, you can disrupt the isolation of the biceps. Then the calf zones will start to turn on, but this should not happen. Because of such an error, the lesson will be less fruitful. The calves experience fatigue faster and do not allow the biceps muscle to be properly worked.
• When preparing on a horizontal bench, it is important that the hip joints are located in the “break” area.
• It is important to constantly monitor that the lower back and buttock muscles are not involved in the work. To do this, do not lift your butt off the bench.

All these tips will make physical labor productive.

Basic errors during execution

When it gets to this point, many builders start saying, “This is not about me.” My technique is perfect, etc...." If this is indeed the case, then congratulations. But even in this case, this information may be useful to you. After all, there are a lot of people in the halls who have not yet achieved mastery. And our task is to help them avoid these mistakes!

Heavy weight

This is one of the common mistakes. This is all due to the fact that people overestimate their strength and want to achieve results as quickly as possible. But this approach can only lead to injury and delay progress. Therefore, take a weight that you can safely work with for 10-15 repetitions. And as you feel that you are ready for heavier loads, you can add weight.

Bending jerkily and lifting by inertia

This error follows smoothly from the first. When an athlete cannot cope with the weight, he begins to use the force of inertia. In fact, it looks very terrifying. At the beginning, the legs fall sharply with the load down, and then when they spring back, they are sharply squeezed up. I think it’s clear what consequences this can have. Take care of your knees! Movements must be under your control.

Body displacement during movement

Many athletes have this peculiarity: in order to reduce their fate, they begin to reduce the amplitude of movement. They do this very simply, changing their position on a bench or in a standing exercise machine. That is, they either slide down or, on the contrary, creep up. This changes the position of the roller on the legs. I wrote above that if you shift the weight to your heels, the load goes to your calves. And if you put the roller on your calves, the range of movement will become very short. Therefore, neither option will work the hamstrings.

Good luck to everyone in your training!

Execution options

The exercise can be performed in all sorts of ways, it all depends on the goal:

• One leg movement . This variation was invented primarily for variety. If someone is tired of repeating the same actions, and he decides to make the tension varied. Such approaches can hardly be called very useful, although they can provide significant assistance in recovery from injury.

• Standing training . To do this, you can use both specialized and standard equipment. Some experts claim that in this case, you can increase the frequency with which the muscles contract.

• Leg bending while lying on a bench with toes in opposite directions . Bodybuilders say that if you regularly move your toes out and in, you can shift the emphasis from the outer to the inner areas of the hamstrings. In reality, my knees do not allow me to perform such a “task” at a high level.

For those who want to gain weight, there are nuances. It is advisable for them to perform fewer approaches, but with the greatest weight. If you want to lose weight, then it makes sense to take a small load, doing as many repetitions as possible.

Seated leg curl

Seated leg curls are classified as isolation exercises because they only move the knee joints. As a result, only the back muscles of the thighs and partly the muscles of the legs are involved.

Sit on the seat of the machine and place your ankles on top of the moving frame. Using the back muscles of the thighs, bend your legs, bringing the frame towards your buttocks. Hold the lower position for 2 seconds, keeping the muscles tense. Then straighten your legs, but not completely. Repeat the exercise.

Advantage

• This is the best exercise machine for the hamstrings because it allows for a very powerful contraction.

• On some machines you will not be able to bend your torso forward.

A Sitting still and not leaning forward can cause tension in your spine, causing you to arch your back in an awkward position.

We recommend reading: effective cardio

Recommendations

• Perform the exercise slowly, with full control of your movements: they should not be sudden or explosive. Don't straighten your legs completely to keep your hamstrings tight.

• While tensing the back muscles of the thighs, do not arch your lower back.

Free weights or machines?

Seated leg curls can be performed with an elastic band or cable machine attached to the ankles. However, leg curl machines are safer and easier to use.

Complicated version

Although seated leg curls are strictly speaking an isolation exercise, they allow you to engage multiple joints if you lean your torso forward at the same time as you curl your legs.

