Biceps femoris: anatomy and the best exercises for the biceps femoris muscle

The hamstrings are extremely important in powerlifting. By strengthening these muscles, the athlete increases his strength in the deadlift and squat. In addition, hamstrings create a more harmonious appearance of the legs, which is beneficial for performing bodybuilders. For girls, exercises on the back of the thighs will help get rid of sagging and cellulite. Therefore, we recommend that all athletes training for strength, mass and external aesthetics be sure to train the biceps femoris muscle.

Anatomy of the hamstring muscles

This muscle group consists of three muscles:

• Semitendinosus muscle of the thigh. A thin, long muscle located closer to the inner edge of the back of the thigh. Functions: hip extension, participation in flexion and rotation of the lower leg;
• Semimembranosus femoris muscle. A narrow, long muscle located on the inner edge of the back of the thigh. Functions: extends the thigh, flexes the lower leg, turns the lower leg inward when the leg is bent;
• Biceps femoris. Consists of two heads: long and short. Occupies most of the back of the thigh. Functions of the biceps femoris muscle: participates in leg extension, bends and rotates the tibia outward.

Hamstring muscles

How to pump up your gluteal muscles at home

Today, a whole set of exercises has been developed that are aimed at increasing the muscles of the buttocks. Each woman will be able to choose the most suitable option for herself. It is important to remember to follow proper technique to prevent any kind of injury or strain.

In addition, before you start training, you need to warm up your muscles well. Go for a run or exercise on an exercise bike if you have one at home for ten minutes.

The warm-up can be supplemented by twirling a hoop and jumping rope for 2-3 minutes.

Squats

One of the most popular and most effective exercises for the buttocks is the squat. You can squat with either a narrow or wide stance, with or without weights.

Technically incorrect execution not only makes the exercise “wrong”, but sooner or later leads to injury. How to squat correctly to pump up a girl’s buttocks:

1. the back is always straight, not vertical but straight;
2. the knees move strictly in the direction of the feet;
3. in the lower position, the knees should not go beyond the line of the toes - the movement should imitate sitting on a chair, that is, the fifth point should be pulled back, and not try to land it on the heels;
4. the speed of movements should be such as to fully control the muscles: do not fall down or jump out, fixate in extreme positions;

To perform wide stance squats, you need to stand straight and spread your legs wide. In this case, the socks should be directed in directions opposite to each other. You should lower yourself into a half-sitting position quite slowly, making sure that your knees are spread out in different directions as much as possible. At the lowest point, the hip line should be parallel to the floor - “butt below the knees.”

To increase the load, you can use a kettlebell or dumbbell, which hangs in straight arms in front or behind your back.

Due to the “feet together” squats, the gluteal muscles swing the most, creating the greatest load. You need to stand straight with your legs pressed together and your knees tightly connected. In this case, the hands are on the belt. Then, while inhaling, slowly perform a squat, and on the way out, you need to take the starting position.

When performing squats, several muscles are used simultaneously:

• large muscles of the buttocks;
• quadriceps;
• shin;
• adductor muscles of the thigh;
• hamstring biceps;
• calf muscles;

Squatting on one leg also has a positive effect, but this is a very difficult and traumatic exercise and not even all pros can perform it correctly. It makes sense to try if you can do 100 or more regular squats at a time.

The technique is based on the fact that you need to stand near the door frame with your feet shoulder-width apart. In this case, one serves as a support, and the other bends at the knee and is brought slightly forward. Inhaling, they lower themselves down on the supporting leg, and fully extend the bent leg. You must keep your back straight and hold the door with your hand. Then they switch to the other side, changing legs, and repeat this exercise.

Features of the training

In this case, the well-known principle - “we train lagging muscles at the end of the lesson” - does not work. After several approaches of squats and leg presses, there will be practically no energy left to pump up the hamstrings. Therefore, we propose the following rules for training the hamstring muscles:

• First priority. Place loads on the hamstrings at the beginning of the session. Don't worry, the muscle fibers of the thighs are very durable, so you can perform the following exercises in full.
• Quantity. It is believed that to grow small muscles you need to do 12 to 15 repetitions per set. With the hamstrings the opposite is true. Despite their small size, it is best to work them with serious weight and 6-8 repetitions.
• A complex approach. Do hamstring exercises in the same session as other leg exercises. The fact is that the quality of training increases if you pump antagonist muscles together (quadriceps are antagonists to biceps).
• Different types of loads. To pump up your hamstrings, combine isolation and heavy basic exercises in one training session. This principle of training allows you to use muscle fibers as deeply as possible and accelerate their hypertrophy.

How to make your buttocks beautiful

There is one indisputable fact - the buttocks will not become more elastic and attractive thanks to only one strict diet.

To achieve the desired result, you need to regularly perform special physical exercises, loading the gluteal muscles. With the help of physical activity, you can quickly pump up the corresponding muscles and put them in order. Thanks to which, the buttocks become more rounded, toned and seductive.

Formation of the gluteal muscles

The following muscles are involved in the formation of the buttocks:

• gluteus maximus;
• gluteus medius;
• gluteus minimus;
• iliocostal lumbar muscle;
• quadratus lumborum muscle;
• multifidus lumbar muscle;

In order to get sexy buttocks, you need to actively train all these muscles, and to achieve the fastest possible results, alternate exercises wisely and increase weights in a timely manner.

