In this post, you will learn how to properly do leg curls on a machine. This exercise is very popular among both men and women. Why? Due to the fact that a huge number of muscles are involved, fat is effectively burned and relief is drawn.
How to perform leg curls
In fact, this is not one exercise, but simply mechanics - bending the leg at the knee. It matters a lot how this happens. Leg bending while sitting on a machine is possible in the gym, on a specially equipped machine. At the same time, you will pump up the back of the thigh.
The standing leg curl, as the name suggests, is performed in a standing position. will allow you to pump up your hamstring muscles and, of course, your thigh muscles.
Leg curls on the machine should be performed after basic exercises. It doesn't matter how long you've been training, these exercises are good for beginners and experts alike. How many times should you do the bend? Perform the exercises in three to four sets, ten to fifteen times.
Performing the bend while sitting
Sit on the machine, secure your legs with a roller. Your knees should extend beyond the edge of the seat, allowing your knees to straighten as much as possible.
When starting the exercise, your knees should be either completely straight or slightly bent. Inhale, hold your breath and bend your legs. Having brought the angle at the knee to ninety degrees, stop and strain your legs as much as possible. It is at this moment that you work on the muscles. Then return to the starting position - this is how leg bending is performed correctly while sitting in the simulator.
Standing Curl
This exercise will allow you to work all the thigh muscles and the calf muscle. Grasp the handle of the machine with your hands. The leg with which you will perform the exercise must be pressed against the support - the upper roller. Place your shin under the lower roller. Straighten your leg and place your ankle under the lower roller. As you inhale, bend your knee. After bending, exhale.
You can increase the load on the muscles during this exercise - you just need to flex your foot while flexing your shin. If you find it difficult to perform, then keep your foot straight - this will reduce the load on the calf muscle.
Lying leg curls on a lying machine
Another useful exercise that will work the hamstring muscles, thigh muscles and, to a lesser extent, the calf muscle. How to do it: Lie face down on the machine, grab the handrails with your hands. Your legs need to be straightened and placed under the bolsters. Do it - inhale and bend both knees. Start the roller, trying to touch your buttocks with your feet. Make a delay. Slowly return your legs to the starting position. Exhale.
Training for those who work for the masses
If your goal is to gain muscle mass, then there are special nuances both in doing exercises and in nutrition. Regarding work in the gym, you should do fewer approaches with the maximum possible weight.
Choose the right nutrition. You need to eat protein per day at the rate of two grams per kilogram of ideal weight and eat the right carbohydrates - cereals, vegetables. Of course, we are not talking about sweets, otherwise you will gain fat along with muscle mass. Drink gainers during training.
If you want to lose weight
When working out to lose weight, you need to first remember about nutrition.
Even effective training will be useless in front of the passion for tasty things. The basis of your diet should be protein (chicken meat, cottage cheese, eggs, fish of all varieties), carbohydrates in the form of green vegetables. Porridge is healthy, but if you want to lose unnecessary body fat, then give it up for now.
As for training, it makes sense to perform exercises with light weights, but doing more repetitions. If the average is 10 times per approach, then do at least 20.
Leg curls while lying on your stomach
They are a formative exercise for working the back of the thigh and gluteal muscles. Lying leg curls can be used by athletes of any level of training and goals of being in the gym. With its help, girls can train the gluteal muscle, men can train the biceps of the thigh, adductor muscle, vastus lateralis and other muscles of the back of the thigh, thereby strengthening the knee joint -tav. This exercise is recommended to be used by those people who come to the gym to improve their health and, first of all, , improve your back condition. The fact is that the biceps of the thigh is one of those muscles that is involved in the sta-bi-za-tion of the posture at night, about which you can read more read .
Lying leg curls can be performed to develop strength, functional qualities, gain muscle mass and develop relief. What results this exercise will lead to depends on what mode and how many times you “work”. The advantage of the exercise is that the athlete performs it lying down, which allows him to level out the load on the posture at night, as well as save on work -those target muscle group. The key moments in leg bends are: working in the useful range and turning the feet away from each other. The useful range is the range in which the load is taken on by the target muscle group, and the turning of the feet to the sides, when turning due to the legs, turns vo-ra-chi-va-et and bones of the pelvis, which provides the best innervation of the gluteal muscles.
Work of muscles and joints
The main working muscle masses are the muscles of the back of the thigh and gluteal muscles, which work iso-li-ro-va-but in leg bends while lying on the stomach. Of course, many other adjacent muscle groups are also innervated, but their function in this case is limited to stabilizing the position of the body. In many ways, this is what predetermines the mode of “work” in leg curls, since such isolation of the working muscle group does not allow achieving its maximum. noi in-ner-va-tion. The point is that in isolation exercises, the ligaments, joints and skeletons are generally in a vulnerable position, so the nervous system does not send such powerful nerve impulses as which are capable of “digesting” muscle. Accordingly, it is impossible to achieve the same innervation of muscles as can be achieved in the “base”, in “isolation”, in connection with which, it is necessary to work melt in a more voluminous mode.
