What are the best hamstring exercises for sprinters?

Use at least one knee-dominant eccentric exercise, usually the Nordic hamstring curl, and one hip-dominant exercise such as the Romanian deadlift or 45° hip extension. Prevention programmes that included the Nordic halved hamstring injuries in a meta-analysis, and hip extension and RDL training both lengthened biceps femoris long head fascicles in training studies.

How many sets and reps for hamstring strengthening exercises?

For most sprinters, 2 or 3 hamstring exercises per lifting day works well: for example 3–4 sets of 5–8 on Romanian deadlifts, 3 sets of 8–10 on 45° hip extensions and 2–3 sets of 4–6 Nordics. Start lower when an exercise is new to you, because eccentric work causes soreness for the first few sessions.

Are leg curls good for sprinters?

They are useful extras. In a 12-week study, seated leg curls grew the hamstrings more than lying leg curls (14% against 9%). In a small study of elite Swedish soccer players, preseason hamstring training on an eccentric overload device was followed by 3 strains in 15 players against 10 in 15 untrained players. In another study, a weighted razor curl did little for fascicle length compared with weighted Nordics.

Do Romanian deadlifts work the hamstrings?

Yes. In an EMG study at 85% of one-rep max, hamstring activity was highest in the Romanian deadlift and the glute-ham raise. In a 6-week trial, an eccentrically biased RDL programme lengthened biceps femoris long head fascicles about as much as a Nordic programme.

Should sprinters train hamstrings on sprint days?

Yes, after the sprinting. Doing hamstring work on the days you already sprint and lift keeps your easy days easy. Put heavy hinges like Romanian deadlifts on acceleration days rather than top-speed days, and never do hard eccentric work before you sprint.

The best hamstring exercises for sprinters, and how to program them

By the Sprint University coaching team

The best hamstring exercises for sprinters cover both ends of the muscle: a knee-dominant eccentric exercise such as the Nordic hamstring curl, and a hip-dominant one such as the Romanian deadlift or 45° hip extension. They work different hamstring muscles, and in training studies both kinds lengthened the fascicles of the biceps femoris long head, where sprinting strains are usually found.

Pick one knee exercise and one hip exercise for each lifting day, done after your sprinting. Add slider curls, leg curls or isometric holds as extras, mostly in the off-season. Keep the eccentric work going through the season, because fascicle gains shrank within weeks of stopping in the studies below.

Why sprinters train the hamstrings at the hip and the knee

Every hamstring muscle except the biceps femoris short head crosses both the hip and the knee. In a sprint they extend the hip and, late in the swing, brake the shin before your foot lands. That braking is where most sprint strains are thought to happen, as the hamstring injury prevention guide explains. In one case series, all 18 elite sprinters with a first-time strain had injured the biceps femoris long head.

Exercises split the work between the muscles. Bourne and colleagues recorded EMG in 24 recreationally active men across 10 common exercises, then used MRI to see which muscles had worked. During the lowering phase, the 45° hip extension activated the outer hamstring (biceps femoris) most relative to the inner hamstrings, and the Nordic and bent-knee bridge activated it least. On MRI, hip extension worked the long hamstrings, including the biceps femoris long head, while the Nordic worked the semitendinosus most.

A 2018 review by the same group drew the general rule: hip extension exercises tend to work the biceps femoris long head and semimembranosus harder, and knee flexion exercises the semitendinosus and biceps femoris short head.

The hamstring exercises at a glance

Exercise	What it trains	Typical dose
Nordic hamstring curl	Knee-dominant, eccentric	2–3 × 4–6
Romanian deadlift	Hip-dominant, heavy	3–4 × 5–8
45° hip extension	Hip-dominant, long hamstrings	3 × 8–10
Single-leg RDL	Hip-dominant, one leg at a time	3 × 6 each leg
Isometric holds	Holding force at a set length	3 × 20–30 s
Slider or ball curl	Knee-dominant, bodyweight	2–3 × 6–12
Seated leg curl	Knee-dominant, at long length	3 × 8–12

These doses are our starting points for a sprinter who already lifts. Halve them in your first two weeks on a new exercise.