Thus, to form the gluteus maximus muscle, careful study of hip stretching is necessary. The medius muscle is worked through leg adduction and lateral rotation of the hips. The gluteus minimus muscle is corrected in exactly the same way.

Many people don’t have access to going to the gym, so we’ve put together some tips on how to pump up your buttocks at home. Moreover, they clearly outlined the training schedule from the very beginning level to the advanced.

Recommendations for training hamstrings

When doing a hamstring workout, follow these tips:

• Before exercising, warm up the muscles and joints of your lower body well.
• If your palm grip is weak, use wrist straps to hold the barbell in a deadlift.
• Work with large weights very carefully, do not allow pain in the muscles and joints of the legs.
• During the pause between sets, massage the muscles of the legs at the back to avoid “clogging” with blood.
• Avoid doing aerobic or jumping exercises after strength training your legs.
• At the end of the session, very carefully perform a simple stretch of the lower limbs.

How to Avoid Injury

To avoid injury, certain rules must be followed:

• The deadlift is performed with straight legs, only from a barbell support or other reliable elevation. Not from the floor!
• The movement begins and the weight is lowered only from the middle of the shins.
• It is not recommended to straighten up completely.
• You need to calculate the weights wisely - a heavy strength regime is inappropriate here - the likelihood of injury is too high.

If pain or discomfort occurs, then the exercise should not be done!

Experience shows that the Romanian deadlift is safer and not effective enough!

Example training plan

As we have already said, it is better to train the biceps muscles on the same day as the other leg muscles. We offer an example of a comprehensive program for the lower body, but with an emphasis on the hamstrings.

1. Warm-up (treadmill, bending, rotating the legs in the joints);
2. Power lunges with a barbell (4/6-8);
3. Squats (3-4/10-12);
4. Deadlift (3-4/6-8);
5. Leg press in the simulator (3-4/10-12);
6. Russian Curl (3-4/10-12);
7. Ab crunches (3/15-20).

At the end of the session, do a simple stretch on your legs. This will help relax the muscles of the lower body and reduce post-workout pain.

Regarding the number of repetitions and approaches

This is already an extremely individual question. It is impossible to give a definite answer. I can’t say, do 5 or 10 approaches for a certain number of repetitions, this will be a completely incorrect recommendation, therefore I recommend that you read the main articles:

• “How many repetitions to do in exercises”
• “How many approaches to do the exercises.”

Basic and isolation exercises

In bodybuilding, it is customary to divide all exercises into two large groups. These are basic multi-joint movements and isolating single-joint ones.

The basic ones involve two or more joints, as well as a large number of muscle groups.

A striking representative of such a movement will be lunges. Three joints work here at once - the hip, knee and ankle. As well as hamstrings, quadriceps, calves, buttocks, lumbar and abs.

The big advantage of the base is that it can often be performed even without equipment. This means that these hip exercises are suitable even for training at home.

Isolating movements include movements in which only one joint and a small number of muscles work.

For example, bringing your legs together in a simulator. Here only the hip joint is involved, and the main load falls on the inner surface.

When drawing up training programs for pumping the legs, the selection of exercises is primarily taking into account this characteristic.

The base is more designed for comprehensive leg work, stimulating muscle growth and strength levels.

While isolation has little effect on growth, it is good for targeting a specific muscle.

Therefore, such exercises are indispensable when working on relief or when tightening lagging areas of the legs.

Romanian deadlift

You can find out all the details about the technique of performing the exercise in a special review dedicated to the Romanian deadlift.

Typical mistakes : arching your back and performing jerky pull-ups.

Example training program

As you already understand, a set of exercises for the hips is made up of basic and isolation exercises.

The former will act on several muscle groups at once, while helping to expend a lot of energy and cause the release of necessary hormones that promote growth.

Isolation is used to “finish off” already worked muscles and polish lagging parts of the thighs.

The following are examples of exercise sets for people of average fitness level.

Depending on the number of repetitions, weight and other training parameters, they can be used for both bulking and cutting the body.

Stretching

To keep your muscles beautiful, especially for girls, it is important to stretch after every workout. In addition, it will help reduce the pain of sore throat. Here are a few options from which you can choose the one that suits you. It is important to feel how the muscle stretches.

• On the side . Lie on your left side, with your hand under your head. With your right hand, using springy movements, pull your right leg bent at the knee until it touches your buttocks. Hold for 10-15 seconds. Repeat with the other leg.
• Standing _ Stand straight with your knees together. We pull the leg towards the buttocks with our hand. If it is difficult to maintain balance, grab a support with your other hand.
• In a backward lunge . Lunge back, placing your back leg on your knee. Pull it with your hand towards your buttocks.

Why you should avoid the Smith machine

Many fitness trainers do not recommend including the Smith machine in your workout plan. This is due to the low efficiency of working out the target zone during movements in the simulator.

As practice shows, with a certain fixation of the body, which is necessary when working in a structure, the entire load is transferred to the quadriceps and buttocks. The back of the thighs, in this position, is used slightly.

A good alternative to the Smith design is a power frame. The projectile allows you to carry out work safely and without damage to the target area, even with heavy weights.