Willgetnice’s BodyBlog

Doing legs today I tried stiff legged deadlifts as my first hamstring exercise. Normally I would do standing leg curls or lying leg curls before stiff legs, but I had spent adequate time warming up on the bike and stretched enough to feel comfortable to begin my workout with them. I know it’s common to feel your lower back being slightly worked doing these, as opposed to regular deadlifts where your lower back is being utilized much more, but I feel as though my lower back is assisting my hamstring movements too much.

During lying leg curls later in my leg workout I could feel my lower back coming into play again during the movement. I went a lot lighter than I normally would have and focused on the neurological connection for strictly using my hamstrings, with exaggerated rep tempos and pauses at the top and bottom of each movement, really focusing on the stretch and contraction of my hamgstring. Still, I felt my lower back assisting more than I believe it should be.

Any tips or suggestions? I wish I could have taken videos of my movements so you guys could critique my form, but I’m always concerned with performing all my exercises with as strict form as I can manage, occasionally doing cheat reps just to keep things intense without risking injury.