Please note that if you are sitting still, it will be difficult for you to move the movable frame of the machine to its extreme position. As you tighten your hamstrings, they become increasingly weaker, causing you to arch your lower back.

Therefore, from a physiological point of view, it is unwise to sit still during the entire exercise. If you bend your torso forward as you bend your legs, your hamstrings will become stronger with each repetition. The range of motion in this position will be greater, and you will not have to arch your lower back.

However, you need to be very careful that, when tilting your torso forward, you do not raise your legs and do not exceed the limit of natural stretching of the posterior thigh muscles. Straightening your legs, return your torso to its original position. When your legs are straight, your back should be straight. The more you bend your legs, the more you should lean forward. If your legs are bent at a 90-degree angle, your torso should be tilted at a 45-degree angle.

Preparing for the exercise

On professional websites and in printed publications you can read how to prepare the body for such practices. Some people do stretching and warm-up exercises. In fact, such isolation training can be performed immediately after a thorough warm-up. By this minute, enough blood flows into the limbs and they become flexible.

If this exercise comes first in your training plan, then it is better to include a cardio warm-up with a stepper and start with a light weight. Most training machines have an adjustable pad on which to place emphasis. It needs to be adjusted carefully so that the calf muscles are comfortable. Otherwise, this exercise will not bring any benefit.

Proper execution

There is a special technique for bending legs in a lying position:

• No need to lift your pelvis. This is fraught with bruising of the lower back if the angle in the ligaments is violated. Typically, when lifting the body significantly, it makes sense to reduce tension and remove excess mass.
• Do not quickly push the exercise pad up and increase the mass through inertia. If you are not properly prepared, you can damage your knee ligaments if you work unbalanced.
• Try to bend your legs while lying down and straighten your limbs slowly, remaining briefly at the point of greatest contraction. This allows you to get the load and avoid injury.
• If you cannot perform the exercise slowly, concentrating your efforts on exhalation, it is better to reduce the load.
• Do not rest your kneecap on the bench.

The feet are placed parallel to each other, and the toes remain motionless. It’s good if you can maintain the same distance between your knees during execution.

Errors

At runtime you cannot:

• Place your knees on the bench.
• Push the load jerkily.
• Move at a reduced amplitude (if this is not provided for in the plans).
• Lift your pelvis up.

It is important to monitor the correct execution of the exercises.

What's good about a crossover?

Crossover makes it possible to pump all muscle groups from different angles. Plus, it allows you to involve several zones in work at the same time. “The main advantage is that when working in a crossover, the whole body is trained,” explains Victoria Tyazhina , personal trainer at the Spirit.Fitness club on Voikovskaya. — Because when performing exercises, you definitely need to tense your core muscles in order to stabilize the body, work the muscles of your legs if there is a bend. Therefore, in the process, not only the target muscle group for which we perform the exercises receives a load, but also all the others.”

Adviсe

You can achieve optimal results if:

• Avoid “ballet foot” - do not point your toes forward.
• Do not overwork the hip ligaments and do not allow the knee joint to extend in the opposite direction. It is advisable to choose a model of exercise machine with a bench located “with a bend”. The hip joint is placed on it.

In this case, good physical shape is ensured.

The effectiveness of physical exercise in the prevention of Hallus Valgus/Hallus Valgus.

To prevent the development of hallux valgus, orthopedists recommend a number of physical exercises as an effective method of preventing the disease and getting rid of pathology in the early stages of development. Gymnastics for the prevention and treatment of hallux valgus in the early stages is aimed at achieving the following results:

• increasing muscle tone and strengthening ligaments;
• increased joint mobility;
• reduction of pain during movement;
• returning a crooked joint to its natural position.

Inclusion in the program

This movement is not an independent type of activity; it does not replace basic training. It is advisable to do such exercises after the main exercises on the appropriate day, if the athlete has a work calendar.

10 to 12 repetitions are allowed, this number can be increased depending on the personal condition of the body. For strength disciplines, the best option is 3 or 4 approaches. Bodybuilding has separate standards. Professionals use drop sets and other unconventional techniques to ensure intense stretching.

