Form on Glute Ham Raises

Looking at some forms of the glute ham raise, I’ve seen them done with a back extension, followed by the leg curl. Is their a specific reason that Westside does not do the back extension portion of the lift? Is it because it closely duplicates the movement of the reverse hyperextension and to add that portion would be overkill?

[quote]Paul222 wrote:
Looking at some forms of the glute ham raise, I’ve seen them done with a back extension, followed by the leg curl. Is their a specific reason that Westside does not do the back extension portion of the lift? Is it because it closely duplicates the movement of the reverse hyperextension and to add that portion would be overkill?[/quote]

From experience it tends to make it too easy to use that portion of the lift as momentum to make it less of a hamstring and glue exercise.

the type you are talking about is for beginers who cant do a strait ghr

Also, when you are going down on the eccentric, if you bend your back to do the back extension, you lose tension in your hamstrings. I know when I was first starting out, I couldn’t do a single glute-ham and one of the biggest reasons was that I simply had trouble activating my hamstrings.

So even if you can’t do very many, focus on the hamstrings (kind of a mind-muscle connection thing) on the eccentric and do what you can on the concentric portion. I think you’ll find that you will gain strength very quickly.

[quote]Paul222 wrote:
Looking at some forms of the glute ham raise, I’ve seen them done with a back extension, followed by the leg curl. Is their a specific reason that Westside does not do the back extension portion of the lift? Is it because it closely duplicates the movement of the reverse hyperextension and to add that portion would be overkill?[/quote]

If I recall, they do teach it in the Elitefts training video. They recommend using it for beginners until they can do a GHR without the back extension. There a several variations and partial ROM’s that can be done, depending on what your weakness is.