Reduce your risk of injury and increase your speed and distance with these hamstring exercises for runners. These hamstring exercises work the muscle in multiple ways and help keep you stable and strong while you’re increasing your mileage.
As a Certified Strength Coach, I’ve always told clients that “you need to be strong BEFORE you run”. This is because running is such a repetitive impact sport that if you have imbalances or weaknesses, it’s going to cause more pain than it’ll do good.
However, as someone who is pretty darn strong, as I increased my weekly kilometers this past year, I also acknowledge that you need to be strong in specific ways. That’s why these hamstring exercises, while amazing in general, are geared mostly towards runners and that movement pattern.
Don’t get me wrong, you also need a lot of glute strength (both gluteus maximus and gluteus minimus and medius), adductor strength, hip flexor strength,h and calf/ankle strength. But these hamstring exercises for runners are often overlooked in comparison to the other muscle groups.
As someone who is up to twelve kilometers runs weekly, make these exercises a priority so that you can keep doing what you love.
The Exercises
Below are 6 effective hamstrings exercises for runners. You can add 1-2 exercises into your training program per week and slowly scale up in volume before choosing new ones.
They are a mix of direct (concentric) contractions along with eccentric (lengthening) and isometric (holding) exercises to give you a well-rounded approach. Likewise, since running is a single-leg activity, there is a mix of unilateral exercises too.
Before you do anything, though, learn how to hip hinge, as that will be a crucial technique in a lot of the exercises.
Staggard Stance Romanian Deadlifts
Romanian deadlifts, in general, are an amazing exercise to both lengthen and strengthen the hamstrings (here's a regular staggard Romanian deadlift). This supported version, though, is wonderful for runners as it’s a unilateral exercise, which means that one leg can’t take over for the other.
I use the dumbbell in the opposite hand to give a bit more hip rotation to the exercise.
- Hold a dumbbell in your right hand and stand about a foot away from the wall.
- Raise your right foot onto the wall for support while keeping a soft bend in the working leg.
- Begin your hip hinge by pushing the hips back to the wall and bringing your chest toward the floor (keeping a flat back). You’ll feel a stretch in the back of the leg.
- Pause briefly and engage the hamstrings to extend the hips, coming back to the starting position.
Perform 6-12 repetitions on each leg. As you increase the size of the dumbbell, decrease the number of repetitions you do.
Long Lever Band Pulls
You’ll need a way to attach a strength band to an anchor point for this exercise. However, it is a wonderful exercise that targets the hamstrings in a lengthened position, thus removing knee extension.
- Anchor the band high above your head and lie on your back.
- Place the heel of one foot in the band and bend the other knee, keeping the foot on the floor for support.
- Keep a soft knee (don’t hyperextend) as you press your heel into the band and bring it toward the floor.
- Go as far as you can and then pause for a full second before slowly bringing it back to the top position.
Perform 8-12 repetitions on each leg.
Supine March
Marches are a great way to gain stability in general, but this supine march takes it to a whole new level and requires your hamstrings to be strong in a brief isometric position. Though it also works your glutes and hip flexors, because the legs are in an extended position, the hamstrings get hit hard.
Know that having your knees bent and close to your bum is more glute-focused. Straight legs (as you'll see around 0.05 seconds in the video) are more hamstring-focused.
- On the floor, place your hands slightly behind your hips with the fingers out to the side (know that this can be done on your elbows as well if that’s easier. Legs straight out in front of you.
- Engage the glutes and lift your hips off the floor.
- Keeping as stable as possible, lift one foot and bring the knee into the chest.
- Place the foot back on the floor and perform the same movement with the next foot. Continue to alternate.
Perform 5-10 repetitions per leg.
Eccentric Focused Hamstring Curls
Any kind of eccentric training is a sure-fire way to get strong, FAST. This is mostly because the goal is control (similar to pause rep training). You can perform these curls on a Swiss ball, with core sliders, or on a glute roller. The Swiss ball I find to be the easiest variation.
Know that eccentric training tends to cause more muscle soreness than normal, so try not to do this exercise the day before a long run.
- Lay on the floor with your hands out to the side for support and your feet on a Swiss ball.
- Bring the ball close to your bum and raise your hips off the floor.
- Raise one leg into the air or place it across the ankle of the working leg.
- With a count of four, slowly extend (unbend) the knee while keeping the hips off the floor.
- Go as far as you can toward a straight leg position, then use the hamstring to pull the ball and heel back toward your bum.
Perform 6-10 repetitions per leg.
Down Dog Knee Extensions
One of the functions of the hamstrings is to extend the knee, which means you need to train them with that in mind. This variation is an amazing way to gain both flexibility and strength at the same time and can easily be done anywhere.
- Come into a tabletop position with your knees hovering above the ground.
- Push into the balls of the feet, keep a flat back, and lift the hips into the air. You’ll feel a stretch in the back of the legs.
- Pause briefly and return to the hovering position before repeating the movements.
Once you nail down the basic knee extension, know that you can make it more challenging by adding a resistance band (these strength bands are the best choice) or performing the hamstring exercise unilaterally (single leg).
Final Notes
Having strong hamstrings in general isn’t enough if you plan on running regularly or increasing your distance. Use these hamstring exercises for runners regularly in your programs as they focus specifically on the movements you need while running.
Below are a few more resources to help keep you moving strong:
- Banded glute workout
- Everything you need to know about glute training
- Do weak glutes cause knee pain while running
- Best quadriceps exercises
- Cost-effective home exercise equipment
Know that a lot more than this goes into making sure you can run pain-free. You’ll want to place extra focus on glute training, ankle strength, and strong hip flexors too. Take it from someone to whom running did not come naturally, a lot goes into it.
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