10 Best Bodyweight Hamstring Exercises to Do at Home

Bodyweight Exercises for Hamstrings – Introduction

What are the best bodyweight hamstring exercises you can do at home?

Calisthenic or bodyweight workouts are hard to beat. 

They require very little space and no equipment, and you can do them almost anywhere and anytime. With nothing but your body and a little effort, you can tone and strengthen every muscle in your body – for free! 

There are dozens if not hundreds, of exercises you can use to hone your physique and get fit, including push-ups, pull-ups, squats, planks, and lunges. 

But how do you train your hamstrings when you don’t have access to leg curl machines or barbells? 

Keep reading, and we’ll reveal the best bodyweight hamstring exercises for home workouts!

Why Squats and Lunges Aren’t Enough

A lot of people think that compound exercises like squats, lunges, and step-ups are all you need to develop your hamstrings. Unfortunately, this is not the case. While the hammies are involved in these exercises, they’re not actually working all that hard. 

Why? 

As you descend into a squat or lunge, there is movement at your hips AND your knees. This means the hamstrings don’t change length much, because as the knee flexes, the hip extends, and vice versa. 

So, while the hamstrings are working, they’re not really working hard enough to develop them fully. 

The good news is that this is easy to fix with a few direct hamstring exercises like those outlined below.  

The 10 Best Bodyweight Hamstring Exercises

Not sure how best to train your hamstrings with bodyweight exercises? Here are ten of the best movements for your home (or park, or hotel room) workouts! 

#1. Glute bridge 

Contrary to their name, glute bridges don’t just work your butt. In fact, they work your entire posterior chain. Glute bridges are an isometric exercise, meaning your muscles generate lots of tension without actually changing length. 

How to do it:

1. Lie on your back with your legs bent to around 90 degrees. Brace your abs. 
2. Drive your heels into the floor and lift your hips up so your knees, hips, and shoulders form a straight line. 
3. Contract your muscles as hard as possible for 20-40 seconds, then relax. 
4. Make this exercise more hamstring-centric by attempting to drag your heels toward your butt. 

How to awaken your glutes (DO THESE EVERY DAY!) – Dr. Stuart McGill

#2. Glute bridge march

This is another exercise with glute in its name that also delivers a powerful hamstring workout. However, with this one, you’ll be training one leg at a time, which is great for identifying and fixing leg-to-right strength imbalances. 

How to do it:

1. Lie on your back with your legs bent and feet flat. 
2. Drive your feet into the floor and lift your hips up. 
3. Keeping your hips raised, lift one foot off the floor and then place it back down. Do the same thing with the other foot. 
4. Alternate legs for a set time, e.g., 40 seconds, or for reps, e.g., 10-15 per leg. 

Glute bridge marching demo

#3. Hip thrust 

The hip thrust is a more dynamic version of exercise #1 – glute bridges. If you prefer to do your exercises for reps instead of a set time, this is the one for you. However, if you find it hard to fully extend your hips, you should stick with static glute bridges for now. 

How to do it:

1. Lie on your back with your legs bent and feet flat. 
2. Drive your feet into the floor and lift your hips up. 
3. Lower your butt back down to the floor and repeat. 
4. Make this exercise more challenging by resting your upper back against an exercise bench or sofa. This increases the range of motion at your hips. 

Bodyweight hip thrusts against exercise bench

#4. Single-leg hip thrust 

After a few weeks of basic hip thrusts, you’ll probably be ready for a more demanding exercise. Not only do single-leg hip thrusts put more weight through your muscles, but they also force you to stabilize your hips and core. Subsequently, this is a much more functional and challenging exercise. 

How to do it:

1. Lie on your back with your legs bent and feet flat. 
2. Raise one leg and point your knee up toward the ceiling. 
3. Keeping your non-working leg raised, drive your foot into the floor and lift your hips up. 
4. Lower your butt back down to the floor and repeat. 
5. Switch legs and do the same number of reps on the other leg. 

