Prone Manual Hamstring Curl

Execution

1. Lie face down with your legs straight, arms resting comfortably or your forehead on the back of your hands.
2. Have your partner hold one heel firmly and start with light resistance.
3. Exhale and curl that heel toward your glutes while your partner resists just enough to slow you down, not stop you.
4. Keep your hips pressed into the mat so the movement comes from the knee, not the hips lifting.
5. Pause for a beat near the top, then inhale as your partner helps guide the leg back down with matching resistance.
6. Finish the set on one leg, then switch so your partner holds the other heel.

Quick cues

• Hips stay pinned to the mat.
• Partner slows, never blocks.
• Draw the heel to your glutes.
• Call out to change the resistance.
• Finish the set before switching legs.

Common faults

• Fault: The hips popping up off the mat to help the curl

  Fix: Press the hip bones down into the mat and cue the partner to watch for that lift.

• Fault: The partner resisting so hard the knee barely moves

  Fix: Agree on a resistance the leg can still move through in about 2 seconds.

• Fault: No communication about the resistance level

  Fix: Use a simple 1-10 call-out system between reps.

• Fault: Rushing through reps without control

  Fix: Slow the tempo to 2 seconds up and 2 seconds down on every rep.