The risk of injury is also affected by the fact that when performing supine leg bends, the main load falls only on the hip joint, although mechanically the work is completed in a complete manner -Not. The fact is that the load always receives the joint that sits above the working muscle group. And, in general, you can be sure of this by touching your gluteal muscle, although you can touch someone else’s, if it’s around -yes, it's not against it, or if you are willing to take a risk. When the legs are bent, the gluteal muscle will be tense, which indicates that it is involved in leg flexion, and since the buttocks are attached to the hip joint, and not to the knee joint, then it is logical to suspect that it, and not the knees, receives the load. So be careful, keeping in mind that your pelvis does not insure anything, and in case of something it can get injured .
Leg bends lying on your stomach - scheme
1) Lie down in the machine, firmly fixing your body so that the fastenings for which you will pull the weight rest tightly on your ankle.
2) Turn your legs a little to the sides, but it’s the legs, and not just the socks, in order to turn the pelvic bones away from each other; for this purpose, the socks need to be spread to the sides, and the heels should be brought together.
3) The head looks forward, and with your hands you should hold on to the special handles, then slightly tighten the cable of the exercise machine so that the weight “lays” on the muscles.
4) With your toes pointing as far toward your body as possible, and not protruding forward, bend your leg at the knee joint by 90⁰ and fix your leg in this position for a second.
5) Under control, return your legs to the starting position, i.e. to the position where the cable does not pull too much.
Lying leg curls – notes
1) Do not lose your breath, be sure to exhale forcefully and inhale in the negative phase of exercise.
2) Perform the exercise under control, do not jerk the apparatus, therefore there is no need to lower it to the end, otherwise you will not be able to perform the exercise with the same weight that you could do it with if you had not “went” into “ dead center."
3) The number of repetitions in the exercise should not be less than 6 repetitions, since, most likely, a smaller number of repetitions will not allow you to perform the exercise correctly. If you are already a big boy, then you can do at least «
rest-pause »
, but this is for more experienced athletes.
4) Do not throw your legs over your ass, bend your knees to the level of 90⁰, because beyond this point the “useful amplitude” ends, the muscles relax and the load goes into the ligaments.
5) Try to concentrate on the work of the target muscle group, but, first of all, make sure that it is easy to innervate physiologically, so remember about the rule with the separation of socks to the sides.
Anatomy
The muscles of the back of the thigh are represented by a wide range of muscles, which, for some reason, are usually collectively called “thigh biceps”, although, in fact, the biceps occupies a very small part of the space there. But from a practical point of view, we are interested in the fact that these muscles form the silhouette from behind, which is especially important for women, and they do the main work in the lower phase exercises such as deadlifts and squats with a barbell on the shoulders, which is especially important for guys. You should remember that the muscles of the back of the thigh are attached to the knee joint, so its safety depends on how proportionately the quadriceps and muscles are developed -tsy butts on top of the nose of the thighs. Also, the development of these muscles plays an important role in the formation of posture at night.
To summarize, we can say that lying leg curls in a machine are an effective formative exercise that can be used by athletes of different levels of fitness. Novices should use it to strengthen the muscular core, de-voosh-cams should use it to pump up the most important muscle in the female organ, and experienced athletes should use it to “pump up” muscles of the back of the thigh and prevention of knee injuries. For those who go in for sports for the sake of health, and not for the sake of wealth, this exercise should generally be used on a permanent basis, since it poses pumping up those muscles that are generally extremely difficult to pump up in any other way. Be careful and manage wisely!
Any workout in the gym includes basic and isolation exercises. The former allow you to work several muscle groups at the same time, the latter are aimed at training a specific muscle.
Isolation exercises help to form relief faster. One of these exercises is the lying leg curl. Today we will talk in detail about the technique of performing this exercise, and also focus on the mistakes that beginners often make.
Anatomy and benefits
Given The exercise is aimed at working out This muscle is located on its back. Bending the legs allows you to draw relief and visually separate the muscles of the thighs from the buttocks.
In addition to the biceps, the calf muscles and the inner thigh, which are represented by the semitendinosus and semimembranosus muscles, are involved during the exercise.
This exercise has some advantages regarding working out the leg muscles:
- Allows you to locally train the target muscle.
- While lying down, it is much easier to control the work of the biceps and the quality of the exercise.