Knee-dominant eccentric: the Nordic hamstring curl

The Nordic is the hamstring exercise with injury trials behind it. A meta-analysis of 15 studies and 8,459 athletes found that prevention programmes including it cut hamstring injuries by about half. The Nordic hamstring curl guide covers technique, setups without a partner, easier versions and the full progression, so here is only how it fits with the rest.

How hard the lowering is matters. In a 6-week study of 30 men, weighted Nordics lengthened biceps femoris long head fascicles by 1.57 cm, bodyweight Nordics had a moderate effect, and a weighted razor curl had the least. The fascicles started shrinking after just one week without training. Once you can lower all the way under control, add load rather than more reps.

Hip-dominant: RDL, 45° hip extension and single-leg RDL

Romanian deadlift (RDL)

3–4 × 5–8, 3 s lowering

Hold the bar at your hips, knees soft. Push your hips back and let the bar slide down your thighs with a flat back until you feel a strong stretch in your hamstrings, usually just below the knee. Drive your hips forward to stand. Stop the rep where your back starts to round, wherever that is.

45° hip extension

3 × 8–10, 3 s lowering

On a 45° back extension bench, set the pad just below your hip crease. Keep your spine long and hinge down from the hips, then squeeze your glutes and hamstrings to lift your body back into a straight line. Hold a plate at your chest once bodyweight is easy. Don't arch past straight at the top.

Single-leg RDL

3 × 6 each leg

Stand on one leg with a dumbbell or kettlebell in the opposite hand. Hinge forward while your free leg reaches back, keeping your hips square to the floor, until your body is close to horizontal. Stand back up with the hamstring of the standing leg. Start light: balance limits the load before your hamstrings do.

What the research shows

In a 10-week trial of 30 recreationally active men, 45° hip extension training lengthened biceps femoris long head fascicles as much as Nordic training did, and grew that muscle more. Both grew the semitendinosus.

For the RDL, an EMG study of 12 weight-trained men lifting at 85% of their one-rep max found hamstring activity was highest in the Romanian deadlift and the glute-ham raise, out of four exercises including the leg curl and good morning. The semitendinosus was more active than the biceps femoris in all four. In a 2025 trial, 32 participants trained twice a week for 6 weeks with an eccentrically biased RDL or the Nordic. Fascicle length rose 9% on average with no difference between the groups, and returned to baseline after two weeks off. Muscle cross-sectional area grew 10% and stayed up.

We found no comparable studies on the single-leg RDL. Coaches use it because sprinting is one leg at a time and it shows up side-to-side differences, and it needs only a dumbbell.

Isometric hamstring holds

In an isometric you hold a position or push against something that won't move. In a 38-week study of 25 Australian footballers who also followed a sprint programme, isometric training and Nordic training both lengthened biceps femoris long head fascicles (0.82 cm and 1.16 cm), thickened the muscle and raised eccentric strength by 83 N. By the end of preseason, only the Nordic group had improved its 5 m sprint time (by 3.3%), and its maximum horizontal velocity was 3% higher than the isometric group's. Both groups finished weaker isometrically than they started.

We use holds in weeks when a hard Nordic session would leave you too sore to sprint well, and alongside the Nordic the rest of the time, since only the Nordic group got faster in that study.

Single-leg bridge hold

3 × 20–30 s each leg

Lie on your back with one heel on a bench or box, knee slightly bent. Push through the heel and lift your hips until your body is straight, then hold. A straighter knee makes it harder on the hamstrings.

45° hip extension hold

3 × 20–30 s

On the hip extension bench, lower to about halfway and hold with a long spine. Add a plate when the full time feels easy.

Heel-push hold

3–5 × 5 s hard pushes

Lie on your back with your heel on a bench or against a fixed post and push down or back into it as hard as you can, without moving. Change the knee angle between sets to train the muscle at different lengths.

