Nordic Hamstring Curl: Benefits for Injury Prevention and Performance

The hamstrings do some of the hardest work in athletics, and they do most of it while lengthening under load. During the final swing phase of a sprint, right before the foot strikes the ground, the hamstrings are contracting hard while being stretched. That combination, high tension plus lengthening, is exactly where strains happen. The Nordic hamstring curl trains that specific quality better than almost any other movement, which is why strength coaches, physical therapists, and sports scientists keep coming back to it. If you coach athletes or train seriously yourself, this is one exercise worth learning to do well.

What Is the Nordic Hamstring Curl?

The Nordic hamstring curl, sometimes called the Nordic curl, Russian curl, or glute-ham raise variation, is a bodyweight movement that emphasizes the eccentric, or lengthening, phase of a hamstring contraction. You start kneeling upright with your ankles anchored by a partner, a loaded barbell, a Nordic bench, or a sturdy immovable object. Keeping your hips extended and your body in a straight line from knees to head, you slowly lower your torso toward the floor, resisting gravity with your hamstrings for as long as possible.

Most people cannot control the entire range at first. That is normal and expected. You catch yourself with your hands near the bottom, then push back to the start position and repeat. The goal is not to complete a picture-perfect rep on day one. The goal is to control more and more of the descent over time.

Why the Eccentric Phase Matters

Muscles are strongest when lengthening under load, which is called eccentric strength. Sprinting, decelerating, cutting, and kicking all demand large amounts of eccentric hamstring force. When eccentric strength is low relative to the demand, tissue fails and strains occur. By deliberately overloading the eccentric phase, the Nordic curl builds strength precisely where injuries tend to start.

There is also a structural benefit. Eccentric training, especially at long muscle lengths, adds new sarcomeres in series along the muscle fibers and lengthens the fascicles, the bundles of fibers inside the muscle. Longer fascicles are associated with a lower risk of strain because the muscle can tolerate more stretch before it reaches its failure point.

Muscles Worked

The Nordic curl is a knee-flexion movement performed with the hips extended, so the primary drivers are the three hamstring muscles:

• Biceps femoris (long and short head), the most commonly injured hamstring muscle in sprinting.
• Semitendinosus, which contributes heavily to knee flexion.
• Semimembranosus, which assists knee flexion and hip stability.

The glutes and erector spinae also work isometrically to keep the hips extended and the trunk rigid throughout the rep. Calves and core play a smaller stabilizing role.

How to Perform the Nordic Hamstring Curl

Use these steps to teach the movement or clean up your own technique.

1. Kneel on a pad or folded mat to protect your knees. Anchor your ankles securely under a Nordic bench, a partner's hands, or a heavy immovable object.
2. Set your body in a straight, tall line from knees to shoulders. Brace your core and squeeze your glutes so your hips stay fully extended.
3. Keep a slight, fixed forward bend at the hips only if you cannot yet hold full extension, but aim for a straight line as you progress.
4. Lower your torso toward the floor as slowly as you can, fighting the descent with your hamstrings. Think about pushing your shins into the pad.
5. Continue resisting until you lose control, then let your hands catch you gently on the floor.
6. Push off the ground with your hands just enough to help your hamstrings pull you back to the starting position.
7. Reset your posture and repeat.

Coaching Cues

• "Long line from knees to head." This prevents the common fault of bending at the hips to make the rep easier.
• "Lower slower than you think." The value is in the controlled descent, not the number of reps.
• "Squeeze the glutes." This keeps the hips from piking and keeps tension on the hamstrings.
• "Hands ready, not helping." Hands are a safety net for the bottom, not a way to rush the whole rep.

Common Mistakes

• Breaking at the hips. Piking forward shortens the lever and takes the hamstrings out of the movement. Cue a straight body line.
• Dropping too fast. A quick, uncontrolled fall removes the eccentric stimulus. Slow the descent.
• Loose ankle anchor. If the feet lift, the exercise falls apart and the knees take stress. Anchor firmly.
• Doing too much, too soon. This exercise produces significant muscle soreness. Starting with high volume is a fast track to being unable to train for days.

