Best Barbell Hamstring Workout Routine
Our barbell hamstring workout routine primarily utilizes compound, functional exercises. We’ve included the best hamstring exercises for muscle building, strength and power development, and improved everyday movement. Each one is programmed using the suggested loading recommendations for muscular strength and hypertrophy development.
Our hamstring exercises use bilateral movements. This means that both sides of the body are working together to generate force and move the load. However, you can also perform unilateral hamstring exercises with a barbell, which engage each side of the body separately.
These help to correct potential muscular imbalances, enhance core stability, and improve unilateral sports performance. Good examples include single-leg Romanian deadlifts and single-leg good mornings.
The recruitment of multiple muscle groups makes these great for implementing progressive overload and ensuring sufficient training volume. These exercises primarily use the hip hinge movement, ensuring all three hamstring muscles are activated.
We’ve programmed seated hamstring curls towards the end of the session to provide some isolation hamstring exercise with a barbell. This should help overload your hamstrings while lowering the risk of excessive fatigue and injury.
The kettlebell swings are included as a dynamic finisher that primarily works the hamstrings, glutes, and quadriceps. Furthermore, they help to improve cardiovascular health, which refers to the functioning of the heart and circulatory systems.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest (Between sets) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barbell Deadlift | 5 | 1–5 @ 80% of your 1RM | 1–2 minutes |
| Barbell Stiff Leg Deadlift | 3–5 | 8–12 @ 60%–80% of your 1RM | 45–60 seconds |
| Barbell Good Morning | 3–5 | 8–12 @ 60%–80% of your 1RM | 45–60 seconds |
| Seated Hamstring Curl | 3–5 | 8–12 @ 60%–80% of your 1RM | 45–60 seconds |
| Kettlebell Swings | 3–5 | 15–20 | 45–60 seconds |
Anatomy Of The Hamstrings
Hamstrings
Muscles located at the back of your upper leg, below your glutes and above your calves. Consists of three muscles.
The hamstrings are at the back of the legs, opposite the quadriceps. These are the semitendinosus, semimembranosus, and biceps femoris.
They cross the knee and/or hip joints. This makes them important for knee flexion and hip extension movements. They play primary roles in movements such as running, sprinting, jumping, and lifting from the floor.
Semitendinosus
The semitendinosus is on the inner part of the back of your thigh, next to the biceps femoris. It runs from the bottom of the pelvis, connecting to the upper part of the shin bone.
It primarily functions to bend the knees and extend the hips, especially when walking, running, jumping, and standing up. It plays a smaller role when rotating the lower leg inwards when the knee is bent.
Semimembranosus
The semimembranosus sits underneath the semitendinosus, meaning it’s the deepest of the three hamstring muscles. It also originates from the pelvis and attaches to the shin bone, near the knee joint.
It bends the knees, extends the hips, and rotates the lower leg inwards. When moving and lifting, the semimembranosus works alongside the semitendinosus to provide knee and hip stability.
Biceps Femoris
The biceps femoris is on the outside of the back of the thigh and comprises two parts. The short head connects the thigh to the lower leg, while the long head connects the pelvis to the lower leg. Both parts attach to the fibula, which is the smaller shin bone in your lower leg.
They perform knee flexion as the primary movement pattern. The long head also extends the hips, helping you to stand up and push off when running and sprinting. This makes it important for fast, powerful movements.
Benefits Of Barbell Hamstring Exercises
Barbell hamstring strengthening exercises offer several benefits when correctly programmed. These are three of the main ones to be aware of.
Better Strength And Power
Barbell hamstring exercises offer significant benefits for the whole posterior chain. These are the muscles at the back of your body, namely the back, glutes, hamstrings, and calves.
Our barbell hamstring exercises work each of these, with the hamstrings acting as the primary movers. Therefore, they can also be included in a glute and hamstring workout. They’re some of the best barbell exercises for posterior chain development.
The hamstring muscles perform hip extension as their primary movement pattern. This makes them key for functional and power-based athletic movements. Common examples include running, sprinting, jumping, and lifting from the floor.
Our barbell hamstring exercises allow heavy loading through the full hip hinge range of motion. They engage key supporting muscles such as the glutes, core, and lower back muscles. Performing this barbell workout for hamstrings and glutes builds strength and power while developing better coordination through the posterior chain.
