[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
GHRs, Natural GHRs, good mornings, good mornings in the hyper bench (these are my favorite).[/quote]
Have you tried good mornings with one foot on a plate? I have to drop the weight a little, but it really torches the erectors and especially the hams.
Also, do most people not lock RDL/SLDLs out? I cant manage any respectable weights like that, although I suppose it would keep the tension on the hamstrings.[/quote]
The hip lockout is meant to fully contract your spinal erectors, therefore, while doing RDL/SLDL (a hamstring specific exercise) it is unnecessary. Also, don’t worry about the amount of weight you can move, its not an easy motion to move lots of weight with.
[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
GHRs, Natural GHRs, good mornings, good mornings in the hyper bench (these are my favorite).[/quote]
Have you tried good mornings with one foot on a plate? I have to drop the weight a little, but it really torches the erectors and especially the hams.
Also, do most people not lock RDL/SLDLs out? I cant manage any respectable weights like that, although I suppose it would keep the tension on the hamstrings.[/quote]
The hip lockout is meant to fully contract your spinal erectors, therefore, while doing RDL/SLDL (a hamstring specific exercise) it is unnecessary. Also, don’t worry about the amount of weight you can move, its not an easy motion to move lots of weight with.[/quote]
Huh? During an RDL/SLDL your erectors should be maximally contracted with your lower back arched throughout the whole movement. Your glutes are what lock you out. I see a lot of people go down way too far on sldl’s. If you’re keeping your back arched and only working through your hamstring ROM then most people won’t have the bar travel too far past their knees.
GOOD THREADS AKUMA!!
I LOVE GLUTE HAM RAISES AND STANDING HAMSTRING CURLS!!
I do the glute ham raises (on the lat pulldown seat and lower myself then push back up) and the hamstring curls after my front squats and hack squats on leg day
Not every leg press will work with everybody but… you’ll know if it works pretty quickly.
Feet high up on the platform(your toes might even come off) and a little wider than usual. Nice controlled descent to the point just before your low back starts to round… push THROUGH THE HEELS up to just shy of lockout(my preference). 12-20 reps works well with these. You won’t necessarily feel a pronounced burn during the movement but the next day assuming you had the mechanical position correct there will be no doubt what body part was doing the brunt of the work.
You can’t see Shelby’s feet here but this is a good example of how it looks. [/quote]
These are crazy good.
It only took me like two reps to find a foot placement that hit the hamstrings. Turns out it is only 3-4 inches higher than I was for regular leg press, but pretty much the balls of my feet are off the pad. Also my feet where up at teh corners and pointed slightly out.
But yeah, my hams are on fire right now and I fully expect tomorrow to be a long day doing any walking.
^ I did those today at the end of my hamstring portion of my leg workout (did hammies first <3) and LOVED it too. def a keeper. god quad involvement too but I’ll keep playin with it. felt really natural for me too.
It is ignorant of me not to have considered this before – or even more ignorant if my conclusion below is wrong – but as the short head of the biceps femoris can’t act to extend the hip at all, and can only act towards knee extension, it “ought” to get no or nearly no training effect from DL’s, SLDL’s, Romanian DL’s, squats, leg presses, or any other such exercise.
I’ve never been comfortable with hamstring curls, and these were what I started with when first working out. For some reason I am unable to feel dat squeeze and my body feels like it’s positioned unnaturally.
SLDs work for me but only in high rep ranges. Going heavy on them for fewer reps doesn’t have the desired effect.
When training for powerlifting I trained deadlifts heavy. I definitely feel hammies in the movement more than anything, and my hams developed to the point that my initial rip (quadz) needed work. Pretty cool imo.
Now that I’m not hitting deads, I’ve switched to good mornings. The similarities between SLDs and GMs are obvious, but something about the placement of the bar makes a world of difference for me. Hitting GMs heavy is providing my hamstrings so much more direct stimulation than I’ve ever experienced before.
[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
(Pic previously posted by Jak3_dude)
It is ignorant of me not to have considered this before – or even more ignorant if my conclusion below is wrong – but as the short head of the biceps femoris can’t act to extend the hip at all, and can only act towards knee extension, it “ought” to get no or nearly no training effect from DL’s, SLDL’s, Romanian DL’s, squats, leg presses, or any other such exercise.