Regressions: Where Beginners Should Start

Most people, including trained athletes, need to build into the full Nordic curl. Use these regressions in order.

Band-Assisted Nordic Curl

Loop a resistance band around your chest and anchor it to a rack above and behind you. The band shares the load through the hardest part of the range, letting you control the full descent with assistance. Reduce band tension over weeks as you get stronger.

Partial-Range Nordic Curl

Lower only as far as you can control with good form, then use your hands to return. Add a few degrees of range each week. This is the simplest and most reliable way to progress.

Razor Curl or Slider Curl

If a Nordic setup is not available, eccentric-focused variations like the slider leg curl or stability-ball curl let beginners train the same quality with less soreness and a lower barrier to entry.

Progressions: Making It Harder

Once you control a full-range Nordic curl for multiple reps, you can keep progressing.

• Slow the tempo further. Aim for a longer, more controlled descent on every rep.
• Add load. Hold a light plate against your chest or wear a weighted vest.
• Add a concentric. Advanced lifters pull themselves back up using the hamstrings with minimal or no hand assistance. This is very demanding and should be earned.
• Elevate or change the angle. Small setup changes can increase the challenge for experienced athletes.

The Injury-Prevention Evidence

The Nordic hamstring curl is one of the best-supported exercises in sports medicine for reducing hamstring strain injuries. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of team-sport athletes have reported that adding Nordic curl programs to training reduces hamstring injury rates by roughly half, with some analyses showing reductions of up to 51 percent in team-sport athletes. The movement is a named component of widely used injury-prevention warm-ups in soccer.

Two practical caveats matter for coaches. First, the protective effect depends on consistency. Programs that stop see the benefit fade, so the exercise needs to stay in the plan year-round, not just in preseason. Second, despite the strong evidence, adoption among elite teams has historically been low, often because of soreness and buy-in challenges. Introducing the exercise gradually helps solve both problems.

Performance Benefits Beyond Injury Prevention

Injury prevention gets the headlines, but the same adaptations that protect the hamstrings also improve performance.

• Faster sprinting. Eccentric hamstring strength is closely tied to top-end sprint speed. Stronger hamstrings can absorb and redirect force during the swing phase.
• Better deceleration and change of direction. Cutting and stopping demand rapid eccentric control. A stronger hamstring brakes more efficiently.
• Improved force absorption. Landing, jumping, and kicking all rely on the hamstrings to manage force, which supports overall lower-body resilience.

For athletes in sprinting, soccer, football, rugby, and track, these carryovers make the Nordic curl a high-value addition rather than just an insurance policy.

Programming the Nordic Hamstring Curl

Because the exercise is so eccentric-heavy, it causes meaningful soreness, especially in the first few weeks. Program it conservatively.

• Frequency: One to two sessions per week is plenty for most athletes.
• Volume: Start low, for example two sets of three to five controlled reps, and build gradually over several weeks. Current ACSM and NSCA guidance notes that muscles can handle roughly 20 to 30 percent more load eccentrically than concentrically. For general fitness and hypertrophy, a practical starting point is moderate loads, about 60 to 80 percent of 1RM, with a controlled 1 to 2 second lowering phase, two to three sets, two to three days per week, progressed gradually.
• Placement: Perform it after a thorough warm-up and generally toward the end of a lower-body session, or on its own as part of a prehab block.
• Recovery: Leave at least 48 hours before heavy hamstring or sprint work, particularly early on.
• Progression: Add range, reps, or load slowly. Chase control, not fatigue.

Who It Is Best For

The Nordic curl suits athletes who sprint, cut, and kick, plus general lifters who want durable, strong hamstrings. Anyone with a current hamstring injury or acute pain should clear the exercise with a qualified medical professional first, and beginners should start with a regression.

Take Your Coaching Further

Understanding how to build and safely progress eccentric strength is exactly the kind of skill that separates good coaches from great ones. If you want to master programming for performance and injury reduction, the ISSA Strength and Conditioning certification gives you the science and practical tools to design smarter training for your athletes.