Best Hamstring Workout for Mass: 9 Exercises and a Simple Plan

Your hamstrings do two jobs: they bend your knee, and most of them also help extend your hip. That’s why one exercise rarely trains them all, and why the best hamstring exercises for mass are a mix of hip hinges and leg curls.

This guide picks nine, shows you how to do each, and puts them into two simple plans.

Where a point comes from research, I’ve linked the study. Sets, reps and form steps are practical coaching advice, and I’ve said so where it applies.

Which Hamstring Exercises Work Best?

The hamstrings are three muscles that cross both the hip and the knee (semimembranosus, semitendinosus and the long head of biceps femoris), plus the short head of biceps femoris, which crosses only the knee. Each exercise loads them a little differently, and the studies below show different parts growing with different exercises.

• Hinges and curls grow different muscles. In a 12-week study of 42 young men, Maeo 2024 compared Nordic curls with an eccentrically focused weight-stack curl done with the hips bent. The hips-bent curl grew the whole hamstrings more (+18% versus +11%). It grew the muscles that also extend the hip about twice as much, while Nordic curls grew the muscles that only bend the knee more.
• Hinges and Nordics also differ from each other. In a 9-week trial of 36 untrained people, Morin 2025 found stiff-leg deadlifts grew the semimembranosus (+11.2%) and Nordic curls grew the semitendinosus (+24.3%). One-rep max rose by about 34% to 37% in both groups.
• Seated curls beat lying curls. In a 12-week study of 20 adults, Maeo 2021 trained one leg with seated curls and the other with lying (prone) curls. Whole-hamstring growth was +14% with seated and +9% with lying.

Put together, a good hamstring day uses at least one hinge and at least one curl. All of these studies are small and most used young, healthy people, so treat the percentages as a guide and not a promise.

Exercise	Main job	Equipment
Stiff-leg deadlift	Hip hinge	Barbell or dumbbells
Romanian deadlift	Hip hinge	Barbell or dumbbells
45-degree hip extension	Hip hinge	Hyperextension bench
Seated leg curl	Knee curl	Machine
Lying leg curl	Knee curl	Machine
Standing single-leg curl	Knee curl	Machine
Nordic hamstring curl	Knee curl	Mat and an anchor for your heels
Glute-ham raise	Hinge and curl	Glute-ham bench
Good morning	Hip hinge	Barbell or bodyweight

The 9 Best Hamstring Exercises

1. Stiff-Leg Deadlift

The stiff-leg deadlift is a hip hinge: your hips travel back while your knees stay almost straight, so the hamstrings are stretched under load. In the Morin 2025 trial above it grew the semimembranosus by 11.2% in 9 weeks, and the trial used the stiff-leg version.

1. Stand with the bar at your thighs and your feet about hip width apart, with a small bend in your knees that stays fixed.
2. Push your hips back and slide the bar down your legs, keeping your back flat.
3. Lower until you feel a strong stretch in the back of your thighs, then drive your hips forward to stand.

Common mistake: rounding your lower back or letting the bar drift away from your legs. Stop the set when you can’t keep your back flat.

2. Romanian Deadlift

The Romanian deadlift is a close cousin: you start from standing, keep a soft bend in your knees and push your hips back. McAllister 2014 recorded muscle activity (EMG) in 12 weight-trained men lifting at 85% of one-rep max.

Hamstring activity was highest in the Romanian deadlift and the glute-ham raise out of the four exercises tested. That is activity, not growth, and I haven’t found a study comparing Romanian and stiff-leg deadlifts for growth, so pick the one that feels better on your hips and back.

1. Hold the bar or a dumbbell in each hand in front of your thighs, with your feet about hip width apart.
2. Push your hips back with a soft bend in your knees, sliding the weight down your thighs.
3. Lower until you feel a strong stretch in your hamstrings, or stop before your lower back starts to round. Then drive your hips forward to stand.

Common mistake: bending your knees more and more until it turns into a squat. Keep the knee angle the same and let the hips do the moving.

3. 45-Degree Hip Extension

On a 45-degree bench you hinge at the hips, lowering your torso towards the floor, then raise it back up by squeezing your glutes and hamstrings. In a 10-week study of 30 men, Bourne 2017 (training) found training with a hip extension exercise grew the biceps femoris long head more than Nordic curls did, and both exercises grew the semitendinosus.

