How many Nordic hamstring curls should I do?

Start with one session of 2 sets of 5 and build over several weeks. A meta-analysis found low-volume programmes produced strength and fascicle-length gains similar to high-volume ones, provided they lasted at least 6 weeks. In one study, two weeks of 4 × 6 twice a week followed by four weeks of 2 × 4 once a week matched the gains of a high-volume group.

Do Nordic curls make you faster?

A little, on average. A 2021 meta-analysis of 17 studies in team sport players found Nordic programmes improved sprint times by 0.04 seconds. The change was significant over 10 m (0.06 seconds) but not over 5 m or 20 m. Do Nordics to protect your hamstrings, and get faster by sprinting.

What muscles do Nordic curls work?

The hamstrings, working eccentrically: they lengthen while they resist the fall. In a 10-week study, Nordics lengthened the fascicles of the biceps femoris long head and grew the semitendinosus.

Can you do Nordic curls without a partner?

Yes. Hook your heels under a Nordic bench, a loaded barbell, the pad of a lat pulldown or leg extension machine, or a heavy sofa or bed frame at home. Whatever holds your heels must not move when you lean forward.

How often should you do Nordic curls?

The most-used research programme builds from one session a week to three over four weeks and keeps three a week until week 10. Lower-volume programmes of one or two sessions a week built similar strength when they ran at least 6 weeks. After that, one session a week through the season holds the gains.

Nordic hamstring curls: how to do them, and how many

By the Sprint University coaching team

A Nordic hamstring curl is a kneeling exercise. Someone holds your ankles, and you lower your body toward the floor as slowly as you can. Injury prevention programmes that included it halved hamstring injuries in a meta-analysis of 15 studies and 8,459 athletes.

Start with one session of 2 sets of 5. The research progression builds to three sessions a week over four weeks, but a lighter programme run for at least 6 weeks built similar strength. Keep one short session a week going through the season.

What Nordic curls do

In a Nordic curl your hamstrings work eccentrically: they lengthen while they resist the fall. That is the job they do in a sprint, when they brake your swinging shin just before your foot lands, and it is where most sprint hamstring strains are thought to happen. The hamstring injury prevention guide covers the mechanism and the other risk factors.

Fewer hamstring injuries

A meta-analysis of 15 studies and 8,459 athletes found that prevention programmes including the Nordic cut hamstring injuries by about half (risk ratio 0.49). A soccer-only meta-analysis found the same 0.49. In a trial of 942 Danish soccer players, the Nordic group had 3.8 acute hamstring injuries per 100 player-seasons against 13.1 in the control group, and recurrences fell from 45.8 to 7.1. Most of this evidence comes from soccer, and there are few studies in track sprinters.

Stronger, longer hamstrings

Low eccentric hamstring strength, measured on a Nordic device, predicted injury in Australian footballers (a 2.7-fold risk below 256 N at the start of preseason). In elite soccer players, short biceps femoris fascicles also raised risk. In a 10-week trial of 30 recreationally active men, Nordics lengthened the fascicles of the biceps femoris long head, with the change already measurable at week 5. They also grew the semitendinosus.

A small effect on speed

A 2021 meta-analysis of 17 studies in team sport players found Nordic programmes improved sprint times by 0.04 seconds on average. Over 10 m the gain was 0.06 seconds and significant. Over 5 m and 20 m it was not. Treat Nordics as hamstring protection and get your speed from sprinting.

Most teams don't keep them up

A survey of 50 Champions League and Norwegian Premier League teams covered 150 club-seasons. The Nordic programme was completed in full in 16 of them (10.7%) and in part in 9 more. Pick a dose you will keep doing all season, even if it is smaller than the full progression.

How to do a Nordic curl

1.Set up

Kneel on a pad

Kneel with your knees hip-width apart and have a partner kneel behind you and hold your ankles down, just above the heels. Their whole bodyweight should be on your ankles so your heels can't lift.

2.Make a straight line

Knees, hips and shoulders in line

Squeeze your glutes so your body is straight from your knees to your shoulders. Hold your hands up in front of your chest, ready to catch yourself.

3.Lower as slowly as you can

The rep is this part

Fall forward by straightening your knees, and fight the fall with your hamstrings the whole way. Keep your hips straight. When they start to bend, the rep is over: catch yourself.

4.Catch yourself

Land like the bottom of a push-up

When you can't hold the fall any longer, catch yourself with your hands and lower your chest to the floor under control.

5.Get back up

Use your hands

Push off the floor with your hands to get back to kneeling. The lowering is what counts, so don't spend effort pulling yourself back up with your hamstrings.

To track progress, note how far down you get before you lose control. As you get stronger, that point moves closer to the floor. Expect sore hamstrings for a few days after your first sessions. Starting at 2 × 5 keeps the soreness manageable.

