Best Bodyweight Exercises for Hamstrings — Top 10
Bodyweight training is training anywhere with no equipment. Here are the best bodyweight exercises for targeting your hamstrings, ranked by effectiveness. Bodyweight training builds relative strength, body control, and joint resilience with zero equipment.
Ranked by hamstrings muscle activation percentage, range of motion quality with bodyweight, and progressive overload potential.
The Nordic curl is one of the most effective hamstring exercises and the gold standard for eccentric hamstring strength. Research shows it significantly reduces hamstring injury rates in athletes.
Key Form Cue
Kneel on a pad with your feet anchored under something heavy or by a partner.
The glute-ham raise works both functions of the hamstrings — knee flexion and hip extension — in a single movement. It builds bulletproof hamstrings and requires serious posterior chain strength.
Key Form Cue
Set up on a GHD machine with your knees on or just behind the pad.
The floor glute-ham raise is a bodyweight exercise where you kneel and slowly lower your torso toward the floor using only hamstring strength. It is one of the most challenging hamstring exercises and develops eccentric strength that protects against pulls.
Key Form Cue
Kneel on a pad and anchor your heels under something heavy or have a partner hold them.
The Swiss ball leg curl uses an exercise ball to create an unstable hamstring curl that demands core stability. Lie on your back with heels on the ball, bridge up, then roll the ball toward your glutes using hamstring flexion.
Key Form Cue
Lie on your back and place your heels on top of a Swiss ball.
The pistol squat is a single-leg squat performed to full depth with the non-working leg extended in front. It demands exceptional quad strength, ankle mobility, hip flexibility, and balance — making it the ultimate bodyweight quad exercise.
Key Form Cue
Stand on one leg with the other leg extended straight out in front of you.
The single-leg hip thrust doubles the load on each glute by removing one leg from the equation. With your upper back on a bench and one foot planted, thrust upward using only the working-side glute for maximum unilateral development.
Key Form Cue
Set up as for a standard hip thrust with your upper back on a bench.
The Bulgarian split squat is a unilateral leg exercise that crushes the quads and glutes while improving balance and fixing muscular imbalances. Elevate your rear foot on a bench and squat down on one leg.
Key Form Cue
Stand about 2 feet in front of a bench with your rear foot elevated on it.
Walking lunges build functional single-leg strength, balance, and coordination. Each step challenges your quads, glutes, and stabilizer muscles in a way that bilateral exercises cannot.
Key Form Cue
Take a long step forward and lower your back knee toward the ground.
The glute bridge is the foundational glute exercise. Lying on the floor, you drive your hips up by squeezing your glutes. It is simpler than the hip thrust and is an excellent warm-up or standalone exercise.
Key Form Cue
Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart.
The reverse lunge is easier on the knees than forward lunges because you decelerate into the back leg. It builds single-leg strength and is excellent for lifters with knee issues.
Key Form Cue
Stand tall with dumbbells at your sides or a barbell on your back.
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