The abstract doesn’t say what bench angle was used, so read that as support for hip extensions in general. A second study of 24 men, Bourne 2017 (activation), found the 45-degree hip extension selectively activated the long hamstrings.

1. Set the pad just below your hips so your hips can bend freely, and hook your heels under the rollers.
2. Cross your arms over your chest, or hold a plate there once bodyweight gets easy.
3. Hinge at the hips until you feel a stretch in the back of your thighs, keeping your back straight.
4. Raise your torso until your body is in one line. Stop there rather than arching your lower back.

Common mistake: swinging up with momentum and leaning back at the top. Lift smoothly and stop when your body is straight.

4. Seated Leg Curl

Of the machine curls here, the seated curl has the best evidence. Maeo 2021 above found seated curls grew the whole hamstrings more than lying curls (+14% versus +9%). The gap came from the muscles that also cross the hip.

The short head of the biceps femoris grew about the same either way (+10% versus +9%). Maeo 2024 used a different set-up, an eccentrically focused weight-stack curl with the hips bent, and found it grew the hip-extending hamstrings more than Nordics did. Both point the same way: curling with your hips bent seems to work well. If your gym has a seated machine, start here.

1. Sit with your back against the pad and set the thigh pad so it holds your legs down.
2. Place your ankles on top of the lower pad, with your knees lined up with the machine’s pivot.
3. Curl your heels down and back as far as you comfortably can, then return slowly until your legs are almost straight.

Common mistake: letting the weight stack drop on the way up. Take about 2 to 3 seconds to lower it. That timing is practical advice, not a study result.

5. Lying Leg Curl

The lying curl came second in Maeo 2021 (+9% versus +14%), but it still grew the hamstrings, and most gyms have one. Use it if there’s no seated machine, or alongside one on a second day.

1. Lie face down with the pad just above your heels and the machine’s pivot lined up with your knees.
2. Curl your heels towards your glutes without lifting your hips off the bench.
3. Lower slowly until your legs are almost straight.

You may read that turning your toes in or out shifts the work between the inner and outer hamstrings. I haven’t found a study that backs that up, so don’t build your session around it. Common mistake: lifting your hips to cheat the weight up.

6. Standing Single-Leg Curl

This does the same knee-bending job one leg at a time. It can help if one leg is clearly weaker than the other. I haven’t found a growth study comparing it with seated or lying curls, so treat it as an extra, not a replacement.

1. Stand facing the machine, hook one heel under the roller pad, and support yourself on the other leg and the handles.
2. Curl your heel towards your glute without arching your lower back.
3. Lower slowly, finish your reps, then switch legs.

Common mistake: swinging your torso to get the weight up. Drop the load until the movement is smooth.

7. Nordic Hamstring Curl

You kneel, anchor your heels, and lower your body forward under control using only your hamstrings. In Morin 2025 it grew the semitendinosus by 24.3%.

In Maeo 2024 it grew the hamstrings less overall than a machine curl (+11% versus +18%), but it did more for the muscles that only bend the knee. So it is a good addition and not a replacement for a hinge or a machine curl.

It also has injury research behind it. A 2019 meta-analysis of 15 studies and 8,459 athletes found that programmes including Nordic curls had about half the rate of hamstring injuries (risk ratio 0.49, 95% confidence interval 0.32 to 0.74), and 0.52 (0.32 to 0.85) when only the randomised trials were pooled.

That is injury rate in athletes using prevention programmes, not muscle size, and it doesn’t guarantee protection for any one person.

1. Kneel on a mat with your heels anchored under a sturdy bench or held by a partner, and your body upright.
2. Cross your arms over your chest and lower your torso forward slowly, keeping a straight line from knees to head.
3. When you can no longer control the lowering, catch yourself with your hands, then push off the floor to help yourself back up.

Common mistake: folding at the hips. Keep your body in one line. It is a hard exercise, so start with a few slow reps. Rep numbers here are practical advice, not study results.

8. Glute-Ham Raise

The glute-ham raise combines a hip hinge and a knee curl. In McAllister 2014, hamstring activity was highest in this exercise and the Romanian deadlift, and the semitendinosus was more active than the biceps femoris in every exercise tested.