There was a little mention about good mornings, how do you guys feel about these for hamstring size, and not just strengthening a weak points for deadlifts?
I threw RDLs back into my leg day today. I focused on squeezing the SH*T out of my glutes at the end of each rep like I’m trying to stop someone from jammin’ a pickle up there. Damn, I’m gonna be sore tomorrow
This has made me self conscious about my leg routine. Personally, I feel like I get allot of hamstring activity from squats, but that might be because I really focus on the glutes when I’m squatting. I ussually follow up squats with 4X20 deep-walking dips with a medicine ball or db’s and then 4 sets on the seated leg curl machine. I don’t typically feel allot of hamstring activation during deads, but I do them on back day and focus more on the back when I do them. Any critiques?
[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
(Pic previously posted by Jak3_dude)
It is ignorant of me not to have considered this before – or even more ignorant if my conclusion below is wrong – but as the short head of the biceps femoris can’t act to extend the hip at all, and can only act towards knee extension, it “ought” to get no or nearly no training effect from DL’s, SLDL’s, Romanian DL’s, squats, leg presses, or any other such exercise.
This is such a common mistake for so many novice lifters. I neglected hams for years and became so quad dominant that it eventually led to issues with scar tissue, bursitis, and other ailments that require PT in and around my left hip flexor. Still have issues with it to this day. Now though, its 2 ham/glute movements for each quad one. Funny how the dead lift numbers went up to after this
[quote]David1991 wrote:
There was a little mention about good mornings, how do you guys feel about these for hamstring size, and not just strengthening a weak points for deadlifts?[/quote]
i thought good mornings were a lower back targetting movement? Its essentially you holding a bar on your shoulders, and doing a deadlift without any of the lower body movement. So its A romanian deadlift except its on your shoulders, rather than in front of you.
[quote]Hugh Jassman wrote:
My hammies are pathetic, but my arse is big, so I try to work hams with as little glute activation as posible.
I do a ham day of lying and standing leg curls, stiff leg deads and good mornings.
I workout at home, is there anything else I could do?[/quote]
How would GM’s and SLDL’s not be involving glutes to a significant degree? Not that I view them as bad at all, but just given your sentiment about not trying to work the glutes.
[quote]David1991 wrote:
There was a little mention about good mornings, how do you guys feel about these for hamstring size, and not just strengthening a weak points for deadlifts?[/quote]
i thought good mornings were a lower back targetting movement? Its essentially you holding a bar on your shoulders, and doing a deadlift without any of the lower body movement. So its A romanian deadlift except its on your shoulders, rather than in front of you. [/quote]
Well don’t RDL’s/SLDL’s work the hamstrings significantly?
[quote]David1991 wrote:
There was a little mention about good mornings, how do you guys feel about these for hamstring size, and not just strengthening a weak points for deadlifts?[/quote]
i thought good mornings were a lower back targetting movement? Its essentially you holding a bar on your shoulders, and doing a deadlift without any of the lower body movement. So its A romanian deadlift except its on your shoulders, rather than in front of you. [/quote]
Well don’t RDL’s/SLDL’s work the hamstrings significantly?[/quote]
Yes they do. but with a Goodmorning, you stand with a barbell on your shoulders, and basically bend to where your upper body is parallel with the floor, then return to the starting position. You dont really go low enough to get a stretch in the hams and thusly work them. I mean i suppose you could bend further at the waist to involve the hams, but to me working your lower back and hams on the same day is asking for a wrecked lower back that next day, one that would require a wake up stretching/rolling out session lol
Yes they do. but with a Goodmorning, you stand with a barbell on your shoulders, and basically bend to where your upper body is parallel with the floor, then return to the starting position. You dont really go low enough to get a stretch in the hams and thusly work them. I mean i suppose you could bend further at the waist to involve the hams, but to me working your lower back and hams on the same day is asking for a wrecked lower back that next day, one that would require a wake up stretching/rolling out session lol[/quote]
If you’re shooting your ass backwards to start the lift, you’ll get more hamstring involvement, just iike you would in an RDL. However, if you’re just bending over it’s going to be a low back movement. Either way, the low back will play a role in moving the weight.
