Hanging Leg Curls?

While brainstorming my new training routine, I encountered a problem with training my hamstrings. I can't do any of the leg curl variations consistently because I will not have a partner to help me.

So I came up with an idea of an exercise; it involves simply hanging and curling my legs backwards towards my glutes (pretty similar to standard curls). Does this sound like a viable replacement that can still be effective? Of course I would do this exercise for high reps since it is naturally much easier than the other curl variations.

Have you considered using ankle weights with it?

I don't think that curling with out any weight will provide enough resistance to develop any appreciable strength gains. Unless, of course, you have very, very heavy feet. Ankle weights might not prove very challenging, unless they are quite heavy. If you don't have partner, I have used a punching bag to do the natural leg curls featured in the book. I basically just rolled the thing onto my calves/ankles. Another option might be a sandbag or a huge bag of rice. The trick is moving something heavy from behind your, well, behind. If all else fails, sprinting will hit the hamstrings.

Dunno, but I was considering something similar while in a reverse leg lift/reverse hyper position. We have sometimes done with a partner pushing against the foreleg but it came to mind last night.

Thank you all for your comments!

I guess my best option is to try to add weight somehow. I know a better method would be to use something to anchor my legs, but I have yet to find something I could use. I train at a playground, and there are low bars that are low enough that I could slip my ankles under, but with the tremendous force that would be pushing down on my ankles I don't think steel is a very good choice unless I want to injure myself.

As for sprints, I was planning on using them as a separate leg day, (squats, curls, calves, and sprints) since that would train hamstrings, quadriceps, and calves all at once, something like a "full leg training day".

I like splitting my leg strength and leg power workouts into different days.

One day squat/glute-ham stuff, weighted/negative SLS. Different day do plyo jumps or sprints, jumping SLS/deck squats.

I think I'll be throwing away doing BS and DL with GB. Maybe one day a week on the weekend to focus on maintaining by alternative every week.

Blairbob said:

I like splitting my leg strength and leg power workouts into different days.

One day squat/glute-ham stuff, weighted/negative SLS. Different day do plyo jumps or sprints, jumping SLS/deck squats.

I think I'll be throwing away doing BS and DL with GB. Maybe one day a week on the weekend to focus on maintaining by alternative every week.

The way I was thinking of going about it also separates power and strength in a way, since the squats I'm going to do are more of explosive squat jumps. Curl and calf days would be strength, and sprints would obviously be power. I'm still trying to put all the pieces together though, making this routine is proving a bit mind boggling.

I doubt those hanging leg curls will help anything at all, either be a man and take the pressure on your ancles, or simply put a towel between your feet and the bar

edit: i'd probably chose the towel if i were you

Razz said:

I doubt those hanging leg curls will help anything at all, either be a man and take the pressure on your ancles, or simply put a towel between your feet and the bar

edit: i'd probably chose the towel if i were you

Believe me, not wanting to put my ankles directly on the bar has nothing to do with my level of manliness. :wink:

Anyway, I was thinking of getting rid of leg curls all together. I'm not really seeing how isolating the hamstrings and working them intensively will help with my gymnastics. Maybe I should just stick with more gymnastics related leg exercises, such as plyometric jumps and sprints for power (which will hit my hamstrings anyway).

Or is there a reason why I might want to focus on my hamstrings and do this type of isolation work?

I think hanging legcurls would probably work well, you did mean inverted did you? ;-)

I did my legcurls by fastening a string (actually legloops of an old climbing harness) under a door.

I know the manliness was a joke lol..

the point was that a towel would work fine to take the pain from the bar. and for the hamstring/glute/lower back work you get from the exercise it is what you need for explosive tumbling and the like.

You can get really, really simple with this. Go buy a 10 dollar pair of knee pads from home depot, put them on, stick your feet under your car while it is parked(I know I shouldn't have to put this, but you never know... just watch the news! ), and do your glute-ham raises and or natural leg curls! It works like a charm. You can also use a folded up yoga mat or whatever else that is nice and cushy, but knee pads are cheap and they let you do stuff anywhere!

You can also do your body levers by laying on a yoga mat or just the street if you're a MAN-man-man and sticking your hands under your car to use the frame as your anchor!

Jeremy, just stick to the family of the floor glute ham. No need to reinvent the wheel.

Tomas Johansson said:

I think hanging legcurls would probably work well, you did mean inverted did you? ;-)

I did my legcurls by fastening a string (actually legloops of an old climbing harness) under a door.

Well, I'm not quite strong enough to do them with all my bodyweight so I think I'll stick to the floor for now. :wink:

Razz said:

I know the manliness was a joke lol..

the point was that a towel would work fine to take the pain from the bar. and for the hamstring/glute/lower back work you get from the exercise it is what you need for explosive tumbling and the like.

Ok, so I guess I'm better off leaving them in. You're right, it is a very good lower back and glute workout on top of a hamstring workout, and I'll definitely need that strength. I'll try using the knee pad or towel to cushion the back of my legs while doing them.

So as of now this is what my leg training may look like (on top of the handstand work and the rest of the pull/press/and core exercises for each day):

Day 1: Strength (single leg squats)

Day 2: Power (plyometric jumps)

Day 3: Strength (natural leg curls)

Day 4: Power (sprints)

How does this sound?

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions!