SLS & Natural Leg Curls?

Just a couple questions about leg training. I am on week 7 of my first steady state cycle, strength gains on upper body work have been moving along as I could have expected them to. Legs are another story, I do legs with every workout, a rotation of natural leg curls, jumping deck squats and SLS negatives.

I do the natural leg curls with every workout 3 days a week. Jumping deck squats are easy and the next phase for me will be adding weight or jumping for height and distance. I have seen some improvement on the SLS negatives but it is minimal, I think the biggest problem is balance but I am still unsure about my form as well.

I was under the impression that it should remain the same as the traditional squat and the weight of the body should be supported more on the heel than on the front of the foot. By this standard I was attempting to lower myself all the way until my rear touches the ground hold for one second and return to standing. Further analysis of BtGB shows the example and in the lowered position he is definitely standing on the balls of his feet and if this is considered the full squat position for this exercise is it even necessary for me to be going all the way down on the heel of my foot and trying to touch my ass to the ground. Anyone with clarification on this exercise would be greatly appreciated.

On the question of Natural leg curls, these have been a source of incredible frustration for me. I know they are supposed to be hard but how hard. I cannot come anywhere close to doing a single full ROM movement with this exercise without spotting with my hands. That is after 7 weeks of training them 3 times a week. Are they really that hard that my frustrations are unwarranted, or maybe I am doing something totally wrong with the movement. Again anyone who has worked these movements successfully, please give any advice.

Kilch

Paragraphs do not have 14 sentences. That was a helluva read. Not everyone may want to read through that as it's nearly one long run-on sentence. You may forgive me if you are a non english speaker, otherwise please use some better grammar so it's easier for us to read.

Natural leg curls are very hard.

I teach the SLS on the heel. Most of the times when the kids go up on the ball of the foot they completely lose their balance. I'm sure it's possible and while it decreases the need for ankle flexion it increases the stretch on the patella.

Nah, it's okay but I'm sure more people will attempt to read through it now than before.

Yes that sounds about right for the SLS negatives, I was having more success training them on the heel. I thought I was doing them wrong after inspecting the book so I changed it to lowering on the ball of my foot. This is very helpful insight.

Are there any supplemental body weight exercises that will help build the strength for Natural Leg Curls?

How long do you think is typical for a relatively strong athlete to be able to progress and complete any reps for Full ROM without a spot from the hands?

Thanks,

-Kilch

P.S.

Sorry about the run on sentence, I went ahead and edited it a little. I was in a rush and got carried away with the questions, forgive me I will pay more attention in the future.

why not pick up a thin iron woody resistance band and do negatives with assistance for the leg curls?

That sounds like an excellent idea, I don't know why I didn't think of that. I was probably just being stubborn about it, I didn't know how hard they were supposed to be.

Where would you have to place the resistance band on your body to get the best ROM?

What doesn't seem to make sense to me is that the GHR halfs are supposed to be harder than Natural Leg Curls, but GHR halfs have a shorter lever, no? Wouldn't that make them easier than Natural Leg Curls? I didn't realize that NLC's had no break at the hip until just now, so I had actually been doing GHR halfs, so I still have to test the difference. With the NLC's, am I supposed to touch my forehead to the ground as well? That would be a full ROM correct? I guess I would just guide myself with my finger tips until I could do it without. With coming back up would I also guide with my finger tips to make it back up to 90 degrees with the knees? Without the aid I would see this exercise as incredibly difficult.