Leg bending in the simulator: technique for performing while lying on your stomach, standing and sitting

The lying leg curl exercise pumps up the lower back of the thigh, as well as the calf muscle. Gives shape and relief to the back of the thigh. Isolation exercise.

Lying leg curls thicken the lower back of the thigh, working equally on both the inside and outside of this area of ​​​​muscle, which visually lengthens and widens the thigh when viewed from behind. This exercise also allows you to achieve a clear separation between the biceps femoris, semitendinosus and semimembranosus muscles (definition) and show their relief (separation).

Almost all athletes include lying leg curls in their strength training program. And this is not surprising, because bending the legs at the knee is a very characteristic movement for football (kicking the ball with the heel back), wrestling (leg grabs), swimming (breaststroke), gymnastics and sprinting.

Leg bending while lying down in a machine - exercises for leg muscles

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.

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.

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.

Anatomical role and features of the biceps muscle

The hamstrings are antagonistic muscles to the quadriceps, whose main function is static. The biceps femoris muscle provides the ability to bend the leg at the knee joint, rotate it outward, and extend it at the hip joint. It consists of short and long heads, which form the convexity of the posterior surface of the thigh and partially the depression of the inner surface.

An important distinguishing feature of the femoral biceps is its tendency to shorten. This leads not only to inharmonious development of the posterior muscles, but often also to pain when bending forward or raising straight legs to an angle of 90°. To avoid this and ensure beautiful muscle architecture, training must include stretching exercises.

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.

Lifehack

There are several techniques that can shift the direction of the load. These are proven facts that really work. It consists of turning the socks around:

• If you turn your toes to the sides, the load will shift to the inner thighs. That is, on the lateral (external) bundle of the biceps muscle. In principle, this is expected, because its function includes reversing the stops.
• Therefore, bringing your toes inward will also change the emphasis to the inner thigh. That is, on the semimembranosus and semitendinosus muscles.

Of course, you need to understand that these changes are minimal and you can hardly expect a big result from them. But you can and even need to use them. This will help work the back of the thigh under a variety of vectors. Which will have a beneficial effect on overall growth.

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.

Features of the technique of bending legs in a sitting position

Exercise machines from different manufacturers differ slightly from each other: some have hip attachments located above the knees, while others have them below the knees. But overall the technology remains the same. The main thing is to set the simulator to your own proportions, that is, height.

1. To begin, set your working weight.
2. Sit on the seat with your lower back firmly pressed against the back of the machine.
3. Place your feet on the bottom roller, touching your Achilles tendons.
4. If it is intended to be secured above the knees, then press the thigh clamp at the desired level, without pressing too hard on the muscles, but also so that there is no looseness.
5. As you exhale, without bending your lower back, bring your heels under the seat of the exercise machine as much as possible—bringing them closer to your pelvis. Feel the peak of the contraction, try to hold for a second.
6. As you inhale, slowly straighten your knees, but not completely, the main thing is not to “slam” the plates.

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.

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.

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.