No Reverse Hyper or GHR

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I lift at a Y right by my house, and sometimes at my HS. Both have neither a reverse hyper nor a GHR, which blows. My hams and glutes need some serious work and so I’m at an impass. We have a hyper machine at the Y (i think thats what its called, where you bend at the waist), and I have been doing GM’s as an assistance b/c my form isnt great and dont wanna go heavy yet.

So, I was wondering what are some good excersizes I can do to get my posterior chain up to speed so I can squat and dead some serious weight?

2

Try RDL’s (straight leg DL’s) and if you have a low cable machine, do pull throughs.

3

you can try a natural glute ham raise.

4

[quote]BigDirk wrote:
I lift at a Y right by my house, and sometimes at my HS. Both have neither a reverse hyper nor a GHR, which blows. My hams and glutes need some serious work and so I’m at an impass. We have a hyper machine at the Y (i think thats what its called, where you bend at the waist), and I have been doing GM’s as an assistance b/c my form isnt great and dont wanna go heavy yet.

So, I was wondering what are some good excersizes I can do to get my posterior chain up to speed so I can squat and dead some serious weight?[/quote]

There’s a unilateral alternative to the reverse hyper that can be done attaching your ankle to the high pulley while facing the stack.

If the “hyper machine” aka back extension is the kind that puts you flat rather than at a 45 degree angle, you can do one-legged “superman” extensions, which can also effectively replace the reverse hyper.

As for the GHR, find anything to wedge your heels under, or a partner to hold them, and go to town. Sometimes you can turn backwards on a flat/decline ab bench and wedge your ankles under the thing that you lock your feet into.

Also don’t forget about the many many variations of Good Morning (round back, seated, one legged, zercher). The sumo deadlift is also great for building hamstring/glute power.

5

Or you can get on the edge of the lat pulldown machine, push the legs pads all the way down, and do them on there

6

[quote]RIT Jared wrote:
As for the GHR, find anything to wedge your heels under, or a partner to hold them, and go to town. Sometimes you can turn backwards on a flat/decline ab bench and wedge your ankles under the thing that you lock your feet into.
[/quote]

thats a damn good idea. wish i’d thought about that earlier.

i’d been wanting to try GHR’s but we dont have anything for them at my gym. negatives are a great way to start out doing these right? i dont think my hams have the strength to do full range.

7

[quote]DarkHelmet wrote:
Try RDL’s (straight leg DL’s) and if you have a low cable machine, do pull throughs. [/quote]

RDL’s are not the same as straigt leg DL’s.
A Romanian Dead involvolves the weight being close to the body, with the hips pushing out to rais and lower, a straight leg dl involves the weight out from the body and puts more stress on the lower back itself–not just the muscles of the lower back.

8

It helps to put padding of some sort under your knees. Thats what I find to be “comfortable”. Have fun with those.

9
  1. Thigh support stiff leg deadlifts.
  2. Lye on your back, hips and knees bent 90 degrees, heels on a bench, drive 1 leg at a time down.
  3. Leg curl machine, but the pad behind the knee hanging over the end.-1 leg at a time.
  4. Band pawbacks-look in a sprinting site if you don’t know what a pawback is.
10

Plate drags, short sprints uphill, 1-leg hyperextension, lunges with a very long step out, Split stance (1 foot 24 inches behind the other) stiff leg deadlifts.

11

Dimmel Deads

12

goodmornings- arched back, close stance hits hamstrings well if you use good form. band goodmornings are good too.

snatch grip deadlifts- off of plates

powercleans- not very westside… but gets my hamstrings very well

i wouldnt do one leg reverse hypers because you cant round your lower back and you lose a lot of the effect.

13

[quote]andy bumphren wrote:
goodmornings- arched back, close stance hits hamstrings well if you use good form. band goodmornings are good too.
[/quote]

To really nail your hammies, when in the bottom position of a GM, you should have slightly bent knees, straighten them out before you raise the weight. Don’t do this for a max effort. It works good for high reps 8-15. Try this out and you might be cursing me for a few days after.