Banded Hamstring Curls
Banded hamstring curls bend your knee against a band anchored low, usually lying face down or standing. They isolate your hamstrings, with glutes helping to stabilise the hip. Pick them when you have no leg curl machine, or as a light warm-up and high-rep finisher for knee flexion work.
Muscles worked
The banded hamstring curls trains the hamstrings, with glutes helping.
Primary
Helpers
Weekly sets for hamstrings
Hard sets per week that Swole.fit plans for hamstrings, counting every exercise that trains it. Start a cycle near the growth line and climb toward the recovery limit before a deload.
How to do the banded hamstring curls
- 01Anchor a band low to a sturdy post and loop the other end around one or both ankles.
- 02Lie face down facing away from the anchor, legs straight, with enough distance that the band is already taut.
- 03Curl your heels toward your glutes by bending your knees against the band.
- 04Squeeze your hamstrings at the top without lifting your hips off the floor.
- 05Lower your legs slowly back to straight, keeping tension in the band.
Coaching cues
- Heels to glutes
- Hips pinned to the floor
- Slow on the way back
Common mistakes
- Lifting your hips to finish the curl lets your lower back help, so keep hips pressed into the floor.
- Letting the band yank your legs straight wastes the eccentric, so lower slowly against its pull.
- Setting up too close to the anchor leaves no tension at the start, so scoot back until the band is taut.
How Swole.fit programs it
Log it once and the app plans the next session for you.
- Most sets land between 8 and 15 reps, the range the plan steers isolation work toward for size.
- Week one starts around 2 to 3 reps in reserve. Each week you train a little closer to failure, ending around 0 to 1 in reserve before a deload week.
- Hit the top of the range on every set and the next session adds the smallest real jump in weight, rounded to the plates, dumbbells or stack you actually have.
- Sets for this exercise count toward your weekly volume for every muscle it trains: a full set for the primary muscles, half a set for the helpers.
The full method, with the maths, is in how mesocycles work.
Banded Hamstring Curls alternatives
Same muscles, different tool. Swap in one of these when the equipment is taken or your joints want a change.
Log it. Let the app plan the next one.
Track your banded hamstring curls free. Swole.fit picks the next weight, counts your weekly sets and tells you when to deload.