Keep hitting them hard for a while and see what happens 
I wrote earlier:
“I think it was CT who wrote that he had seen a bodybuilder with a 700 lbs deadlift who couldn’t do one, and a ballerina who couldn’t deadlift her bodyweight but still rep out NGHR.”
This says a lot about the exercise. It’s simply a matter of gaining some strength in the movement, but most of all, actually learning to do it.
All right… I’ve tried them out tonight, Cyber.
They were a bitch! You called that first one, easier version?? Are you kidding me??
ehehehe, nah, I ain’t mad 
But seriously, I did about 5 reps and I just wanted to cry… in the end I had to use my hands to push myself up, sorry I had to cheat. But I’ll keep at it. Legs session tomorrow. Shall see how it goes this time…
Haha, nice They are usually like that the first time.
Just remember that 5 sets of 2 good reps is better than 2 sets of 5 sloppy reps. Progress comes quick when you get the form right and do quality reps
yes i kinda noticed that the movement is new to me…because rather than just failing at it my hams and calves started cramping alot
shit i wonder if im doing them wrong…i started doing them about 3 months ago…the first set was easy as i got 15 reps or so…then i added the 45 pound plate and repped that out, at a body weight of 270, i think my form is identical to the examples in the videos shown…except i do them every explosively, really explode out of the bottom position. maybe thats why? i wonder if id get pinned doing them very slowly…areyou not supposed to do ghr’s explosively?oi do them on the ghr machine btw
I just started incorporating them back into my routine about 2 months ago (injury). Right now I have to do them off the lat machine and I love doing them. Using the pole looks like a great method.
i started to incorporate natural ghr’s in my training and i only can imagine how huge the benefits are of mastering this movement performance and physique wise.
can someone tell the difference between the ham killers that MD does and the NGHR.
@cyberwar: great progress, you are motivating me to keep the work going but i have a good tip for You and everyone doing GHRs:
Start with a pelvic thrust. i recognized that you are doing the movement with the hips breaking down like in a squat. try to move the braced abs forwards with the hips fully thrusted.
Thanks for the tip!
[quote]shawn105 wrote:
shit i wonder if im doing them wrong…i started doing them about 3 months ago…the first set was easy as i got 15 reps or so…then i added the 45 pound plate and repped that out, at a body weight of 270, i think my form is identical to the examples in the videos shown…except i do them every explosively, really explode out of the bottom position. maybe thats why? i wonder if id get pinned doing them very slowly…areyou not supposed to do ghr’s explosively?oi do them on the ghr machine btw[/quote]
Not sure what you’re asking about, but in my opinion you always want to lift as explosive as possible on the concentric, and that goes for pretty much every exercise. But, you also have to differentiate between explosive and sloppy. Explosive does not equal sloppy form. So, if you feel that your technique is wrong you could try to lift slower and getting the form down before you begin to transfer to lifting fast.
Personally I would say that I do the NGHRs explosively in the videos. Yeah, I have a relatively controlled eccentric, and the concentric isn’t exactly fast, but that’s because the movement is heavy. Even though the concentric takes med 2 - 3 seconds I’m lifting as fast as possible, thus explosively.
Machine GHRs are a completely different animal which I have very little experience with. Check out Ben Bruno’s clips:
[quote]Tomasz Sosnowski wrote:
i started to incorporate natural ghr’s in my training and i only can imagine how huge the benefits are of mastering this movement performance and physique wise.
can someone tell the difference between the ham killers that MD does and the NGHR.
@cyberwar: great progress, you are motivating me to keep the work going but i have a good tip for You and everyone doing GHRs:
Start with a pelvic thrust. i recognized that you are doing the movement with the hips breaking down like in a squat. try to move the braced abs forwards with the hips fully thrusted. [/quote]
Thanks, man. I’ll try your tip out next time I hit the gym and see how it feels
i want to be more precize about the ghr so i will put my thought in a better way:
-the most important: hams and spine are creating a straight line. this makes the movent full rom, no leverage. both: going down and up.
-brace abs, squeeze glutes.
-drive down with the abs.
that the video that explains everything:
good call by cyberwar. been doing only eccentrics for the past year, but ive taken the past month off. upon returning and doing triples with the bosu ball my calf and hamstring cramped. never hurt so good.
does anyone else have a problem where they sink straight to the bottom of the half ball when they kneel on it?
[quote]Tomasz Sosnowski wrote:
i want to be more precize about the ghr so i will put my thought in a better way:
-the most important: hams and spine are creating a straight line. this makes the movent full rom, no leverage. both: going down and up.
-brace abs, squeeze glutes.
-drive down with the abs.
that the video that explains everything:
[/quote]
Ah, gotcha I understand better what you meant with your previous post. In my previous posts when I mentioned form progression that was what I meant.
When you start out with the natural one you will most likely need to have a good amount of bend at the waist, and train partials. As you get stronger, you bend less and go deeper, and finally do them with little to no bend, full ROM. That’s really what I’m striving for all the time, but NGHR with a flat pad are so heavy that a tad of bending at the waist is almost unavoidable, at least at my strength level now. Then again, my hams are working full ROM (quads touch the floor at the bottom) so right now I’m focusing more on gaining strength rather than improving form. Form is the first thing to go on such an exercise as you fatigue, so even though the first reps are perfect, there will be a bit more bending on the concentric as the set goes, at least the way I do them.
Great video though It explains an important point, which is think “bodyweight leg curl” really. I know some guys prefer to do it a bit different, especially on the machine, but in my opinion, if you want to engage the hams, lower back and core more, then this is the way to go.
Cant seem to progress…maybe because im constantly increasing the deadlift weight prir to them??
cyberwar: Do you ever get knee pain doing natural GHRs? I use a GHR machine but I don’t like it very much as the pad mashes up my quads. these look like a good thing to learn but I’m afraid for my knees even though I really don’t have issues, they bug me on normal GHRs
I don’t get any knee pain when training this movement, but a while back my knees were feeling weird, and I suspected the NGHR causing it, since the knee cap is under pressure and locked in place during the movement, and not allowed to move as freely as it would during a leg curl, for instance. The NGHR could aggravate injuries just like any other movement if you have issues with it, but if it feels fine and doesn’t cause injury I’d say keep hitting them. If the machine feels awkward experiment with adjustment of the pad placement and such. I have tried a machine only once, and the padding felt really good as far as I remember.
So I had a try again on Friday and only managed 1 set of very slow 6 reps without any assistance. It was going all fine when my hammies knotted at the last rep, hahaha!
I thought I was going to die! Anyway, did some foam rolling and carried on with the exercise. I did another set of 4 and then thought, ‘fuck that!’ and used my hands for assistance.
Cyber, it’s tough, man. It’s fucking tough! But the hammies feel so good at the end of it, yeah baby!!
I’ll get there eventually.
And when I do that, I’ll post the video to prove ya.
What are ya’ll using to hold your feet down? Most everything I try to use is at the wrong height or not heavy and stable enough. I was thinking about using a loaded barbell on the ground.
I do it on the Smith Machine. I bring the bar all the way down, well with enough space to lock my feet under it and a yoga mat to protect my knees.
Awesome stuff, Ninja! Looking forward to the video
Meanwhile, check this kid out.
Cool video. The kids make it so easy. Amazing
When I have a training partner on leg day, I’d usually do the GHR that way. They’d hold my ankles down as I slowly descend. I don’t go as fast as the kids though and I still use my hands at the bottom to push myself back up.