Glute ham exercises are the most underrated exercises out there. This type of exercises strengthens hamstrings at both the hip and the knee joint by working its two main functions: hip extension and knee flexion simultaneously. If you belong to a group of people who completely overlooked glute ham exercises read on any find out how you can benefit from one of the most important posterior chain exercises.
Why you need to train your hamstrings?
Glute ham exercise strengthen your hamstrings which in turn improve your sprinting speed, jumping ability, and make it easier for you to perform many other exercise like dead lift, squat etc. Basically, by doing glute ham exercises you are improving the performance of all other exercises in your workout routine.
Benefits of glute ham exercises
Here are all the amazing benefits of glute ham exercises that will help you build yourself:
- Glute ham exercises and workout tips, work more muscles than traditional leg curls.
- They prevent hamstring strains and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, especially in women
- Enhance performance
- Used by athletes and world’s best power-lifters
- Beneficial for people with back pain as glute ham exercises put less stress on lower back etc.
What does science say?
Bearing in mind that our hamstrings are unique in terms they cross two joints (knee and hip joint) and the fact hamstrings include three different muscles that are located in the back of our legs, scientists wanted to explore the best way to train them. Why? It’s because muscles that cross more than one joint, like hamstrings, can be highly improved and become powerful which enables us to perform other exercises more efficiently.
In order to find to find out the best way to train our hamstrings, a group of scientists conducted a study whose results were published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Study included 12 participants, young men, and each participant had a few years of experience in weight training. Four exercises were examined: glute ham exercises, Romanian dead lift (RDL), the good morning, and leg curl.
All exercises were tested at 85% of 1 RM and results
showed that RDL and glute ham
exercises produced higher muscle activation than other exercises examined by
scientists. Of these two (RDL and glute ham) the latter one produced more
intense concentric activity.
Therefore, if you want to improve performance of other exercises and to maximize involvement of hamstring musculature you should, definitely, start with glute ham exercises.
When to do glute ham exercise?
Ideally, it should be done after dead lifts or squats.
How many sets and repetitions should I do?
You should do 3 sets (6-10 reps).
Conclusion
Glute ham exercises are extremely beneficial, especially if you want to build your body and get into the best shape of your life. The great advantage of this exercise is the fact its benefits were proven by scientific research. Glute ham exercises allow you to strengthen your hamstrings and perform other exercises from your workout routine more easily, including your sprint speed.
Reference
- http://glozine.com/
- https://consumerhealthdigest.com/
- http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/the-king-of-hamstring-exercises