Work them Hams

csaba73 · 06-26-2009, 06:16 PM

Guys,

what are the most effective routines to get great hams. I do giant set with deadlifts and good mornings and would like to add a nice third exercise.

suggestions?

**chrispghmuscle** · 06-26-2009, 06:32 PM

SLDL...

**MikeNYY420** · 06-26-2009, 06:35 PM

My hamstrings are a very good size and I blame it on the once a week deadlifts heavy and to failure. I don't do anything else for them other then SLDLs on leg day. They grow very well off this, giant sets of deadlifts might result in overtraining. Careful.

**Zack** · 06-26-2009, 08:23 PM

Romanian Deadlifts

Leg Curls
Db Romanian Deads
Suitcase Deads
1 legged leg curls
Lying leg curls
or figure out how to work them on the cable cross

I did that one (hard to explain... sorry) and I really like it :)

csaba73 · 06-27-2009, 05:54 AM

Zack,

you intrigue me - what is Suitcase Deads?

and with Romanian DL you mean stiff-leg deadlifts?

here is a question to all - no one has talked about good mornings? no good?

and can you superset regular deadlifts with SLDL - or is this too much of the same?

thanks

**Moro** · 06-27-2009, 08:29 AM

Good mornings are considered more a lower back/core exercise however some will argue they feel it better in their hams then SLDL if your one of those people then good for you,

Romanian deadlifts are slightly different,
YouTube - Romanian Deadlift form tutorial RDL

you could superset Deadlifts with SLDL i wouldnt advise it deadlifts are taxing as is,

For better results you might want to have 2 leg days one centered around quads and one for hamstrings,

e.g

day 1
squats
SLDL

day 2
deadlift
walking lunges

plus whatever other exercises you feel you need in there

csaba73 · 06-27-2009, 11:06 AM

thanks a lot for the suggestion

I now split legs over two days (in superset 3 x 8)

day 1-quads
- squat
- db lunge
- leg press single-leg

day 2-hams
- bb deadlift
- bb good morning
- single leg - hack squat

any good?

**MikeNYY420** · 06-27-2009, 11:58 AM

No how could you possibly deadlift the day after squating?? If you can, then you're not working hard enough, put deads on back day if you even wanna do them. And SLDLs on leg day, one day for legs is far superior to splitting them IMO.

Leg presses that you have on day 1 work the hammies worked the next day. And likewise the hack squats hit the quads also, you'll be too sore to do these.

**Zack** · 06-27-2009, 01:57 PM

use dbs on each side of you.... they're like suitcases :)

Search it on youtube

csaba73 · 06-27-2009, 04:30 PM

zack,
found it on youtube - this is what i call db deadlift (apart from some weirdos who are using chains and kettlebells and likewise for whatever reason)

what do you think is sldl better than good-mornings for hams?

**Zack** · 06-27-2009, 04:35 PM

SLDL's definitely. Good mornings are more of a lower back exercise imo. You can feel a good stretch in the hams during that movement, but it's not a primary ham movement. You also have to think of functionality here.

Cork · 06-29-2009, 11:19 AM

Oh man, when I think of suitcase dead lifts it makes me think of a 1 arm dead lift where the barbell is off to the side instead of directly infront of you. They absolutely kill your obliques.

Anyhow, for hams I can't believe no one has mentioned a glute-ham raise! Those seperate the men from the boys.

csaba73 · 06-30-2009, 08:19 AM

glute-ham - wow this looks really good. So lie down, keep legs horizontally fixed and raise body at knees. This is done without weights right? How many reps - 8-10?

Cork · 06-30-2009, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by csaba73

glute-ham - wow this looks really good. So lie down, keep legs horizontally fixed and raise body at knees. This is done without weights right? How many reps - 8-10?

It'll take you soem time to work up to doing them with weight. To start you'll need assistance. I use a lat pulldown machine to pin my legs down. I'm at work and I can't judge the quality of this video, but this should be something similiar to what I do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsBgbdHQmxA

Like I said, you'll want assistance in the beginning, and I can't see the video so I might be redundant here... but grab a bench and place it ahead of you so when you lower yourself you can use a push up motion to help you get yourself back up to the top. When you get at the bottom of the lift, DO NOT let the tension in your muscles go. You must stay tense the whole time.

To start off you should be focusing on as slow a negative as possible.

I do 3 sets of 8-10 in this assisted fashion with bodyweight.

Ok I'm home from work, it seems that link was removed by the user. This is a good example though:
YouTube - Glute Ham Raise

csaba73 · 07-01-2009, 05:02 AM

Cork,

have a look at this video - YouTube - Music Video of me performing Glut-Ham Raises it is Layne Norton doing the ham-glute. Looks pretty good - unfortunately my home gym does not allow me to do this.

Instead, I have tried, to do this off-the-ground (see: YouTube - glute ham raise) but this is too easy as instinctively you break your fall with your arms and thereby greatly reduce ROM. So I will do something more similar to this:

YouTube - Glute ham raise

this actually allows (i) to do it with any multitrainer, (ii) to keep good form as you can manage the weight, (iii) avoids easy cheating as your hands are holding the bar and will not assist you in getting up.

what do you think?

c

Cork · 07-01-2009, 04:46 PM

I think whichever way you feel comfortable doing them is the way you should do them. I personally like the push up method because I change the assistance throughout depending on how hard you push back. Though... I've never tried it using the actual attachment on the lat pull down, I think I might next time to see how it feels.

csaba73 · 07-01-2009, 05:55 PM

Cork,

I wish I could give you some brownie or reputation points - because this exercise is spot-on.

I have done today a giant set (3 x 8)

1. Deadlift 280lbs
2. Good-mornings 110lbs
3. machine-assisted glute-ham raise (15lbs of assist to bodyweight = 165lbs)

as this is the first time I have done this exercise, the assist helps to focus on form and rom - however I believe I can drop the assist quite soon

must say this really hurt - will tell you if I have DOMS tomorrow.

thanks again for the advice

Cork · 07-02-2009, 08:24 AM

Holy **** you did all those in one giant set?! That must have been intense. I'm glad you like it though. It's an amazing strength builder.

stateofmind25 · 07-04-2009, 12:32 PM

DANP showed me some hyper-extensions (paritals for ham development) superset with lunges....I was DONE after that bro!

Cork · 07-04-2009, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stateofmind25

DANP showed me some hyper-extensions (paritals for ham development) superset with lunges....I was DONE after that bro!

Hmm, you mean "partials" extension as in rising most of the way up into a semi-glute ham raise? That sounds like an awesome variant. Can you clarify if I'm reading that correctly?

stateofmind25 · 07-05-2009, 01:16 PM

Yeah, grab a plate and hold it (I have to bend my arms a little since they will drag the ground...sigh..) but then focus on your hams pulling your body back, just don't let your hips raise up off the bench...I say partial because when I do back extensions I come way back and arch my back at the top but you don't have to here since that's beyond the required ROM to hit the hammys and it's all lower back at that point.