That’s it for today. Before you go, please remember to sign up for my free newsletter in the upper right, and let’s on connect on Twitter, Facebook, and You Tube.
Over the past two years I’ve become a big fan of sliding leg curls, and I’ve showed a ton of different variations here on my blog.
Today I want to share a progression of the sliding leg curl: the hamstring bodycurl.
With a sliding leg curl you have your shoulders on the floor with your feet on sliders, whereas with the bodycurl, it’s in reverse; you’re feet are on the floor with your shoulders on a sliding surface. This is harder since you have to pull more of your bodyweight.
I didn’t come up with this idea. I got it from Mike Boyle, who I believe got it from Karen Wood, though don’t hold me to that. In any case, it’s a great exercise.
You can do it a number of ways. The easiest is with your shoulders on a slideboard, or a similar slippery surface, with a towel between you and the surface.
If you’re on turf though, you can also put Valslides underneath a plate and create a makeshift slideboard of sorts.
Here’s a video of how it’s done.
Notice that I have some weight vests slung over my hips. That’s to increase the challenge for the glutes (you could also use chains, and I’m progressing towards using a barbell). Done as a bodyweight exercise—which is also great and very challenging in its own right—it stresses more hamstring than glute, but loading the hips increases the challenge for the glutes quite a bit.
To progress bodycurls even further, you can go to doing them one leg at a time. This took me a while to work up to, so be patient. They look pretty innocuous, but I’m telling you right now, they’re brutal.
If you’re looking for ways to progress sliding leg curls and step up your hamstring game, this might be something to try. Have fun!
For more exercise demos you can also subscribe to my You Tube page, which I update frequently.
But first, I want to remind those of you who don’t already subscribe to my free newsletter (sign up to the right) to please do so. I’ve been a little better about sending out regular updates, so that’s a good way to stay in the loop.
Moving on.
Here’s a blog you may have missed from Thursday. Definitely watch this video.
If you’re in need of some motivation, I’ve got just the thing.
This morning my awesome client Julie—45 year-old supermom of three—crushed 25 feet-elevated pushups with great form.
Go Julie!
Pretty darn impressive if you ask me. Julie is such a nice a woman and has been working very hard to get stronger, and it definitely shows. Hard work and consistency really goes a long way.
This really motivates me to step up my pushup game, and I hope it does for you too.
If you know of any women that think they’ll never be able to do good pushups or make excuses to avoid trying to learn them, please share this with them to give them that little extra push they might need.
I was out of town last weekend so I didn’t do a Good Reads, so I made up for it this week with an extra-awesome list.
Here are a few blog posts you may’ve missed. I’ve been getting a lot of great feedback on the two RDL variations from people that are trying them out and liking them, so that’s really nice to see.
Before you go, let’s connect on Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube. Oh, and please remember to sign up for my free newsletter at the top of the page to stay updated on my writings. Thanks!
by John Romaniello and Adam Bornstein debuted on the New York Times Bestseller list, so that’s pretty freakin’ sweet. Check it out if you haven’t done so already.
