Hamstrings

  Strong, sexy thighs - minus the jiggle

It’s one thing to have a bounce in your step, but it’s quite another when that bounce is more of a jiggle, and it’s coming from the back of your thighs.

It doesn’t need mentioning that when toning the legs, the thigh portion is one of a woman’s biggest trouble spots. It’s a place where weight tends to go and stick. But it doesn’t have to be that way, if you know what muscles you have to work with and how best to target them.

What are hamstrings and where are they located?

The term hamstrings refers to the muscles that run along the back of the upper leg from butt to knee. They are the biceps femoris, the semitendinosus and the semimembranosus.

What do they do?

Hamstrings flex the knees, bringing feet towards butt. They also move legs backward by extending the hip. When legs are in a fixed position and the torso bent, the hamstrings assist in extending the torso upright. The hamstring muscles work as antagonists to the quadriceps to allow us to walk, run and jump. They also help control torso movement.

Why you should strengthen your hammies

More muscular hamstrings (and more muscle overall) equals a higher metabolism, which in time will mean fat loss from your entire body. Some women shy away from working their upper legs because they feel they are already too big and adding muscle will only make the problem worse. As is pointed out in female muscle myths, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

On a related note, although building muscle in your thighs won’t make cellulite disappear, it can make it a lot less noticeable.

When you have strong, flexible hamstrings you’ll be able to more safely participate in activities that require bursts of speed, jumps or quick stops and starts, such as softball, soccer and basketball.

Exercises that target the hamstrings

• Good mornings - In this move you hold a weighted bar behind your head, resting it across the shoulders and holding it just wider than shoulder width. Legs should be bent slightly while you hinge forward at the waist until your torso is almost parallel to the floor. Engage hamstrings to bring your torso back to the starting position.
• Stiff-legged deadlift - Stand with legs straight, holding a weighted bar at your thighs with extended arms. The movement is the same as in good mornings. The bar should only move as a consequence of your torso movements, so it will almost touch the ground when you bend. Don’t try to involve your arms in the exercise.
• Leg press - For this exercise to really isolate the hamstrings you’ll want to use a decline leg press machine. Sit with your back straight on the angled seat and put feet high on the press plate. In a fluid movement, press the plate with heels until legs are only slightly bent and then lower it until legs are at a 90 degree angle.
• Leg curl - This hamstring isolation exercise is also done on a machine. Some machines allow the user to sit; others require them to lay face-down on a bench. In essence a leg curl is when you bend your legs at the knee against resistance in the form of weights or cables.