Leg Curl
The leg curl is a machine exercise where you bend your knees against a padded lever, done seated, lying or standing depending on your gym. It isolates the hamstrings through knee flexion. Use it alongside hinges like Romanian deadlifts, since those train the hamstrings at the hip instead.
Muscles worked
The leg curl trains the hamstrings.
Primary
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 leg curl
- 01Set the machine so your knees line up with its pivot point.
- 02Place the ankle pad on your lower calves, just above your heels.
- 03Brace your body against the pads and hold the handles so you don't shift during the set.
- 04Curl the pad toward your glutes as far as the machine allows.
- 05Lower slowly until your legs are almost straight, keeping tension in the hamstrings.
Coaching cues
- Heels toward your glutes
- Control the way down
- Keep your hips still
Common mistakes
- Placing the pad on your Achilles or mid calf changes the leverage, so set it just above your heels.
- Letting your hips rise or shift to finish reps reduces hamstring work, so brace into the pads and reduce load.
- Cutting the stretch at the start skips the most productive range, so let your knees nearly straighten each rep.
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.
Leg Curl alternatives
Same muscles, different tool. Swap in one of these when the equipment is taken or your joints want a change.
Free programs that use it
Ready-made splits from the Swole.fit library. Pick one and the app runs the progression.
- Leg Destroyer3 days a week, quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes
- Pump & Circumstance3 days a week, chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps
- Push Pull Legs3 days a week, chest, back, shoulders, quadriceps
- Upper Body Classic3 days a week, chest, back, shoulders
- Heavy Light4 days a week, chest, back, quadriceps, hamstrings
- Leg Specialization4 days a week, quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes
Log it. Let the app plan the next one.
Track your leg curl free. Swole.fit picks the next weight, counts your weekly sets and tells you when to deload.