- Since the exercise is isolating and the overall load is relatively small, lying leg curls will be aimed specifically at working on the shape of the muscle and its visual highlighting.
- Without trained legs, you cannot succeed in exercises for other muscle groups.
- The exercise can be performed by absolutely everyone, regardless of gender and age. The only exception will be people with knee or lower back injuries.
You can find an equally effective exercise aimed at training the leg muscles in the article “Front Squats”.
Before you start training, we strongly recommend that you familiarize yourself with the following recommendations. They will help you make your workouts more effective and avoid injuries.
Leg bending in the simulator is performed in several options depending on body position: lying, sitting, standing.
In this article we will examine the first option in more detail. When working in other positions, the principle of execution does not change.
Leg bending while lying down in a machine - execution technique
To begin with, you should set the required weight and adjust the height of the rollers. They should be located at the bottom of the shin, a few centimeters above the heels. Lie down on the bench with your knees extending over the edge and your hips pressed firmly into the bench. Grasp the special handles with your hands.
As you exhale, lift your legs with the rollers as close to your buttocks as possible. As you inhale, lower your legs down. Do not fully extend your legs at the knee joint. Repeat as many times as necessary.
Despite the general simplicity of this exercise, there are several common mistakes. To avoid violating the execution technique, pay attention to the following points.
Errors during execution
- When you lift your legs, your body lifts off the bench. This must be carefully monitored, otherwise the load goes to the buttocks and lower back.
- A sharp jerk when lifting the legs. Here a large load falls on the knee joint.
- Relaxation of muscles at the lowest point. Until the very end of the exercise, the target muscles should be in static tension.
- Incorrect weight. You should not try to set records in this exercise. It’s still not possible to build muscle well here.
To fully understand the technique of this exercise, watch the following video.
Leg bending while lying down in a machine - video
In this video, the trainer will talk about the technique of performing this exercise and the most common mistakes during training.
In the end, it is worth noting once again that only an integrated approach and regular training will help you evenly work out all muscle groups and achieve the body of your dreams. Do not forget that the correct technique for performing any exercise is the key not only to a quality workout, but also to your health.
Are you already using this exercise in your training? Which implementation option did you prefer? Tell us about your impressions and results in the comments.
The lying leg curl exercise pumps up the lower back of the thigh, as well as the calf muscle. Gives shape and relief to the back of the thigh. Isolation exercise.
Lying leg curls thicken the lower back of the thigh, working equally on both the inside and outside of this area of muscle, which visually lengthens and widens the thigh when viewed from behind. This exercise also allows you to achieve a clear separation between the biceps femoris, semitendinosus and semimembranosus muscles (definition) and show their relief (separation).
Almost all athletes include lying leg curls in their strength training program. And this is not surprising, because bending the legs at the knee is a very characteristic movement for football (kicking the ball with the heel back), wrestling (leg grabs), swimming (breaststroke), gymnastics and sprinting.
Leg bending while lying down in a machine - exercises for leg muscles 1. Position yourself on a leg curl bench with your knees slightly over the edge and the bolsters resting on the back of your ankles.
2. Grasp the handles (they are usually located under the headboard on the sides of the bench) or the side edges of the bench.
3. Inhale and, holding your breath, bend your knees and pull the rollers upward towards you.
4. Having reached the top point of the exercise (shins perpendicular to the floor or the rollers almost touching the thighs), stop for a couple of seconds and tighten the hamstrings even more.
5. Exhaling, smoothly straighten your legs to the starting position and immediately begin the next repetition.
6. Bend and straighten your legs at a moderate pace, without jerking.
Leg bending while lying down in a machine - muscles 1. A bench with an inflection is better than a horizontal one, as it allows you to maximally stretch the muscles of the back of the thigh at the lowest point. To achieve this on a flat bench, you will have to lift your pelvis off the bench, bending your lower back too much, which can result in injury. In this case, it is better to place a rolled up towel under the basin.
2. Practice the exercise at a moderate pace. A slow pace increases the risk of knee injury, especially if the weight is quite heavy. In this case, only an explosive, energetic contraction of the thigh muscles will allow you to move the weight from the “dead point” at the very beginning of the repetition.
3. At the end of the repetition, the legs should be fully straightened, but at the same time not locked at the knees (when the knee joint locks, you will feel a characteristic click). Otherwise, over time, the hamstrings will lose their elasticity, and it will be uncomfortable for you to straighten your legs not only in other exercises, but even during normal walking.
4. The emphasis of the load in the exercise is clearly on the bottom of the femoral biceps, semitendinosus and semimembranosus muscles, as well as on the top of the gastrocnemius muscle.
