Complete Hamstring Training Guide: Science-Based Development

Build powerful, well-developed hamstrings with this comprehensive, science-based training guide from Dr. Mike Israetel and RP Strength. Learn the optimal volume landmarks, exercise selection, and programming strategies that maximize hamstring development while respecting this muscle group's unique recovery requirements and incredible growth potential.

Understanding Hamstring Development

The hamstrings are a biarticulate muscle group, crossing both the hip and knee joints, which allows them to be stretched far more than most muscles in the body. This unique anatomy makes them incredibly responsive to proper training - often requiring much lower volumes than other muscle groups while delivering exceptional growth when trained with perfect technique and full range of motion.

The hamstring complex consists of three main muscles: the biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus. These muscles work together in two primary movement patterns that must both be trained for complete development:

Programming principle: Nearly every week of hamstring training should include both hip hinge and knee flexion movements for complete development.

Dr. Mike Israetel's Complete Hamstring Training Guide

Here are some helpful tips for your hamstring training. Please note that these are averages based on our experience working with lots of clients and our own training. The recommendations here should be food for thought or places to start, not dogmatic scriptures to follow to the letter.

If you'd like to learn to build your own programs or just explore, give this whole guide a read. If you like what you see and you want to train with these concepts taken into account automatically, give the RP Hypertrophy App a try!

Hamstring Training Volume Guidelines

First, a few quick definitions of the Volume Landmarks:

Now, let's look at some common values for these Volume Landmarks. You can use these as helpful places to start thinking about or building your own program.

Best Hamstring Exercises

The following exercises are organized by category to ensure complete hamstring development. Each links to a technique video for proper form:

Exercise Selection and Variation Strategy

Within a training session, we recommend sticking to only one hamstring exercise because the hamstrings usually have a very low volume requirement and tolerance. Within a single week (microcycle) of training, we recommend between 2 and 3 different hamstrings exercises. One of them should probably be a hip hinge of some kind (SLDL, GM, etc.) and at least one should be a leg curl of some kind.

For example, if you train hamstrings 3x a week, you can do a heavy barbell stiff legged deadlift on one day, a lying hamstring curl on the next day, and a seated hamstring curl on the last day for 3 total exercises in the week. Because you want to keep exercises variations fresh for when you need to change exercises (through injury or staleness, for example), you should use as few exercises per week (and thus, per mesocycle, as we recommend keeping the same exercises in every week of each meso) as you can to get the job done.

When to Change Exercises

How do you know when it's time to switch out a given exercise from your rotation to another exercise in your list of effective choices? The decision is based on answering just a few questions about the exercise you're currently using:

• Are you still making gains in rep strength on the exercise?
• Is the exercise causing any aches or pains that are connective tissue related? And are these getting worse with each week or several weeks?
• Is there a phasic need for the exercise to change? In other words, is the exercise appropriate for the rep range you're trying to use it for? Example: barbell stiff legged deadlifts for sets of 25 just tire out your lower back, but seated leg curls for 25 fry out your hamstrings as intended.
• Are you getting a good mind-muscle connection on the exercise, or is it feeling stale and annoying to do?

If you are still hitting PRs on the exercise, it's not causing any undue pains, you're getting a good mind-muscle connection, and there's no other need to change it, then don't change it! If this means you keep an exercise around for up to a year or more, so be it!

Range of Motion and Technique

The hamstrings are designed to be stretched under load and get quite a bit of their growth stimulus from such motions. Proper range of motion is absolutely critical for hamstring development and injury prevention.

Optimal Loading and Rep Ranges

In general, like all muscles, the muscles of the hamstrings benefit from weights in the 30%-85% 1RM range, which in many people roughly translates to a weight that results in between 5 and 30 reps on a first set taken to failure. We can split this range into heavy (5-10,) moderate (10-20), and light (20-30) categories, as there are tradeoffs to make between all of them.

Rep Range Distribution Strategy

The first point on loading is that the hamstrings, like most muscles, seem to benefit from some training in all three of the rep ranges listed above. Because the moderate (10-20 rep) range often offers the best tradeoff between stimulus, fatigue, injury risk, and slow/fast fiber specificity, and mind-muscle connection, an argument can be made that a first-time program design could have most weekly working sets for the hamstrings in this range, perhaps up to about 50% of them. The other 50% can perhaps be split evenly between the heavy (5-10) and light (20-30) rep ranges, as loading range diversity has been shown to be a potential benefit in its own right. However, many lifters find that, especially in hip hinges, the hamstrings tend to respond best to the 5-10 range.

