Band-assisted Nordic curl

How to move

1. Fix a long resistance band high behind you, round a rack or a bar above head height, and loop the other end round your chest, under your arms.
2. Kneel on a thick pad facing away from the band, with your lower legs held by a partner or hooked under something solid and padded that can't move. The band should be just taut when you kneel upright.
3. Make a straight line from your knees to your head, brace your trunk and squeeze your glutes.
4. Lean forward from your knees as slowly as you can, braking with your hamstrings. The band stretches and takes more of your weight the further you go.
5. When you can't slow the fall any more, catch yourself on your hands, then push back up to kneeling.
6. As it gets easier, change to a lighter band, until you can lower yourself without one.

Form cues

• Keep your hips straight: don't bend at the waist.
• Choose a band that lets you control the lowering most of the way down.
• Avoid: dropping quickly to your hands as soon as you lean.

Practice and cautions

2 sets of 3 to 6 slow lowers, twice a week, moving from a heavier band to a lighter one over several weeks (our editorial starting point). The heavy-to-light band progression follows one small trial in 31 young footballers.

Check the band and its anchor before every set, and don't use a worn or nicked band, which can snap. Kneel on a thick pad. Expect sore hamstrings for a few days after the first sessions, so start with very few reps. With muscular dystrophy, leave out exercises that focus on lowering a heavy load or hard landings unless your neuromuscular team advises them. This is movement education, not an assessment or treatment prescription. Stop for sharp or increasing pain, dizziness, numbness or tingling; seek individual guidance for symptoms, injury or restrictions.