Even if you never skip legs day, you could be setting yourself up a lower-body injury.
Muscle imbalances—often caused by paying too much attention to one muscle and not enough to another—are a common cause of injury.
Weak hamstrings in particular, when opposed by strong quads, can increase your risk of pulled muscles and knee, hip, and ankle injuries.
For guys who build their legs days around squats and other quad-dominant exercises like lunges and split squats, incorporating a targeted hamstring move such as the seated band leg curl is an insurance policy for your legs.
“The seated band leg curl is a throwback exercise that powerlifters have used for decades to bring up lagging hamstrings and make their squats and deadlifts better, but also to shape out the back of the leg,” says Men’s Health Fitness Director BJ Gaddour, C.S.C.S.
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Watch the video above to see how to perform the exercise with proper technique.
“You can do these between sets of squats, which will actually flood blood to the hamstrings and give you a more stable squat position,” Gaddour says. “You can also finish off your workout by doing 100 reps in as few sets as possible.”
Additional reporting by Kelsey Cannon