Variations

If you want variety and are ready to give it your all, we have prepared several additional exercises. There are no crunches among them and you do not need additional equipment. We will show how prisoners added variety to their training with classic exercises, blood and sweat.

Kneeling Jump

This is a great explosive exercise for the hip flexors. Many abdominal exercises develop muscles and strength, but they are performed at an unnatural rhythm for a person. Such exercises will have no effect on speed or power, but jumping from a kneeling position is a different matter. By combining this variation with a bridge and keeping the hip flexors flexible, the muscles will not lose speed and you will avoid the strain that many athletes commonly experience.

Begin the exercise by taking a kneeling position, squatting on your shins and toes. Explosively lift your knees and land on your feet.

Adding variation to your workout will give you hip flexors that can handle extreme stress. Once you have mastered the exercise, you can practice it at any time - it does not put much strain on the body. It is worth adding to the main program or additional agility training. Perform it at any time, but best of all - after the bridge, then the hips will be already prepared.

To stay in shape, one set of ten repetitions is enough. If the variation becomes too easy, try reducing your arm span so that the power comes entirely from your hips. When you can perform the exercise with your arms crossed over your chest, you have reached the pinnacle of mastery.

Corner hold

The corner is a classic strength exercise in gymnastics that is also popular in martial arts. You may have seen pictures of Bruce Lee doing this exercise. The variation works with the same muscles as when lifting straight legs, however, here there will no longer be a dynamic load, but a static one. This is essentially the top position of straight leg raises, but with your hands holding you to the floor rather than gripping the bar.

Keeping your legs straight off the floor increases strength in your hips and abdomen, and strengthens your quadriceps and lower back. Compared to the bar leg raise, this requires more arm strength to lift your body off the floor. As with the basic exercises, learn this technique gradually, starting with your legs bent and straightening them as you get stronger.

The corner is no better than leg raises because it does not develop functional and dynamic strength where the muscles and limbs need to move. But this is an excellent alternative to leg raises, for example, when there is no way to hang on something. The variation is also good for hip injuries because it allows you to train the abdominal muscles isometrically without using the hip joints.

You can make the exercise more difficult by lifting yourself up on your fingers:

Leg Touch Raises

The variation is interesting because it combines leg raises and squats. Lie on the floor with your arms extended behind your head. Raise your torso and legs at the same time to touch your toes or reach your feet. In the upper position, only the buttocks remain on the floor. Then return to the starting position and repeat the exercise. Try to keep your legs straight throughout the exercise. Curling your legs will only make the exercise easier.

Since we are lifting the torso and legs here, only the buttocks remain on the floor, acting as a hinge. This balances the exercise, requiring additional stress only from the waist, lower back and abs. However, the exercise still remains difficult to perform. It is recommended for athletes who perform high repetition levels of squats to increase intensity. Also, the variation will diversify or complement the workout to work the abs after lifting the legs in a lying position.

Hanging circular leg raises

The variation uses all the muscles of the lower back, abdomen and chest. In hanging leg raises, we raise and lower our legs, but here we make the widest possible circle with our legs: first clockwise, then counterclockwise. This circular motion activates the obliques and lateral waist muscles, as well as all the hip muscles, some of which are not dynamically involved in the basic leg raise exercises.

The variation is considered an advanced level of training and should be performed by athletes who know their body to further develop the midsection. This is a difficult exercise to perform. You need to be at the last levels of the series to try this variation.

You can simplify the exercise by simply bending your legs. But, if you are only halfway through the ten main exercises of the series, there is no point in adding it to your workout. Just focus on the basic exercises, getting stronger and stronger.

Contraindications

Before attempting an exercise, the athlete must ensure that it is suitable for them. The lying leg curl has the following limitations:

• There are athletes for whom the activity is not suitable due to anthropometric characteristics. They manage to do it only by resting their knees on the bench due to their short stature. In this case, we perform the exercise while standing.
• We recommend that you avoid doing leg curls while lying down in a machine if a person has recently injured their knee or if there is a risk of soft tissue inflammation due to overload.
• You should not exercise if you have a spasm of the piriformis muscle (with such ailment, after traction training, discomfort in the buttock begins to be transmitted throughout the entire limb). Then the athlete will raise the pelvis, but the hip will not feel the desired load.
• Trainers do not recommend performing manipulations after injuries to the ankle or Achilles tendon.
• The last contraindication is injury to the lumbar vertebra.

