fitness

7 Incredible Hamstring Exercises For Beginners

By Forever Expert

2021-03-28

Incredible Hamstring Exercises

Hamstrings are one of the most important muscles for the efficiency and strength of the lower body. Thus, it’s very important to add exercises that target hamstring muscles into your workout plan. For this, there are several lower body exercises ranging from beginner to expert levels. So if you’re a beginner, you need to start with the basic workouts that build and strengthen your hamstrings. Thus, here is a list of the 7 best hamstring exercises for beginners, along with the steps. But before checking them, let’s know some important details about these lower body muscles.

Hamstrings & Their Importance

Hamstrings are the muscles that lie in the back of the thighs, in-between hips & knees. These muscles play a major role in most of the physical activities that involve lower body activities. In other words, these muscles help in the extension of the hips and bending of the knees. Thus, hamstring muscles facilitate physical activities like walking, running, stair-climbing, squatting, and many more similar tasks. Being the primarily involved muscle, it’s highly prone to injury during intense physical activities. For instance, you might keep hearing about a football player being unfit to play because of a hamstring injury.

Best Hamstrings Exercises For Beginners

If you want to prevent hamstrings from injury while strengthening them, you must start with beginner workouts. Thus, here is a list of the top hamstring beginner exercises that you must start with.

Glute Bridge

Target Muscles – Hamstrings, Abs, Glutes, Lower Back

Glute Bridge is an amazing workout to tone and strengthen the middle-body. Apart from shaping and fortifying the hamstrings, it also helps to improve body posture, balance, speed, and jumping ability. Furthermore, it’s very effective for alleviating back pain and knee pain. Also, it works on the core and abdominal region of your body.

How To Do The Glute Bridge Exercise?

Lie down on the floor facing the ceiling and bend your knees to bring both feet towards your hips.

Now extend your arms straight and place your palms on the floor near your heels.

After that, press your arms and feet into the floor to lift your butt off the floor.

Stop when your torso, abdomen, thighs, and knees are in one line. Thus, you need to balance your body on your shoulders and lower-legs bent at 90°.

Hold this position for a few seconds and then, slowly lower your body down.

Repeat these steps 15-20 times per set.

Donkey Kicks

Muscles Worked – Hamstrings, Glutes, Core, Shoulders

Donkey Kicks are one of the most efficient traditional exercises to build stronger hamstring muscles. This exercise is known to improve the overall stability of the body by working on several body muscles. Furthermore, it helps to enhance the body posture, while protecting against back injuries.

How To Do The Donkey Kicks Exercise?

Get down on the floor on all fours, i.e. bent knees and extended arms.

After that, kick your right leg back in the air while maintaining a 90° angle between thigh and knee.

Without losing balance, kick your leg as high as possible for maximum effect.

Lower down the right leg to the initial position and repeat the same steps 15-20 times per set.

Then, switch legs and do the same steps again.

Marching Glute Bridge

Target Muscles – Hamstrings, Glutes, Abs, Lower Back

Marching Glute Bridge is a variation of the standard glute bridge exercise. This amazing exercise helps to alleviate the pain in the back and knees. Furthermore, it helps to improve stability, mobility, and flexibility. Also, it’s an excellent exercise to strengthen your hamstrings and core area.

How To Do The Marching Glute Exercise?

Lie down on the floor while facing towards the ceiling. Now bend your knees to bring both your feet close to your buttocks.

Place both your palms on the floor near your buttocks and place both your feet flat on the floor.

Now, press your hands and feet into the floor to lift your buttocks off the floor.

Stop when your knees, hips, back, and shoulders are in a completely straight line. Thus, you’ll be balancing your body on your shoulders and lower legs.

After that, lift your right leg in the air while keeping the knee bent. Hold for a second and then return it to the initial position.

Repeat these steps 15-20 times per set.

Hip Thrusts

Target Muscles – Hamstrings, Quadriceps, Glutes, Core, Hips

Hip Thrust is another highly effective exercise to tone, strengthen, and build hamstring muscles. Furthermore, it helps to boost the gluteal muscles, which play a major role in several important physical tasks. Being the largest body muscles, glutes are very important for running, walking, jumping, and other athletic activities. Hip thrusts help in solidifying glutes while alleviating back and knee pain.

How To Do The Hip Thrust Exercise?

Sit straight in the center of a gym bench with your feet hip-width apart.

After that, slide downward to bring your upper back on the bench. Stop when your back, buttocks, and thighs become parallel to the floor, and your legs are perpendicular to the floor.

Now use your core strength to lower down your buttocks towards the floor as low as possible.

Hold for a second and then lift them back up.

Repeat these steps 15-20 times per set. Also, you can keep weight on your core area for even more intensity.

Sumo Squats

Target Muscles – Hamstrings, Quadriceps, Glutes, Hips, Calves, Inner Thighs

Sumo Squats are a variation of the traditional squat exercise. This amazing workout helps to tone, strengthen, and build all the major lower body muscles. Furthermore, it helps to improve the mobility, flexibility, balance, and posture of the body. Also, sumo squats are very helpful in reducing the chances of injuries by fortifying the lower body.

How To Do The Sumo Squats Exercise?

Stand straight with both your feet hip-width apart, with your toes pointing away from each other.

Now, squat down by extending your buttocks backward and bending your knees. Make sure that your knees don’t extend further than your toes and keep your back completely straight.

After holding this position for a second, stand back up to the initial position.

Repeat these steps 15-20 times per set. Also, you can hold dumbbells in each hand to make this exercise more effective and intense.

Reverse Lunges

Target Muscles – Hamstrings, Glutes, Calves, Quadriceps

As the name suggests, Reverse Lunges are a variation of the traditional lunges exercise. This incredible workout is very effective to tone, strengthen, and build the hamstrings and several other lower body muscles. Furthermore, it helps to improve the physical condition of the knees and hips. Also, it’s an excellent workout to improve mobility, balance, and explosive power of the lower body.

How To Do The Reverse Lunges Exercise?

Stand straight with both feet close together.

After that, take a step backward with your right leg.

Now, lunge down by bending both your knees while keeping your back completely straight.

Stop when both your knees are approximately at a 90-degree angle.

Then, stand back to the initial position by reversing the above steps.

Repeat these steps 15-20 times with alternating legs per set.

Single-Leg Deadlift

Target Muscles – Hamstrings, Glutes, Core, Ankles

Most fitness experts recommend Single Leg Deadlifts for toning and strengthening the hamstring muscles. This incredibly effective exercise also helps to improve the balance, stability, and coordination of the body. Thus, it’s a must-do workout for athletes and sportspersons.

How To Do The Single Leg Deadlift Exercise?

Stand straight with both your feet distanced hip-width apart.

Now bend your upper body forward while raising your right leg backward. Make sure to keep your right leg completely straight while doing.

Stop when your upper body and the raised right leg are in a straight line.

Hold for a second and then slowly stand back up to the initial position without losing balance.

Repeat these steps 15-20 times per set and then, switch legs.

That’s all folks!

So these were the 7 most effective hamstrings exercises for beginners. By adding these exercises to your regular workout plan, you can easily build rock-strong hamstring muscles. Make sure to get assistance from a fitness expert to perform these exercises in the right way. Furthermore, eat nutrient-dense foods rich in protein for the best results in little time.

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