I have a home gym with a power rack, various dumbells and barbells.
I'm having trouble working my hamstrings out. I don't have a leg curl bench. I really just feel the squats working my quads, glutes, & lower back. I work my calves doing standing dumbell toe raises on a block.
So the only thing really missing is blasting my hams.
Help !
semi Stiff leg dead done with a strong arch in the low back and chest held high throughout the movement, lower(by pushing your ass back, the bar will drop) as far as you can maintainng that position which will likely be around knee level and return to the top. Work up to your heaviest set of 6-10 reps to failure(always good form) using a controlled lowering phase and forceful raising phase. After that perform these
by anchoring your feet down and lowering yourself as far as you can while maintaining a straight body position and using as little of a push from the arms as possible to allow the hamstrings to carry you through the top. 2 sets to failure of these.
Stretch your hamstrings out very aggressively for 60 seconds each side and don't try to bend over to pick anything up the next morning because you'll probably cry out in pain.
deadlifts, cleans, snatches, sldl, rdl, good mornings, long stride lunges, natural glut ham raises, single leg deadlifts
Lots of good suggestions. If you want to do knee flexion at home you can do leg curls with a dumbbell while lying face down on a bench (an incline works best), some people like these (hold one DB between your feet). You can also do ball leg curls. To hit them at the hip regular deads, romanain and stiff legged deads, and good mornings are great. If you can jerry rig a glute ham raise that is awesome too.
Natural glute hams.
http://www.kvusa.com/wl/floorghr.htm
You will probably have to start out trying to lower yourself under control and using your arms to help push yourself back up. You can also do partials and try to increase the ROM each workout. You can also hook a stretch band behind you (wear it around your shoulders like a backpack) and do them with assistance. Try to keep your glutes tight and your shoulders hips and knees in a straight line.
You can either kneel on a towel or some kind a foam pad. Best option is an airex pad. http://www.performbetter.com/detail.aspx_Q_ID_E_3551_A_CategoryID_E_232
Also to beat the dead horse again, you should be doing RDLs or stiffies.
Used to do leg curls only. Switched over to stiff legged deadlifts. Holy crap. What a difference for the better.
I'm going to incorporate SLDL's into my leg routine for now. Those reverse leg curls look hard on the knees.
I also do regular deadlifts on back day. Should I space out my leg days(because of SLDL's) at least 2 days afterwards for recoup?