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Secret
Training Tip #961 - Hanging Dumbell Leg Curls
By Nick
Nilsson
Need a new
hamstring and inner thigh exercise? Have I
got one for you! This unique hamstring exercise will give
you an extremely intense contraction. It's the perfect
exercise to finish off your legs.
If you've ever done concentration
curls for your biceps, you know exactly how intense the contraction can be.
If you've ever done them without your arm braced against your leg, you know
that the contraction can be even stronger. This exercise gives you this kind
of intense contraction for the hamstrings. The execution of the exercise also
provides a great inner thigh workout!
To do this exercise, you
will need either a chin-up bar (if your grip is strong) or a hanging abdominal
chair (the one that has a back-rest and two padded arm rests but no seat - used
to do leg raises). Your legs will be hanging free as you're doing the exercise
(there will be a link with pictures of this exercise at the end of this article).
The Ab Chair variation will eliminate grip strength as a factor, allowing you
to concentrate completely on your hamstrings. The chin-up bar hanging, however,
will help to greatly improve your grip strength.
There will be a link to
pictures of this set-up at the end of the article.
Start with a fairly light
dumbell to get an idea of how the exercise works and what amount of weight you
can use for it.
Set a dumbell horizontally
between your ankles with the front plates at the top of your feet and the handle
directly between your ankles and pinch your feet together to support it. It
is this pinching that will really hit the inner thighs hard.
Now comes the tricky part.
You will need to reach up and hang from the chin-up bar or set yourself in the
Ab Chair while keeping the dumbell pinched in between your feet. You can stand
on a bench or box to do this exercise or you can also do this in reverse order.
Set the dumbell on the bench or box, get into hanging position/ab chair position,
then reach out with your legs and pinch the dumbell between your ankles. You
will need to stand the dumbell on end in order to accomplish this. You won't
be able to get your feet under the dumbell plates otherwise. Alternatively,
you can have a spotter set the dumbell between your feet while you're hanging.
Be sure you have a good
grip on the bar/chair then leg curl the dumbell up behind you. Squeeze your
hamstrings as hard as you can at the top (you most likely won't have a choice
at this point!) then lower the dumbell back down slowly. The movement is an
exact duplicate of the bent-over, free-hanging dumbell concentration curl for
the biceps of your arm. You should feel a strong contraction in your hamstrings
from the curl movement and a good burn starting in your inner thighs from the
effort of keeping the dumbell pinched and supported.
To prevent forward motion
of your knees, have a spotter brace your thighs so you don't swing forward during
the movement. Keeping your thighs from swinging forward (and your hips from
flexing) also serves to keep the hip extended throughout the movement, which
will increase the contraction.
If you don't have a partner
available to brace your thighs, you can accomplish this in the power rack. Set
another bar at thigh level in the rack so you can use that to brace against.
A good variation of the
Hanging Dumbell Leg Curl is to almost do a hanging knee raise with a dumbell
between your feet. Your knees will come slightly up in front and you'll pull
the dumbell straight up, not in an arc like in the regular version.
This version involves your
hip flexors so you must concentrate on pulling the dumbell straight up to your
butt as high as you can, pulling up with your hamstrings rather than with your
hip flexors. The hip flexor assistance and improved leverage will allow you
to use much heavier weight for this version of the exercise.
Give the Hanging Dumbell
Leg Curl a try on your next leg training day. It's certain to give you one of
the strongest contractions you've ever felt in your hamstrings.
To view pictures of this
exercise in action, including set-up, go to:
Nick Nilsson is Vice-President
of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical
Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for
more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including
"Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've
Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!"
and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available
at (http://www.fitness-ebooks.com).
He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.