Exercise-Specific Rep Range Considerations

Weekly Training Sequence

When constructing a weekly training plan, it's probably a good idea to train the heavy ranges before the lighter ranges. Because both types of training cause fatigue, they all interfere with each other to some extent. However, the muscle and connective tissue damage from heavier training is likely more substantial and presents a higher risk of injury if some damage already exists from earlier training.

Rest Times Between Sets

When determining how long to rest between any two sets in training, our goal is for enough rest to be taken such that the next set is at least close to maximally productive. How can we ensure this? By answering 4 basic questions about our recovery status:

1. Has the target muscle locally recovered to do at least 5 reps on the next set?
2. Has the nervous system recovered enough to remove it as a limiting factor to target muscle performance?
3. Has the cardiorespiratory system recovered enough to remove it as a limiting factor to target muscle performance?
4. Have synergist muscles in the exercise being performed recovered enough to remove them as a limiting factors to target muscle performance?

It might take only 1-2 minutes to recover very well (let's say, 90%) on all of those factors, but because set to set recovery is asymptotic in nature, it might take another 3 minutes to get to 95% recovery and another 10 minutes more to get to 99% recovery. Since you only have so much time to spend in the gym, 10 "90% recovered sets" in 45 minutes of training is a much more anabolic stimulus than only 3 "99% recovered" sets in that same amount of time.

Practical Rest Time Assessment

Here's an example of what can be considered "very good" recovery between sets of hamstring training. Before you do another set of good mornings, ask yourself:

1. Are my hamstrings still burning from the last set, or do they feel ok again?
2. Do I feel like I can pull hard with my hamstrings again, and I am mentally ready for another hard set, or do I need more time to rest?
3. Is my breathing more or less back to normal, or is it still very heavy?
4. Are my glutes and lower back still very fatigued, or are they ready to support my hamstrings in the upcoming set of good mornings?

If you can get the green light on all of these, you're probably ready to do another set, and waiting much longer will almost certainly not be of benefit.

Training Frequency Optimization

There are two main considerations for determining training frequency. The first is the duration of the increase in muscle growth seen after a bout of training between MEV and MRV. If such an increase in muscle growth lasts 7 days, then perhaps a once a week frequency is optimal. If such an increase lasts only a day, then perhaps 6 days a week for the same muscle group is much better. While direct research on muscle growth timecourses is very limited, it seems that typical training might cause a reliable 24-48 hour increase in muscle growth. This would mean that if muscle growth elevation was the only variable of concern with regards to frequency, we should train every muscle 3-6 times per week.

However, the second main consideration on determining training frequency is recovery. A single bout of training between MEV and MRV causes muscle growth to occur, but it also presents some degree of fatigue. If we are to progress in training and allow adaptations to fully take hold over days and weeks, we must allow enough time to elapse between overloading sessions for at least most fatigue to dissipate.

Finding Your Optimal Frequency

How do you determine what training frequency is appropriate for you? You can start by training your hamstrings at per-session MEV volumes. After each session, you note when soreness has abated and when you feel recovered enough psychologically to attempt another overloading workout. When you're ready, and no later, go back to the gym and train hamstrings again, with volumes just a bit higher than MEV (using the RP Set Progression Algorithm).

Just so that you have some expectation of where to start, most individuals can recover from hamstring training at a timecourse that allows for 2-3 sessions of hamstrings per week at MEV-MRV volumes. However, only through direct experimentation on yourself can you tell where in this range is best for you and if maybe you're even outside of this range.

To improve your training frequency, you can alternate exercise selections between successive hamstring workouts. For example, if you do barbell stiff legged deadlifts on one day, you might do single-leg hamstring curls or lying leg curls the next day, and so on. This rotation of slightly different exercises and movement patterns can take repeated stress off of very small and specific parts of your muscles and connective tissues, which might reduce chronic injury risk exposure.

Periodization and Long-Term Programming

There are a few relevant timescales in periodization:

• The repetition (1-9 seconds)
• The set (5-30 repetitions)
• The exercise (1-5 sets)
• The session (2-6 exercises)
• The day (0-2 sessions)
• The microcycle (usually 1 week of training)
• The mesocycle (3-12 weeks)
• The block (1-4 mesoscycles)
• The macrocycle (1-4 blocks)

Mesocycle Structure

A mesocycle is composed of two phases: the accumulation phase and the deload phase. The accumulation phase lasts as long as it takes to hit systemic MRV, which, because fatigue accumulates in MEV+ training, has to happen at some point. For beginners with very high recovery abilities, it can take up to 12 weeks of increasingly more demanding training for systemic MRV to be reached and a deload to be required. For very advanced lifters that have very strong, large, and volume-resistant muscles, it can take only 3-4 weeks of accumulation training to reach systemic MRV and need to deload.

