Are Glute Ham Raises the same as doing leg curls????

[Daio]

I mean they seem the same movement ie knee flexion.
Does this mean that they only engage ONE of the hamstring muscles, in the same way the leg curl does?

I know they are REALLY tough compared to leg curls, but are they effectively the same?

Cheers

[IDrinkBloodLOL]

IMO yeah, they're about the same. Except, you know, really really hard.

[chazzy1864]

IMO yeah, they're about the same. Except, you know, really really hard.

lawlz ^ that

[DJAuto]

Different movements will ALWAYS hit the muscle in slightly different ways, even if these ways are purely negligible.

[adamdavidson47]

I mean they seem the same movement ie knee flexion.
Does this mean that they only engage ONE of the hamstring muscles, in the same way the leg curl does?

I know they are REALLY tough compared to leg curls, but are they effectively the same?

Cheers

They are the same, but different.

[Daio]

OK cheers guys....thought Id read somewhere that GHR's activate all the hamstring muscles, but it would seem not...cheers

[ChinUp4Life]

There's a couple considerations to this.

I am personally a big believer in GHR, however I have only been able to do modified natural GHR on a lat pulldown machine or something similar. As a result, it has really added size and strength from the calves to the hamstring behind the knee.

A GHR machine allows for more possibilities and is quite a bit easier since you have a pad beneath the upper legs. The GHR machine potentially allows for more of a stretch at the bottom.

For leg curls, you've probably heard they aren't as functional and I imagine this is true but I don't do leg curls anyway, and it also depends on your goals.

I can do about 10 natural GHR with pretty good form and the best benefit I've noticed is an improvement in sprinting, deadlifting, and bottom of the squats. As for muscle growth, the calves definitely get hit well and there is much more thickness behind the knee.

[ironwill2008]

I mean they seem the same movement ie knee flexion.
Does this mean that they only engage ONE of the hamstring muscles, in the same way the leg curl does?

I know they are REALLY tough compared to leg curls, but are they effectively the same?

The two exercises are very different.

Leg Curls work the hams from only the knee joint, where GHRs work the hams completely from knees as well as hips. If you have a proper GHR bench available, use it.

[poloralphloren]

The two exercises are very different.

Leg Curls work the hams from only the knee joint, where GHRs work the hams completely from knees as well as hips. If you have a proper GHR bench available, use it.

Yeah, these are actually very different exercises. Curls involve only knee flexion, whereas GHRs also involve hip extension. So with GHRs you do hit more of the hamstring, but you also hit a host of other muscles a lot more, including the erectors and, shocker, the glutes.

[Saintsqc]

Your question is similar to "Are squats the same as doing leg press?"...

The two exercises are very different.

Leg Curls work the hams from only the knee joint, where GHRs work the hams completely from knees as well as hips. If you have a proper GHR bench available, use it.

this!