Hamstrings, eccentric

Nordic curl

Ankles anchored, kneel tall, and lower the whole body forward as slowly as the hamstrings allow, hands ready to catch. The single best-evidenced injury-prevention exercise in sport: programs built on it roughly halve hamstring injuries.

How to do it

1. 01Kneel on something soft and anchor your ankles: under a couch, a bar, or a partner's hands.
2. 02Grow tall from knees to head, hips open, hands ready at your chest.
3. 03Lower the whole line of your body forward as slowly as the hamstrings can control.
4. 04When they give out, catch yourself with your hands and push back up to kneeling; three to five reps.

Mistakes that waste your reps

• ×Breaking at the hips so the body folds instead of lowering as one line.
• ×Expecting full control on week one; falling early is the exercise working.
• ×Skipping the soft pad and letting the kneecaps grind.

Where this comes from

Discomfort that eases as you move is normal; pain that sharpens is a stop sign. If this area is injured or persistently painful, a clinician outranks this page.

Written by Kyle Jenkin · updated August 31, 2026 · how we grade evidence

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