If you do not follow these recommendations, you can only make your health worse.

Indications for use

Straightening the legs in a sports machine from a sitting position is rarely used as an independent exercise. Professional athletes use it for additional quadriceps work or to warm up before starting squats with heavy weights.

Also, pre-warming the muscles of the anterior thigh is used before starting work on the lagging muscles of this part of the body. Extensions on the simulator are used during “drying”. Due to the metabolic characteristics of men and women, the process of getting rid of excess fat occurs from top to bottom.

That is, the effect in the legs and hips is achieved last. It is possible to speed up results in these parts of the body by increasing the load during training. To do this, straighten the legs on the quadriceps.

How to replace the exercise

Athletes who have contraindications are thinking about how to replace lying leg curls. There are a huge number of exercises for this muscle group. They are performed under the supervision of an instructor in the gym or at home.

• Romanian deadlift using dumbbells or a barbell. This is the basis for working the gluteal tissue.
• Deep squats with sports equipment. The deeper you sit, the more productively you will work your gluteal muscles.
• Lunges with dumbbells or a barbell help to tighten your butt and make it seductive and appetizing.
• The barre press is a best practice for the hamstrings. The main thing is to place your feet on the platform as high as possible.
• Bulgarian split squats - allow you to work the thigh muscles and, at the same time, do not put pressure on the spine.
• Hyperextension is an effective exercise for those who want to strengthen the back of the pelvis.
• Working with weights while standing. It is necessary to bring the heels as close to the fifth point as possible.
• Extensions with an elastic band. The device is fixed on vertical supports. It is advisable to stand during this type of fitness.

The list of possible alternatives is colossal.

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Main complex

Leg extension in a sitting machine is an exercise aimed at developing the anterior surface of the thigh.

It should be included in the training program together with other similar types of movements:

• Lunges
• Classic squats.
• Single leg squats.
• Tractions of various variations.
• Bending on the simulator.

Complex for developing strength

The complex involves the use of extensions as an additional exercise after classic squats. The quadriceps leg extension serves to pump blood into the upper thigh and is performed second or third in leg training.

Part of the general split for training the lower extremities during the strength phase of an athlete’s training may look like this:

When performing the last movement, you should remember the correct position of the roller relative to the lower leg of the practitioner. It should be located in the ankle joint area. A higher position will interfere with achieving peak hamstring contraction.

Before starting leg extensions, you should take the starting position described in the second part of the article. The position of the support intended to transmit force from the block structure to the quadriceps femoris muscle must strictly comply with the stated requirements. Don’t forget to pull the toes of your feet towards you. This plays an important role in this complex.

When training lagging and stabilizer muscles

The complex involves the principle of preliminary fatigue of strong quadriceps muscles, followed by basic movements. This approach allows you to fatigue your quadriceps. As a result, lagging and anatomically weaker thigh muscles are intensively included in the work.

The preload method is suitable for people who are contraindicated for placing a large load on the spine. If you do not want to give up squats, such an athlete can use this method. But it is not recommended to use it without the permission of a surgeon or physiotherapist.

To reduce subcutaneous fat levels

In the leg straightening complex, they act as an additional load that can be used with high intensity and short rest periods. The split is designed so that its exercises involve the muscles of the whole body. In this case, the rest between them should not exceed the time necessary to move between equipment.

At initial levels of training, it is impossible to create such a complex entirely from basic multi-joint movements. The athlete’s body will not be able to adequately respond to such training. This will lead to overwork. The risk of injury will increase. In this case, seated leg extensions are an alternative to presses or lunges.

The training program might look like this:

The complex is a series of sequentially performed tasks. All 6 approaches form 1 circle. The number of laps is determined depending on the physical form and condition of the practitioner. There is no rest break between exercises of the same circuit.