5. If, while bending the legs, the toes of the sneakers involuntarily turn towards each other or, conversely, diverge to the sides, this is a sure signal about the presence of an imbalance in the development of the inner and outer (lateral) sides of the muscles of the back of the thigh. And you should work to correct this imbalance. If your feet turn outward, your inner thigh is weaker than your lateral thigh and you should perform curls while keeping your toes pointed toward each other (this focuses the load on the weaker inner thigh). And vice versa - if the feet spontaneously turn their toes towards each other, this indicates that the outer, lateral side of the thigh is better developed than the inner. In this case, practice bending while keeping your toes pointed out to the sides.
6. To avoid injury, the kneecap should be off the bench.
7. If you are using a flat bench, do not ask your partner to press their hips into the bench. Raising your hips is a completely natural movement that only increases the contraction of the muscles in the back of the thigh.
8. To increase the load on the calf muscles, keep your feet extended along the line of your shins (as ballerinas do when they stand on their toes).
The back of the thigh is often neglected. Yes, basic squats work all muscle groups located in the legs.
However, if you want to achieve high results in the formation of a beautiful and proportional body, then it is quite difficult to do this without bending your legs while lying down.
After all, it belongs to the class of isolating exercises that allow you to isolate and work a separate muscle group.
In this article we will look in detail at lying leg curls, the correct technique for performing them and common mistakes.
The popular exercise for bending the legs in a lying position allows you to effectively work, unlike others, the biceps (back surface) of the thigh.
Lying leg curls, being a formative exercise, do not build muscle mass, but only strengthen it and emphasize the relief.
Therefore, it should be performed after the main set of exercises as the final stage of training.
What muscles work
The main muscle work in the exercise is to bend/extend the legs at the knee.
The muscles most involved are:
- Biceps (located on the outer side of the back of the thigh - biceps).
- Semimembranosus (located on the inner side of the back of the thigh).
- Semitendinosus (located on the inner side of the back of the thigh, covering the semimembranosus muscle).
- Gastrocnemius (upper and middle part of the back of the lower leg).
The stabilizers are the muscles of the upper body (lower and middle parts of the trapezius and serratus anterior muscles, biceps).
Thanks to regular exercise, the relief of the back surface of the thigh is revealed, visual proportions are leveled (especially in the back), and the risk of injury to this muscle group when performing other exercises is reduced.
Exercise options
The supine leg curl does not have any variations to perform; however, there are related isolation exercises for leg flexion and extension, which differ only in the position of the body.
These include seated leg curls and standing leg curls. The main (basic) exercise for building up hamstrings is the straight leg deadlift.
Exercise technique
Preparation for execution and starting position
Before starting the exercise, you need to adjust the position of the roller depending on the length of your legs. It should rest on the back of your ankles, about three fingers across your foot from your heel.
In the starting position, you need to lie face down and grab the handles of the machine to ensure stability.
An important point: the knees should extend slightly beyond the edges of the bench, and not rest against it. The buttocks and abs should be kept tense.
Performing the exercise
As you inhale, you need to quickly lift the roller with your legs so that your shins make a right angle with your hips (at least). Hold this peak position for a couple of seconds and tighten your hamstrings to increase muscle work.
As you exhale, smoothly do not fully straighten your legs and immediately begin the next repetition.
- You should start with 12-15 repetitions for 2-4 sets.
- The body should be pressed tightly against the bench for good support during the exercise.
- It is better to give preference to exercise machines with a curved bench, which provides greater stretching of the muscles being trained.
- You can try performing the exercise separately for each leg in turn to better concentrate on working the muscles.
Avoid lifting or moving your pelvis or using other muscles (such as your back or arms resting on the handles), as this reduces the effectiveness of the hamstring exercise and increases the risk of injury to other muscles. However, if the bench is straight, the hips can rise slightly in a natural movement, so there is no need to ask someone to press them down during the exercise.
- You should not perform exercises in jerks, using the force of inertia, as this reduces the load on the hamstrings and increases the likelihood of injury to other muscles and joints.
- It is better to lower your legs at the end of the exercise smoothly and not completely - this maintains muscle tension and elasticity and protects the knee joints from damage.
- The legs and feet should be parallel to each other, however, sometimes you can change their position slightly. To increase the load on the outer part of the back of the thigh, you should keep your heels together, and on the inner part - your toes.
- It is necessary to select the correct individual weight. You should not choose too much load, especially if you have back problems.
- After completing each approach, you need to stretch the muscles.
- After finishing the exercise, it is the muscles of the thigh, not the back, that should be tired. If you feel the opposite, then the exercise is being performed incorrectly.
Let's sum it up
