Nick Nilsson - The Best Thigh Exercises Youve Never Heard Of: Shape and Strengthen Your Thighs

The Body Leg Curl places an incredible amount of tension on the hamstrings and requires a minimal amount of equipment. Exercises where your body moves instead of the weight fire more muscle fibers. This exercise is not for the faint of heart or those with high blood pressure.

There are several ways to do this exercise, though basically anything that will effectively hold your ankles down and support your bodyweight as you drop forward will work. When trying out a set-up for the first time, keep your hands in front you, ready to catch yourself if necessary.

Also, included at the bottom of this page is a variation that will take off as much of the stress of this exercise as you wish. It is basically a self-spotting version of the exercise that can be done by just about anybody!

• Kneel at the top of a decline sit-up board, facing the bottom, with the backs of your ankles hooked under the pads. Set it completely flat if you can, or use the absolute smallest degree of decline that is on there.
  
• Clasp your hands behind your back then slowly lower your upper body down, bending only at the knees.
  
• Curl up with the hamstrings.
  
• The lower you go, the harder it gets--dont go too far down when starting out with this exercise (this applies to all versions).
  
• You can increase the angle of the board as you build strength in this exercise.

Another way to set up is in the lat pulldown machine.

• Face away from the weight stack.
  
• Set your shins on the seat with your knees over the edge and hook the backs of your ankles under the hip pads. Drop the hip pads down as far as theyll go so that your ankles are firmly secured.
  
• Bend forward and curl up as demonstrated in the video.

Alternatively, you can set this up in the seated calf machine.

• Put some weight on the machine so it doesnt come up as you execute the movement. You definitely need to counterbalance yourself or youll shoot forward the moment you start to lean forward.
  
• Kneel on the seat facing away from the weight with your ankles hooked under the kneepads (set the pads as low as theyll go).

You can also use a decline bench that has removable and reversible ankle pads.

• What this means is you need to be able to take the ankle pad attachment completely off the machine and insert it upside-down so that the pads are up in the air above the bench surface rather than below.
  
• Set the bench to the lowest possible angle you can. As youll find out, the greater the angle of decline, the harder the exercise will be.
  
• At the bottom of the page, I will discuss a few variations that can be done very effectively using the decline bench.

The zero equipment version of this exercise entails having a partner hold your ankles down (put a towel or pad under your knees).

• Your partner should lean down with all of his/her bodyweight in order to keep you balanced.
  
• If your partner is a fair bit lighter than you are, it may not work.
  
• If you dont have a partner, you can hook your ankles under something solid.

If you have access to a Smith machine, set the bench in front of it and set the bar to a level just above the bench so you can brace your ankles under it. Use a foam bar pad if you have one as that will be much more comfortable on the ankles. Be sure to load the machine with enough weight to counterbalance yourself.

How to incorporate this exercise into your workouts:

This exercise is a very difficult exercise that requires a lot of strength and abdominal stability.

• It should be done early in your leg workout because of this.
  
• It should also be done before you do any abdominal or lower back work.

1. Not breathing

It is very important that you breathe during this exercise. Do not hold your breath. Release your air through pursed lips.

2. Falling forward

Be absolutely sure to control your descent or you could hurt yourself. You also wont get nearly as much out of this exercise as a lot of the value lies in the tension you get on the descent. Have something available to grab onto if you need to catch yourself quickly.

3. Coming down too far before youre ready to

This exercise is easily modified depending on your hamstring strength. You should be able to identify the point of no return in the movement (where you know you wont be able to make it back up). Only go as far as you are able to (unless you are purposefully doing only negative reps).

1. Using a bench

Dont allow your knees to hyperextend if you fail. Just put your hands down to stop the fall. You may wish to place a bench or stool in front of you to spot yourself if you doing this exercise on an elevated apparatus such as a seated calf machine.

2. Bending at the waist

Bending at the waist will make the exercise easier as you come up by redistributing your center of gravity. Your hamstrings wont have as much weight to pull up.