Exercise Breakdown: Leg Curls, Rich’s Go-To Hamstring Exercise

When it came to legs, Rich often trained his hamstrings first. What was his favorite exercise? Leg Curls! He would do them lying, seated, or standing. Back in his competitive days, Rich felt legs were a strong point. Once he retired from competition, he still had impressive legs and a big reason for that was leg curls. In this edition of Exercise Breakdown, we’ll take a closer look at Leg Curls, Rich’s Go-To Hamstring Exercise. We’ll also provide a sample routine and 5% Nutrition supplement suggestions.

What Are Leg Curls

Leg Curls are an isolation exercise that directly works the hamstrings. They are performed using your heels to pull a weight toward your glutes. The rest of your body should be perfectly still when doing these.

Muscles Worked

The primary muscle worked by Leg Curls is, as noted, hamstrings. Synergists are the gastrocnemius, sartorius, gracilis, and popliteus. Antagonist stabilizers are the tibialis anterior and rectus femoris.⁽¹⁾

Leg Curl Variations

Leg Curls can be done using a low cable, stack machine, plate-loaded machine, or resistance bands. If it's your only option, you can even balance a dumbbell between your feet. Back in the day, you could buy “shoes” that could hold small plates for these or leg extensions. Other variations include performing this exercise standing or sitting.

Sample Routine

This is one of the workouts Rich actually did for legs. As you can see, the focus is on the hamstrings first. Plus, he’s doing a couple of variations of Leg Curls.

Lying Leg Curls - 5 sets - 30, 25, 20, 15, 12 reps

Rich had knee problems, so he often started his leg workouts with hamstrings. He believed this approach was better for his knees. As any 5%er knows, he always worked with moderate weights. For Rich, it was more about higher reps, the squeeze at the top, and the pump.

Seated Leg Curls - 5 sets - 20 reps each set

You can substitute standing Leg Curls if you don’t have access to this machine.

Smith Machine Squats - 5 sets - 25, 20, 15, 12, 10 reps

Rich preferred barbell squats but his knee problems prevented doing them very often. He found this exercise to be a solid variation.

Leg Extensions - 5 sets - 20 reps each set

Concentrate on form, and keep these light. Hold and squeeze at the top of every rep.

Don’t Forget 5% Nutrition!

If it’s Leg Day, you need a serious pre-workout. Rich used 5150 with 400 mg of caffeine from 8 different sources. You can also go with Kill It RTD and you’ll not only get the energy of 400 mg of caffeine, but you’ll also get the hydration, pump, and endurance power of 10g of glycerin (glycerol). From there, add a partially frozen All Day You May slushie to sip during your workout. It’s ultra-refreshing and helps you stay in an anabolic state even when you’re training. You can also mix Core Creatine into your pre or intra-workout. Finally, mix up 1-2 servings of Real Carbs with 1-2 servings of Shake Time immediately after your last set. Stop by and stock up today - then go Kill It in the gym!