Prone Leg Curl
The lying leg curl is a machine hamstring exercise: you lie face down, hook your ankles under a padded lever and bend your knees to curl the pad towards your glutes. It works all of the hamstrings through knee bending, with the calves helping, and it is the most common way to train the hamstrings on their own.
Also called: Lying Leg Curl, Face Down Leg Curl, Lying Hamstring Curl, Prone Hamstring Curl · Equipment: machine · Pattern: pull
Step by step
- Set the machine so your knees line up with its pivot point when you lie face down, and the ankle pad sits just above your heels.
- Lie face down with your knees just past the end of the bench pad and hold the handles.
- Press your hips into the pad and pull your toes towards your shins.
- Bend your knees to curl the pad towards your glutes in one smooth movement, keeping your hips down.
- Squeeze the backs of your thighs at the top for a moment.
- Straighten your knees under control until your legs are almost straight, keeping the weight stack off its rest.
- After the last rep, let the weight settle gently before climbing off the machine.
- Hips pinned to the pad
- Toes pulled to your shins
- Heels to your glutes
- Squeeze, then straighten slowly
- Smooth start, no kick
In VALDA, these cues are one tap away on the exercise while you train.
What it trains
| Muscle | Role | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Hamstrings: biceps femoris (long head) | Prime mover | B |
| Hamstrings: biceps femoris (short head) | Prime mover | B |
| Hamstrings: semitendinosus | Prime mover | B |
| Hamstrings: semimembranosus | Prime mover | B |
| Gastrocnemius: medial/lateral head | Secondary | C |
| Gracilis | Secondary | D |
| Sartorius | Stabiliser | D |
Evidence grades: A = strong research base · B = good · C = limited · D = coaching consensus.
What goes wrong, and the fix
Hips lifting off the pad
Fix: Press your hips into the pad and use a load you can curl with them down.
Kicking the weight up
Fix: Curl in one smooth movement and pause for a moment at the top.
Pad on the calves
Fix: Set the ankle pad just above your heels before the first rep.
Knees out of line with the pivot
Fix: Line your knees up with the machine's pivot point before you start.
Dropping the weight
Fix: Straighten slowly and keep the weight stack off its rest between reps.
Partial top range
Fix: Curl your heels as close to your glutes as you can without the hips lifting.
What the research says
Muscle growth · first choiceRehab & prehabGeneral fitnessEndurance
- Hip angle — In a 12-week trial, leg curls done seated (hips bent) grew the hamstrings more than curls done lying (hips straight), about 14% vs 9%. The short head, which crosses only the knee, grew similarly with both.
- Knee versus hip exercises — A 10-week study found a hip-extension exercise grew the long head of the biceps femoris more than a knee-bending exercise (the Nordic curl), while both grew the semitendinosus. Many lifters pair a leg curl with a hip hinge such as a Romanian deadlift.
- Muscle activity — Lab studies place the leg curl among the exercises with the highest hamstring activity. That is a measure of activity, not of growth.
- Load and effort — Research comparing loads finds muscle growth is similar across a wide range of loads when sets are taken close to failure. Studies show sets that finish a few reps short of failure capture most of the growth benefit.
- Volume and frequency — Research links more weekly sets for a muscle to more growth, with diminishing returns. Around 10 or more hard sets a week has been associated with more growth than fewer than 5, and training a muscle about twice a week is a common way to spread that volume.
Swap it mid-workout
- Leg Curl
- Seated Leg Curl
- Cable Hamstring Curl
- Glute Ham Raise
- Kettlebell Single-Arm Swing
- Kettlebell Single-Leg Deadlift
With VALDA Pro, FLEX offers alternatives like these when you swap an exercise mid-workout.
Log the prone leg curl 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.