Exercise guide · evidence-graded

Glute Ham Raise

The glute-ham raise is a hamstring exercise on a glute-ham developer (GHD) bench: with your feet locked in and thighs on a pad, you extend your hips and then bend your knees to pull your straight body up to vertical. It trains the hamstrings through both of their jobs, hip extension and knee flexion, with the glutes and calves assisting.

Also called: GHR, GHD Raise, Glute-Ham Developer Raise, Glute-Ham Gastroc Raise · Equipment: machine · Pattern: hinge

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How to do it

Step by step

Set the footplate so the front of your knees sits just behind the edge of the thigh pad, leaving your hips free to move over it. Lock your ankles under the rollers with the balls of your feet on the plate.
Start with your body upright and knees bent, thighs on the pad. Cross your arms over your chest, brace your trunk and squeeze your glutes so your body is straight from knees to shoulders.
Keeping that straight line, let your knees straighten slowly so your body travels forward and down, resisting with your hamstrings.
When your body reaches about horizontal, let your hips bend so your torso hangs down over the pad.
From the bottom, squeeze your glutes and extend your hips until your torso is in line with your thighs.
Press the balls of your feet into the plate and pull with your hamstrings to bend your knees, bringing your straight body back up to vertical.
Finish with your ribs down and glutes squeezed, without arching your back. Breathe out near the top and re-brace before the next rep.
If the full range is out of reach, work within the range you can control, or push lightly off a band or your hands at the bottom.

Coaching cues

Straight line from knees to shoulders
Balls of your feet pressed into the plate
Hips first, then knees on the way up
Take the way down slowly
Ribs down and glutes squeezed at the top

In VALDA, these cues are one tap away on the exercise while you train.

Muscles worked

What it trains

Muscle	Role	Evidence
Hamstrings: biceps femoris (long head)	Prime mover	B
Hamstrings: semitendinosus	Prime mover	C
Hamstrings: biceps femoris (short head)	Secondary	C
Hamstrings: semimembranosus	Secondary	C
Gluteus maximus	Secondary	C
Gastrocnemius: medial/lateral head	Secondary	C
Erector spinae	Stabiliser	D

Evidence grades: A = strong research base · B = good · C = limited · D = coaching consensus.

Common faults

What goes wrong, and the fix

Knees too far over the pad

Fix: Set the footplate so the front of your knees sits just behind the pad edge.

Piking at the hips

Fix: Hold a straight line from knees to shoulders; shorten the range until you can keep it.

Arching the low back at the top

Fix: Finish with ribs down and glutes squeezed, body in one straight line.

Dropping through the bottom

Fix: Work only the range you can control, with a band or a hand push assisting the bottom.

Feet loose on the plate

Fix: Lock your ankles under the rollers and press the balls of your feet into the plate.

Programming

What the research says

StrengthMuscle growthRehab & prehabGeneral fitnessSport performance

Hamstring activation — An EMG study of heavy hamstring exercises found hamstring activity was highest in the glute-ham raise and the Romanian deadlift, above the leg curl and good morning. EMG measures activation, not growth.
Hip and knee actions — A training study found hip-extension work grew the long head of biceps femoris more than the knee-flexion Nordic curl, while both grew the semitendinosus. The glute-ham raise combines both actions but was not tested directly, and many lifters pair it with a hip hinge.- **Volume and effort.** Research links more weekly sets for a muscle to more growth, with diminishing returns, and finds sets that finish a few reps short of failure capture most of the benefit.
Introducing it — A common coaching approach is to start with a few sets and build volume over several weeks, because the long-length eccentric often brings heavy muscle soreness when it is new. There is no direct research on dosing the glute-ham raise.

Alternatives · VALDA FLEX

Swap it mid-workout

With VALDA Pro, FLEX offers alternatives like these when you swap an exercise mid-workout.

Log the glute ham raise in VALDA, with these cues one tap away while you train and your history for it in one place.

General information about exercise technique, not medical advice. If you have an injury or a health condition, your healthcare provider is the right person to ask.