Weekly Progression Strategy

When you begin a mesocycle of training, you should probably begin at or close to your MEV for all the muscle groups you'd like to improve during that mesocycle. Week to week, you can manipulate working sets by using the Set Progression algorithm from the Training Volume Landmarks for Muscle Growth article. You should seek to keep reps stable from week to week while letting your RIR decline from a 3 or 4 RIR start until it gets down to 0 (for exercises that don't threaten the bar falling on you) or 1 (for those that do) in the last week of training.

Training Block Periodization

The training block is a sequence of mesoscycles strung together for one unifying purpose. For example, a muscle gain block may be 3 mesocycles of 6 weeks each, one after another, with weight gain the goal for all 18 of those total weeks.

Advanced Training Modalities

Straight Sets

Straight sets are sets performed to 0-4 RIR, with enough rest time to recover all 4 limiting factors. The hamstrings are very straightforward to train, are systemically fatiguing, and are often more fast-twitch dominant, so are ideally trained by straight sets. They should form the basis of most hamstring training.

Down Sets

Down sets are straight sets, but with less weight (usually 10-20% less) than the previous straight sets. By lowering the weight, you can keep reps over 5 per set, and/or keep the mind-muscle connection high and keep technique excellent to continue to have a high stimulus to fatigue ratio in every set of that exercise. Down sets can be excellent, especially because heavy hip hinges can so easily cause problems for the mind-muscle connection. A single lighter set of good mornings, for example, after a few heavier ones can add a lot of stimulus to the exercise.

Controlled Eccentrics and Pauses

Concentric, eccentric, and isometric phases of each exercise can be between half a second and 3 seconds long and still confer near-optimal effects on hypertrophy. In some cases, slowing down eccentrics and extending pauses can enhance technique, mind-muscle connection, and safety of the exercise. Rapid reversals at the stretched position are a bad idea for hamstring safety, so either a pause or slow reversal at the bottom of all hip hinges and curls is likely wise. Peak contractions can be used on curls, but be careful not to overuse them at the expense of load.

Myoreps

Myoreps are just like straight sets in that they must check all 4 recovery boxes before doing another set. However, they are different in two ways. First, while the first set is usually between 10-20 reps (0-2 RIR), the next multiple sets only rest long enough to get between 5 and 10 reps each. While these can look excellent for leg curls on paper, sometimes hamstrings can accumulate so much lactic acid after a few sets of myoreps that the pain is overwhelming and can detract from mind-muscle connection and from failure proximity on subsequent sets. Do these with a fair warning!

Drop Sets

Drop sets are exactly like myoreps, but with even shorter rest times because weight is reduced by 10-20% on average between each set. The effects are very similar. The advantage of drop sets is their time saving, and their slight disadvantage over myoreps is that dropping the weight a lot can reduce mind-muscle connection via reducing tension perception. These can work on leg curls, but be sure not to go so light as to reduce the mind-muscle connection.

Pre-Exhaust Supersets

These supersets begin with an isolation exercise for a given muscle group, and with no rest after taking it to 0-2 RIR, end with a compound exercise to which the target muscle is a big contributor. The hamstrings have such small requirements for volume and are so easily targeted with various exercises, they usually don't need pre-exhausts. But, for individuals who have trouble stimulating hamstrings with hip hinges, a set of lying or seated curls before a hip hinge set might be an idea to try.

Lengthened Partials

Direct experimentation has shown multiple times that loading the muscles when they are at their longest lengths is an extra boost to muscle growth. Thus, doing some bottom ½ or bottom 1/3 partials can be an effective training modality, especially when the bottom end is loaded heavily in the exercise in question. You can do entire sets of just lengthened partials, or do a normal ROM set and then finish the set with a superset of lengthened partials. Give it a shot!

Putting It All Together

This comprehensive guide provides everything you need to develop powerful, well-developed hamstrings through science-based training. Remember that the hamstrings are unique in their responsiveness to lower volumes and their requirement for perfect technique and full range of motion.

For those wanting to implement these principles without the complexity of manual programming, the RP Hypertrophy App automates all of these calculations and adjustments based on your individual responses.

Want to explore training for other muscle groups? Check out our Complete Hypertrophy Training Guide which covers evidence-based training for every major muscle group.