5 Tips For Building Stronger Hamstrings
Hamstrings can be one of the most stubborn muscle groups. It’s harder to effectively train the posterior chain i.e. muscles which are at the back of your body and can’t be seen directly in the mirror.
Shredded hamstrings should look like chains running through the back of your legs. When it comes to training hamstrings, most people do nothing more than a few leg curls. In this article, we’ll give you five tips to take your hamstrings game to the next level.
This Is How To Building Ripped Hamstrings
Train Hamstrings At The Beginning Of Your Workouts
If you have lagging hamstrings, you should train them before you hit the quads. Most people make the mistake of training their hamstrings at the end of the workouts when they are exhausted. By doing so, they end up leaving gains on the table because of fatigue.
If you like starting your workouts with massive pumps, perform isolation exercises in the beginning so that your muscles are filled with blood and lactic acid. When you start with single-joint exercises, you don’t need to go super heavy on the compound lifts later in the workout to engage all the muscle tissue which can reduce the chances of injury.
Stretch and Relax Your Hams Before Workouts
Since hamstrings are one of the stiffest muscle groups, you should perform a thorough warm-up routine before you begin your workout to avoid muscle pulls or tears. Foam rolling is one of the best ways of warming-up your hams.
Stretching relaxes the muscles and loosens up the fascia which can help with muscle pumps, and giving your muscles room to grow. Flexing and posing between sets can improve your mind-muscle connection and development.
Train Quads And Hamstrings On Different Days
Many people like training their biceps and triceps on different days because they understand the impact it can have on their arms but they don’t treat their quads and hams in the same way.
You need to train your hams and quads on different days if one of the muscle group is lagging or if you want to see some major improvement in them. You should have an equal mix of compound and isolation lifts in the workouts to train your legs effectively.
High Volume & High Intensity
People who have weaker legs are often confused between high volume or high-intensity workouts. If you want an overall development, you need to have both the methods in your routine.
Train your hamstrings with a high volume and low-intensity in the first week and switch to a low volume and high-intensity workout in the second. At the end of each training session, your legs should be begging for mercy.
Switch Training Styles
You can only go so far while following the same training program. Your body will stop responding to your workouts as soon as it gets used to your training style. You need to keep your muscles guessing for them to grow.
Including advanced training techniques like supersets, drop-sets, intra-set stretching are a great way of shocking your muscles into growing. Everyone like surprises and your muscles is no different. Add an element of surprise in your workouts by way of advanced training techniques.
You should also switch your training style every three weeks to keep the muscle growth active. Switching from a German Volume Training (GVT) program to an FST7 program is one such example.
Header image courtesy of Envato Elements
Which is your favorite hamstring exercise?
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