Enhanced Muscular Hypertrophy
The hamstring muscles consist of slow and fast twitch muscle fibres. Slow-twitch fibers are better suited for endurance activities, while fast-twitch fibers are good for rapid and powerful movements.
This means that the hamstrings are well suited to controlled, slower movements and explosive heavy lifting. Both of these are offered by our barbell hamstring exercises.
The compound nature of our hamstring exercises places them under significant tension. This is especially true during the eccentric (lowering) phase. Therefore, you have several movements that provide a potent muscle growth stimulus. Each of these exercises provides significant hamstring hypertrophy with barbells.
Better Joint Health And Injury Prevention
Developing strong, functional hamstring muscles is vital to ensure the hips, knees, and lower back function as intended. Weak or underdeveloped hamstrings place additional stress on these key areas. This can be through poor movement patterns and potential muscular imbalances, especially with the more dominant quadriceps muscles.
Underdeveloped hamstrings may also cause hamstring strains, lower back pain, and in some cases, muscle tears. Performing these hamstring mobility and strength barbell builders improves their ability to control and stabilize these key joints during movement. These principles are important for recreational individuals and advanced athletes who perform jumping and sprinting movements or regularly change direction.
With hamstring injuries accounting for 10% of all injuries in field-based team sports, this should be a key focus area.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
Learn these common mistakes to avoid when training so you can get the most out of our best barbell hamstring exercises.
- Rounding Your Lower Back — Engage your core and keep your chest up to avoid rounding your lower back. A rounded spine places excess stress on your lower back and increases injury risk.
- Not Engaging Your Core — Engage your core before lifting, ensuring that you squeeze your glutes at the top of the movement. This ensures proper hip and knee stability throughout the full range of motion and reduces potential stress on the spine.
- Bending At Your Knees — Utilize a proper hip hinge, bringing your hips back with a slight knee bend. Too much of a knee bend takes the stress off your hamstring muscles, reducing muscle engagement.
- Using Too Much Weight — Start with several warm-up sets, then use a manageable weight that allows you to perform controlled repetitions. Using excessive weight increases injury risk and reduces hamstring activation.
- Locking Your Knees — Maintain a slight knee bend throughout the full range of motion. This protects your knee joints and ensures efficient hamstring muscle engagement.
Expert Training Tips
Alongside knowing the common mistakes, follow these expert training tips when performing the barbell hamstring exercises above.
- Perform The Full Range Of Motion — Allow your hamstrings to go through their full range of motion, emphasizing the stretch at the bottom. Go as low as your flexibility allows without compromising your form.
- Perform A Slow Eccentric Phase — Aim for a 2–3 second descent (the eccentric phase), keeping the weight under control. The hamstrings respond well to slow and controlled movement alongside fast, explosive ones. This also helps to reduce injury risk in athletes.
- Focus On The Correct Technique — Using the correct hip hinge technique is vital for proper muscle engagement. Bring the hips back with a slight bend in the knees. Keep your core engaged and chest up at all times.
- Warm-Up And Cool Down Correctly — Warm up to practice the different technical elements and ensure your joints and muscles are warm. This should consist of a light cardio bout, dynamic stretches, and some warm-up sets. Perform a cool down to reduce delayed onset muscle soreness.
Conclusion
Our top five effective barbell hamstring builders are vital for proper hamstring development, efficient strength and power generation, and functional movement. Program them into your hamstring training routine, following the expert tips and common mistakes to avoid.
With the right training approach, you’ll be growing hamstrings to be proud of in no time at all. Remember, consistency is key. Trust in the longer-term process, and enjoy the many benefits that proper hamstring development can bring!
Frequently Asked Questions
Some of the best barbell exercises that work the hamstrings include the traditional barbell deadlift and its variants. Common examples are the barbell Romanian deadlift, barbell stiff leg deadlift, and barbell sumo deadlift.
Two exercises may be enough to grow your hamstrings, ensuring sufficient training volume. This is especially true for beginners. Aim to complete at least 12–20 weekly sets to ensure sufficient hamstring growth.
Strong and functional hamstrings are essential for performance, injury prevention, overall health, and appearance. They help stabilize your pelvis and spine during movement and exercise. Neglecting hamstring training can lead to a muscular imbalance and increase the risk of injury.
Deadlifts are a compound exercise that offers an excellent hamstring workout when done correctly. The variations discussed above heavily engage the hamstrings alongside the glutes, lower back, and core muscles.
Resources
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