Lying Leg Curls
The lying leg curl has you face down on a padded bench, ankles hooked under a roller, curling your heels toward your glutes against resistance. It isolates the hamstrings through knee flexion with almost no help from your hips or lower back, which makes it one of the more direct hamstring builders in a machine-based routine. It suits anyone from a first-time gym visitor to a lifter who wants a low-skill way to add hamstring volume after squats or deadlifts.
Why it works
The hamstrings cross both the hip and the knee, so most hamstring work (deadlifts, good mornings, hip thrusts) trains them through hip extension instead of knee flexion. Lying face down pins your hips to the bench, so the only joint left free to move is the knee. That isolates the knee-flexion function of the hamstrings specifically, without the glutes or lower back stepping in to help, which is why this machine can build hamstring size and strength even for lifters who already squat and deadlift heavy.
Set up
- Lie face down on the bench with your kneecaps just past the edge of the pad.
- Adjust the ankle roller so it sits against your Achilles tendon, not higher up your calf.
- Grip the handles or the sides of the bench to keep your upper body still.
- Set a resistance you can curl through a full range without your hips lifting.
How to do it
- Curl your heels toward your glutes by bending at the knees only.
- Keep your hips pressed flat against the pad through the entire rep.
- Squeeze your hamstrings hard at the top of the curl for a one-second pause.
- Lower the weight back down under control until your legs are nearly straight.
- Avoid letting the weight stack slam at the bottom between reps.
- Repeat for the full set, keeping the same tempo on the way up and down.
Form cues
- Hips stay glued to the pad the whole set.
- Curl from the knee, not the hips.
- Pause and squeeze at full contraction.
- Control the descent, don't drop the weight.
Breathing: Exhale as you curl your heels up, inhale as you lower the weight back down.
Common mistakes
Lifting the hips off the pad to help move the weight.
Fix: Drop the resistance until you can complete every rep with your hips flat against the bench.
Only curling through the top half of the range.
Fix: Start each rep from a near-straight leg and curl all the way to a full squeeze at the top.
Letting the roller ride up onto the calf muscle instead of the Achilles.
Fix: Reposition the ankle pad against the Achilles before every set so the load lands on the joint, not soft tissue.
How to program it
- Three sets of 10 to 15 reps works well as an isolation finisher, since the movement carries a light joint demand and recovers quickly.
- It pairs naturally after quad-dominant work like leg press or squats, balancing out a lower-body session that would otherwise skew toward the front of the thigh.
- Because it isolates a single joint action, most lifters can run it twice in the same week without it interfering with heavier hip-hinge work.
- Add a short pause at the top of each rep once the standard tempo stops feeling challenging, rather than jumping straight to more weight.
Safety notes
- Stop increasing the load if you feel the movement in your lower back instead of your hamstrings; that usually means your hips are lifting off the pad.
- A sharp pull behind the knee is a signal to stop the set, not push through it.
Exercise profile
- Force
- Pull
- Mechanics
- Isolation
- Category
- Strength
Frequently asked questions
How many sets of lying leg curls should I do?
Three sets of 10 to 15 reps is a solid starting point for most people. Add a fourth set or a slower tempo once that stops feeling challenging, rather than jumping to a much heavier weight.
Lying leg curl vs seated leg curl, which is better for hamstrings?
Both isolate the same knee-flexion function of the hamstrings. The lying version pins your hips more firmly to the pad, while the seated version gives your lower back upright support. Neither beats the other outright; use whichever machine is free and feels cleaner on your joints.
Why do I feel lying leg curls in my calves instead of my hamstrings?
The ankle roller has likely ridden up onto your calf muscle instead of resting against your Achilles tendon. Reset the pad against the Achilles and point your toes toward your shins to keep the calves out of the movement.
Can I do a lying leg curl at home without the machine?
Yes. A stability ball hamstring curl or a resistance band anchored low and looped around your ankles both train the same knee-flexion pattern without a dedicated machine.
Should I do lying leg curls before or after squats?
After. Squats and deadlifts already recruit the hamstrings as secondary movers, so pre-fatiguing them with curls first can cut into how much weight you can safely handle on the bigger lift. Save the leg curl for the end of your session, once the compound work is done.