The Sprint University app

Lifting placed around your fast days

Sprint University schedules your high and low days and places the lifting. It never pairs max-velocity sprinting with heavy squats or deadlifts on the same day.

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Slider, ball and machine leg curls

Slider leg curl

2–3 × 6–10

Lie on your back with your heels on sliders or towels on a smooth floor. Bridge your hips up, then slowly slide your heels away until your legs are nearly straight, keeping your hips up. Pull them back in. Do the lowering on one leg when two gets easy.

Stability ball leg curl

2–3 × 8–12

The same pattern with your heels on a ball. The ball rolls, so it is a little easier to control than sliders. Keep your hips high through the whole rep.

Seated leg curl

3 × 8–12, slow lowering

Sit with the pad above your ankles and the thigh pad snug. Curl down to full knee bend, then lower slowly. Sitting puts the hamstrings at a longer length than lying face down.

Lying leg curl

3 × 8–12

Face down with the pad above your heels. Keep your hips on the pad as you curl. Useful when no seated machine is free, or for variety.

How hard each one is

Tsaklis and colleagues measured hamstring EMG in 20 elite female track and field athletes across ten exercises. The Nordic, the stability ball curl and the slider curl were the high-intensity group. The TRX curl, hamstring bridge and hamstring curl were medium, and the lunge, deadlift and kettlebell swing were low (under 50% of a maximal contraction) at the loads used. The ball curl was the only exercise with more biceps femoris than semitendinosus activity.

Seated beats lying for muscle size

In a 12-week study, 20 adults trained one leg on a seated curl and the other on a lying curl, 5 sets of 10 at 70% of their one-rep max twice a week. The seated leg grew more: 14% against 9% for the whole hamstrings. Sitting bends the hip and puts the hamstrings at a longer length. A 2024 study compared Nordics with a weight-stack curl done with the hip deeply bent, over 34 sessions in 12 weeks. The hip-bent curl grew the hamstrings by 18% against 11%, and the biceps femoris long head by 19% against 5%. The Nordic grew the muscles that only bend the knee more.

Eccentric overload training

Askling's 2003 study gave 15 elite Swedish soccer players 10 weeks of preseason hamstring training on a device that overloads the lowering phase, once or twice a week. Over the 10-month observation period, 3 of those 15 strained a hamstring against 10 of 15 who didn't train, and the trained group gained strength and speed. It was a small study, but it is one of the few with injury data for an exercise other than the Nordic.

A hamstring strengthening plan for a sprint week

Do hamstring work after the sprinting, on the days you already lift, so your easy days stay easy. Put heavy RDLs on acceleration days rather than top-speed days, and save the hardest eccentric work for days with at least one easy day after them. The speed training guide shows how high and low days fit together.

Day	Off-season	In season
Acceleration day	RDL 3–4 × 5–8, Nordic 2–3 × 4–6	RDL 2–3 × 5, Nordic 2 × 4
Top-speed day	45° hip extension 3 × 8–10, seated leg curl 3 × 8–12	Hip extension 2 × 8
Easy day (optional)	Isometric holds 3 × 20–30 s, slider curls 2 × 8	Isometric holds 2 × 20 s

The off-season is the time to build: you have more recovery to spare and soreness costs you less. In season, cut the volume and keep the exercises, especially the Nordic. Fascicle gains faded after one week without training in one study and within two weeks in another. The periodization guide covers how the phases of the season fit together, and deload week covers when to back off.

Coming back from a strain is a different situation. Follow your physio's plan, and see the hamstring strain recovery guide for what the research says about return times.

Common mistakes

Only training one end: Hip extension and knee flexion exercises load different hamstring muscles. Do one of each.
Hamstring work before sprinting: Hard eccentrics leave your hamstrings tired. Sprint first, then lift.
Dropping eccentric work in season: Fascicle gains faded within one to two weeks of stopping. One short session a week keeps them.
Rounding the back on RDLs: Hinge only as far as you can keep a flat back. Range comes with practice.
Machine curls as the whole plan: Leg curls add size, but the Nordic has the injury trials and hip exercises cover the other end. Use curls as an extra.