How to single-leg glute bridge

#5. Hamstring walkout

Finally, a hamstring exercise with the word hamstring in the name! This challenging bodyweight exercise takes your hamstrings through a long range of motion, making them uniquely effective. However, they’re also pretty tough… 

How to do it:

1. Lie on your back with your legs bent and feet flat. Drive your feet into the floor and lift your hips up. 
2. Taking small steps, walk your feet out and away from your butt until your legs are almost straight. Do not allow your glutes to touch the floor. 
3. Walk your feet back up to your butt, pushing your hips upward as you do so. 
4. Continue for the desired number of reps. 

Hamstring walkouts

#6. Prisoner good morning 

Prisoner good mornings are so-called because a) you do them with your hands behind your head like you are a jail inmate, and b) you look like you are bowing to meet royalty. While the name is kinda weird, this is actually a very effective hamstring exercise. 

How to do it: 

1. Clasp your hands behind your head and then push your elbows back to open your chest. 
2. Stand with your feet about hip-width apart, knees slightly bent for balance. 
3. Hinging from your hips, lean forward as far as your hamstring flexibility allows. Take care not to round your lower back. 
4. Stand back up and repeat.  

Prisoner good morning exercise

#7. Single-leg Romanian deadlifts 

If prisoner good mornings don’t challenge your hamstrings, try single-leg Romanian deadlifts. Not only are you working one leg at a time, but you’ll also be moving through a larger range of motion while trying to maintain your balance. This adds up to a very effective posterior chain exercise. 

How to do it: 

1. Stand with your feet together and arms by your sides. Shift your weight over onto one leg, and bend your supporting knee slightly. 
2. Hinging from your hips, lean forward and reach down toward the floor in front of your foot. Extend your other leg out behind you as a counterbalance. 
3. Stand back up and repeat. 

Body weight single-leg deadlift

#8. Hamstring heel slides 

No leg curl machine? No problem! You can get a similar workout using nothing more than an old towel and a shiny floor. Alternatively, you can use furniture sliders or specially-made sliding discs. However you do it, this exercise will provide your hammies with an excellent workout. 

How to do it: 

1. Lie on your back with your legs straight. Rest your feet on your towel or sliding discs. Lift your hips a few inches off the floor. 
2. Bend your legs and slide your feet in toward your butt. 
3. Extend your legs and return to the starting position. 
4. That’s one rep – keep going! 

Hamstring heel slides

#9. Stability ball leg curl 

Many exercisers are familiar with stability ball crunches, but these oversized inflatables are good for more than just abs training; you can also use them to work your hamstrings. This is a very effective posterior chain exercise. 

How to do it:

1. Lie on your floor with your legs straight and calves resting on a stability ball. Lift your hips up. 
2. Bend your legs and roll the ball into your butt. Drive your hips up at the same time. 
3. Extend your legs and repeat. 
4. You can lower your hips to the floor between reps or keep them elevated the whole time as preferred. 
5. Make this exercise much harder by using one leg at a time. 

Swiss ball hamstring curl

#10. Nordic curls 

Nordic leg curls are arguably the toughest bodyweight hamstring exercise around. For that reason, make sure you’ve developed a decent level of hamstring strength before you attempt them. After all, a strained hamstring is nobody’s idea of fun! 

1. Kneel down so your thighs are vertical.  
2. Anchor your feet or have someone hold them down for you. 
3. Contract your glutes and hamstrings and brace your core.
4. Using your hamstrings to control your descent, lower yourself down to the floor. Extend your arms in front of you to avoid falling on your face. 
5. Using your arms as little as possible, use your hamstrings to pull yourself back up to the starting position 
6. Continue for the desired number of reps. 

Bodyweight Hamstring exercises – Norwegian curl | Glute Ham Raise

Bodyweight Hamstring Exercises – Wrapping Up

While there is no denying that squats and lunges are great bodyweight leg exercises, they mainly emphasize your quadriceps. That means if you want to develop your front and rear thighs equally, you need to include some direct hamstring exercises in your lower body workouts. 

You don’t need to do lots of extra exercises for your hammies as you’re just trying to supplement the rest of your leg training and avoid muscle imbalances. A couple of sets of 1-2 exercises a few times a week will suffice. 

However, if you’ve not been training your hamstrings lately, make sure you start slow, light, and easy to avoid injuries. The first few exercises in this article are an excellent place to start. 

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