Seated Leg Curl
Trains the Hamstrings.
- Equipment
- Machine
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Sit in the machine and set the back pad so your knees line up with the machine's pivot.
- Set the ankle pad so it rests just above your heels, on the Achilles tendons, and the lap pad so it holds your thighs firmly.
- Hold the handles and sit back against the pad with your legs extended.
- Curl your heels down and back underneath you by bending your knees.
- Squeeze briefly at the end of the range, then let the pad return under control until your legs are almost straight.
Common mistakes
- Lifting the hips or thighs against the lap pad to help. The pad is there so the hips stay still; pushing against it shortens the movement.
- Letting the weight drop on the way back. The lengthening half is where a hamstring is loaded while getting longer, which is the demand it meets in sprinting.
- Assuming it duplicates the lying version. Sitting flexes the hip, which lengthens the hamstrings at the top end — so the seated curl trains them at longer muscle lengths than the lying one. The short head of biceps femoris is unaffected either way, since it does not cross the hip.
- Treating curls as complete hamstring work. They train knee flexion; hip extension needs Romanian deadlifts, good mornings or back extensions.