That is EMG from single reps, not a growth result, and I haven’t found a study of how much it grows the hamstrings. If your gym has the bench, it’s a good option.

1. Set up with your thighs on the pad, your ankles locked in and your feet on the plate.
2. Lower your torso towards the floor from the hips with a straight body.
3. Pull yourself back up by squeezing your hamstrings and glutes, bending your knees as the machine allows, until you’re upright.

Common mistake: letting your lower back arch as you come up. Keep your ribs down and lead with the hamstrings.

9. Good Morning

The good morning is a hinge with the bar on your upper back. In a small study of 15 trained men, Vigotsky 2015 found hamstring and spinal erector EMG tended to increase as the load rose from 50% to 90% of one-rep max.

The authors noted little research exists on the exercise. Because the bar sits on your back, start light and treat it as an extra after the exercises above.

1. Set the bar across your upper back as for a squat, with your feet about shoulder width apart and a soft bend in your knees.
2. Push your hips back and tip your torso forward with a neutral back until it’s close to parallel with the floor.
3. Squeeze your hamstrings and glutes to bring your torso back up.

Common mistake: rounding your back or going heavy too soon. If your lower back takes over, lower the weight.

Other Hamstring Exercises Worth Knowing

Conventional deadlifts, dumbbell deadlifts, hip bridges, kettlebell swings and reverse hyperextensions also work the back of your body, and they’re fine additions. They didn’t make the nine because I kept the list to clear hip hinges and knee curls. Where the research on one of the nine is thin, as with the standing curl, I’ve said so above.

For options without a barbell, see our guides to resistance band hamstring exercises, hamstring machines and bodyweight leg exercises.

How to Build Hamstring Mass

How Many Sets Per Week?

More weekly sets generally means more muscle growth, up to a point. Schoenfeld 2017 pooled 15 studies and found each extra weekly set was linked to about 0.37% more muscle gain. The 2026 ACSM position stand (137 systematic reviews, over 30,000 healthy adults) found hypertrophy was enhanced by 10 or more sets per muscle group per week.

That is a group-level finding, not a prescription for you. The ACSM text also notes that the returns from extra weekly sets fade beyond roughly 18 to 20 sets for hypertrophy. As practical advice, count both your hinge sets and your curl sets towards the total, and build up gradually from fewer sets if you’re new.

What Rep Range and Weight?

The ACSM stand found muscle growth was not consistently different across loads from 30% to 100% of one-rep max. Morton 2016 tested this in 49 resistance-trained men over 12 weeks.

A lighter group (about 30% to 50% of one-rep max, 20 to 25 reps) and a heavier group (about 75% to 90%, 8 to 12 reps) all trained to failure and gained similar muscle. For reference, the Maeo 2021 curl study used about 70% of one-rep max for 10 reps.

In practice, pick a weight you can control and stop a set when your form would break down. A range of 6 to 15 reps suits most exercises here, with the heavier end for the deadlifts and the higher end for curls. That range is practical advice, not a study result.

How Often?

The ACSM stand recommends high-effort training at least twice a week, working all major muscle groups.

It also found no consistent difference in muscle growth between training a muscle once or more than five times a week when total volume was equal. So for hamstrings, one or two sessions a week can both work. Pick the one you can stick to, and make sure the weekly sets add up.

Hamstring Workout Plans

These are practical plans built from the points above, not programmes tested in a study. Warm up with a few light sets of your first exercise. When you reach the top of the rep range on every set with good form, add a small amount of weight.

Beginner Hamstring Workout (1 to 2 Sessions a Week)

Exercise	Sets and reps	Notes
Romanian deadlift (dumbbells)	3 x 8 to 10	Stop before your back rounds
Seated or lying leg curl	3 x 10 to 12	Seated if available
45-degree hip extension	2 x 10 to 15	Bodyweight first

Intermediate Hamstring Workout (2 Sessions a Week)

Day	Exercise	Sets and reps
Day A	Stiff-leg deadlift	3 x 6 to 8
Day A	Seated leg curl	3 x 10 to 12
Day A	Nordic hamstring curl	2 x 3 to 6
Day B	Romanian deadlift	3 x 8 to 10
Day B	Lying leg curl	3 x 10 to 12
Day B	45-degree hip extension	3 x 10 to 12

The beginner plan gives you about 8 hard sets in a session, so two sessions get you past the 10-set mark from the ACSM stand. The intermediate plan adds up to about 17 hamstring sets a week, 9 from hinges and 8 from curls. If your recovery lags, take a set off each exercise. You can swap the glute-ham raise in for the hip extension, or the standing curl in for the lying curl.

