Standing Leg Curl
A machine hamstring curl done standing, one leg at a time: with a pad behind your ankle and your thigh against a support, you curl your heel up toward your glutes.
- Primary muscles
- Hamstrings
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- Weight × reps
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Why do it
The standing leg curl isolates each hamstring with your hip straight, much like the lying curl, but one leg at a time and without lying down. It's a good option if lying face down is uncomfortable, or if you want single-leg hamstring work on a dedicated machine. Loads tend to be light, so treat it as a controlled exercise with a short squeeze at the top rather than a strength lift.
How to do it
Stand at the machine with the pad against the back of one ankle and your thigh against the support, holding the handles.
Curl your heel up toward your glutes as far as it goes.
Squeeze the hamstring at the top for a moment.
Lower slowly until your leg is straight, then switch legs. Keep your hips pressed into the pad so you do not swing.
Common mistakes
Swinging the leg up
Kicking the weight up with momentum skips the squeeze at the top. Curl smoothly, hold for a moment with your heel near your glutes, then lower.
Hips coming off the pad
Pushing your hips back or forward to help the curl turns it into a whole-body movement. Keep your hips pressed into the pad so only your knee bends.
Rising onto the toes of your standing leg
Going up on your toes or locking the standing knee hard shifts you around in the machine. Keep the standing foot flat with a soft knee.
Not straightening the leg between reps
Stopping short at the bottom skips the start of the next rep. Lower slowly until the leg is straight, then curl again.
Sets, reps and progression
How many sets you do and how close to failure you take them depend on your goal and your week, not on the exercise. These guides cover it:
Alternatives that train the same thing
Same movement, a different angle or piece of equipment.