Nordic curls without a partner

You need something that holds your heels down and won't move when you lean forward. Test any setup with a small lean before your first full rep.

Nordic bench

Gym

A bench with a padded ankle hook built for the exercise. The easiest setup to get right.

Loaded barbell

Gym

Load a barbell heavy enough that it won't lift or roll, put a pad under your knees and hook your heels under the bar. Collars on.

Lat pulldown or leg extension seat

Gym

Kneel on the seat facing away from the machine and hook your heels under the thigh pad.

Sofa or bed at home

Home

Hook your heels under a heavy sofa or bed frame, with a cushion under your knees. Have someone sit on it if it shifts when you lean.

Easier and harder versions

Most athletes drop through the bottom half of their first Nordics. That's normal, and a regression gives you more controlled lowering per rep.

Easier

Band-assisted Nordic

Best first regression

Anchor a resistance band high behind you and loop it around your chest. The band takes the most weight near the floor, where the fall is hardest to control. Move to a lighter band as you get stronger.

Shorter range

Lower to a box

Put a box or bench in front of you and lower until your hands reach it. Lower the target as your control improves.

Early catch

Stop before you lose control

Lower only as far as you can hold a steady speed, then catch yourself with your hands. Every rep should be controlled.

Harder

Full range

Control all the way

Lower to the floor at a steady speed, with no drop at the bottom. Few athletes can do this when they start.

Pauses

2–3 stops on the way down

Hold for a moment at two or three points on the way down. It makes you control the angles where you would normally speed up.

Weighted Nordic

Plate held at your chest

Once you can lower all the way under control, hold a light weight plate against your chest.

The Sprint University app

Fast running every week, without the spikes

Sprint University programs top-speed work week by week from your current times. On a low-readiness day it keeps the intensity and trims multi-set blocks to about 70% of their sets.

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Sets and reps

Most Nordic studies use a progression first published in a 2004 Norwegian trial. The Danish soccer trial used a 10-week progressive programme, then one session a week through the season.

Weeks	Sessions per week	Sets × reps
Week 1	1	2 × 5
Week 2	2	2 × 6
Week 3	3	3 × 6–8
Week 4	3	3 × 8–10
Weeks 5–10	3	3 sets of 12, 10, 8

Three sessions a week is a lot to add to a sprint schedule, and the evidence supports a lighter dose. A meta-analysis of 13 studies found low-volume Nordic programmes produced strength and fascicle gains similar to high-volume ones, as long as they ran for at least 6 weeks. In one of those studies, this low-volume group gained as much as the high-volume group:

Weeks	Sessions per week	Sets × reps
Weeks 1–2	2	4 × 6
Weeks 3–6	1	2 × 4

The same study found the longer fascicles shrank back within two weeks of stopping, while strength held for at least four. Once the build-up is done, keep one session a week for the rest of the season.

Where Nordics go in a sprint week

Do your Nordics after the sprinting, on the days you already lift. That keeps the hard eccentric work after your fast running and leaves your easy days easy. The speed training guide shows how high and low days fit together.

Run the build-up in the off-season or early preseason, while the soreness costs you the least. By the time races start you should be on the one-session maintenance dose. The periodization guide covers how the season's phases fit together. In the first weeks, while Nordics still leave you sore, don't put them the day before your top-speed session.

Nordic curl alternatives

None of these has the injury-trial evidence behind the Nordic, so use them alongside it or while you build up to it.

Hip extension

A 45° back extension or hip extension machine, done with your hamstrings driving the movement. In the same 10-week trial, hip extension lengthened biceps femoris long head fascicles about as much as Nordics did and grew that muscle more. The two exercises load the hamstrings from opposite ends (Nordics at the knee, hip extension at the hip), and many coaches use both.

Romanian deadlift

Trains the hamstrings at the hip under heavy load and suits your strength days. We found no injury trials for it comparable to the Nordic studies.

Slider or stability ball leg curl

Lying on your back with your heels on sliders or a ball, bridge up and slowly slide your heels away. It is a light knee-flexion exercise you can do anywhere, and a stepping stone for athletes who can't yet control any part of a Nordic.

Common mistakes

Bending at the hips: Once your hips bend, the load moves off your hamstrings at the knee. Squeeze your glutes and stop the rep when you can't hold the line.
Starting at full volume: The research progressions open with one session of 2 × 5 and take four weeks to reach three sessions a week. Follow that build.
Doing Nordics before sprinting: Hard eccentric work leaves your hamstrings tired. Sprint first and do Nordics after, with your other lifting.
Stopping Nordics in season: Fascicle gains reversed within two weeks of stopping in one study. One short session a week holds them.
An anchor that moves: If your heels lift, the rep is lost and you can fall hard. Test the setup with a small lean first.