Sliding Hamstring Curl

Execution

1. Lie on your back with one heel on the towel or slider, the other leg straight on the floor and both arms flat at your sides.
2. Brace your belly lightly, keeping your low back in contact with the floor and your hips resting down for the whole set.
3. Exhale and draw the working heel along the floor toward your hips until the knee is as bent as is comfortable.
4. Keep both hip points level, without twisting the pelvis or pushing your body sideways as the heel slides in.
5. Inhale and slide the heel back out over 3 seconds to straighten the leg, keeping light pressure of the heel into the floor.
6. Finish the reps on one side, move the towel to the other foot and match the same number of reps.

Quick cues

• Hips stay down on the floor.
• Slide the heel slow and even.
• Keep light pressure into the floor.
• Keep both hip points level.
• Finish the side before you switch.

Common faults

• Fault: The low back arching off the floor as the heel slides out

  Fix: Brace the belly lightly so the low back stays in contact, and shorten the slide if you need to.

• Fault: The hips tilting toward the working side

  Fix: Keep both hip points level, checking with your hands on your hip bones.

• Fault: Sliding too fast so the heel skids past control

  Fix: Slow the tempo to 2-3 seconds each direction.

• Fault: The surface too grippy for the heel to slide

  Fix: Use a smoother towel or a proper slider disc on a hard floor.