Hamstring Exercise FAQs

What is the best exercise for hamstrings?

No single exercise covers everything. Maeo 2024 and Morin 2025 both show hinges and curls growing different hamstring muscles, so the best plan combines at least one of each, such as a stiff-leg deadlift and a seated leg curl.

Do squats work the hamstrings?

Not much for growth. Plotkin 2023 found neither squats nor hip thrusts grew the hamstrings much in 9 weeks, and Kubo 2019 found neither full nor half squats grew them over 10 weeks. Squats are good for the quads and glutes, so keep them, but add hamstring work.

Can I train hamstrings at home?

Yes. Nordic curls with your heels anchored, and Romanian or single-leg deadlifts with dumbbells or a loaded backpack, are the simplest options. The ACSM stand found home-based training improved strength, and elastic band training also improved muscle size. See our guides to band hamstring exercises and bodyweight leg exercises.

How long until I see results?

There is no verified timeline for an individual. The studies above that measured hamstring growth ran for 9 to 12 weeks, so give a plan at least that long before judging it.

More Leg Training Guides

• Hamstring variations: hamstring machines, resistance bands and bodyweight
• The full leg day: best leg exercises
• Equipment: barbell, dumbbell, cable and Smith machine
• Full list: leg exercise names with images

References

1. Maeo S, Balshaw TG, Nin DZ, et al. Hamstrings hypertrophy is specific to the training exercise: Nordic hamstring versus lengthened state eccentric training. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2024;56(10):1893-1905.
2. Morin T, Caillet AH, Nordez A, et al. Robustness of hamstring muscle activation strategies following selective hypertrophy induced by Nordic hamstring curl and stiff-leg deadlift exercises. J Appl Physiol. 2025;139(1):296-307.
3. Maeo S, Huang M, Wu Y, et al. Greater hamstrings muscle hypertrophy but similar damage protection after training at long versus short muscle lengths. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2021;53(4):825-837.
4. Bourne MN, Duhig SJ, Timmins RG, et al. Impact of the Nordic hamstring and hip extension exercises on hamstring architecture and morphology: implications for injury prevention. Br J Sports Med. 2017;51(5):469-477.
5. Bourne MN, Williams MD, Opar DA, et al. Impact of exercise selection on hamstring muscle activation. Br J Sports Med. 2017;51(13):1021-1028.
6. McAllister MJ, Hammond KG, Schilling BK, et al. Muscle activation during various hamstring exercises. J Strength Cond Res. 2014;28(6):1573-1580.
7. Vigotsky AD, Harper EN, Ryan DR, Contreras B. Effects of load on good morning kinematics and EMG activity. PeerJ. 2015;3:e708.
8. van Dyk N, Behan FP, Whiteley R. Including the Nordic hamstring exercise in injury prevention programmes halves the rate of hamstring injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 8459 athletes. Br J Sports Med. 2019;53(21):1362-1370.
9. Plotkin DL, Rodas MA, Vigotsky AD, et al. Hip thrust and back squat training elicit similar gluteus muscle hypertrophy and transfer similarly to the deadlift. Front Physiol. 2023;14:1279170.
10. Kubo K, Ikebukuro T, Yata H. Effects of squat training with different depths on lower limb muscle volumes. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2019;119(9):1933-1942.
11. Schoenfeld BJ, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Sports Sci. 2017;35(11):1073-1082.
12. Currier BS, D’Souza AC, Singh MAF, et al. American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Resistance training prescription for muscle function, hypertrophy, and physical performance in healthy adults: an overview of reviews. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2026;58(4):851-872.
13. Morton RW, Oikawa SY, Wavell CG, et al. Neither load nor systemic hormones determine resistance training-mediated hypertrophy or strength gains in resistance-trained young men. J Appl Physiol. 2016;121(1):129-138.