Ball Leg Curl
Trains the Hamstrings.
- Equipment
- An exercise ball
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Lie on your back with your heels on top of an exercise ball, legs straight.
- Press your arms flat on the floor beside you for balance.
- Lift your hips so your body forms a straight line from shoulders to heels.
- Keeping the hips up, bend the knees and roll the ball toward your backside.
- Stop when the knees are bent past a right angle and the hips are still high.
- Straighten the legs to roll the ball back out, without letting the hips drop.
Common mistakes
- Letting the hips drop as the ball comes in. Holding the bridge is what keeps the hamstrings working at both the hip and the knee; hips down turns it into a rolling exercise with nothing loaded.
- Pulling the ball in with the heels dug in. The heels rest on top; digging in braces against the ball and makes the movement a push rather than a curl.
- Rushing the roll out. The lowering half is where the hamstrings lengthen under load, and a ball makes it easy to give away.
- Expecting it to feel like a machine leg curl. This loads the hamstrings at the hip and the knee at once and asks them to hold a bridge throughout, which is a different and usually harder demand at bodyweight.