The leg curl is an exceptional movement for developing the hamstrings. Your hamstrings have two primary actions: hip extension and knee flexion. While only three of the four hamstring muscles contribute to hip extension, the action of knee flexion targets all of them. This makes knee-flexion movements vital to your regular programming, especially for individuals involved in high-speed running activities that place a high demand on resisting knee flexion.
If you don’t have access to a traditional seated or lying leg curl machine, you don’t have to skip direct hamstring work. There are other ways to rig up a substitute layout using equipment you can find at home or around the gym.
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Hips-Extended Machine Alternatives
Training your hamstrings with your hips extended changes the muscle fiber recruitment. Here are six ways to mimic a lying leg curl machine without one:
1. TRX or Suspension Trainer Leg Curl
Lay on your back on the floor and hook your feet into the bottom loops of a TRX, suspension trainer, or gymnastics rings. Press your feet down, lift your hips, and curl your heels in toward your body. You can adjust the challenge from easy to hard by how high you keep your hips locked out throughout the movement.
2. Slider Leg Curls
If you do not have a suspension trainer, you can perform a sliding leg curl on the floor using a rolling device (like a Flex Disc), standard furniture sliders, or a towel if you are on a hardwood floor. Lay on your back with your hands at your sides for support, extend your knees fully, and pull your heels as far back as possible.
Form Tip: Flex your toes up toward your shins (dorsiflexion) as you pull back rather than leaving your ankles loose. This prevents the slider from slipping and actively recruits the gastrocnemius (calf) muscle.
3. Stability Ball Leg Curl
Using a large exercise ball (though smaller ones can work too), lay on your back and place your heels on top of the ball. Lift your hips into a bridge position and roll the ball toward your glutes, adjusting the hip height to scale the difficulty from light to intense.
4. The Body Curl
Originally learned from Bret Contreras, this variation moves your body through space instead of moving your feet. Hang from a low barbell rack or a similar sturdy structure and place your feet elevated on a bench or box in front of you. Lift your hips up and pull your entire body forward by flexing your knees. This is an incredibly challenging movement, though it does carry the disadvantage of being very grip-intensive.
5. Dumbbell Leg Curl
If you lack suspension gear or sliders but have dumbbells, lay flat on your stomach on a weight bench (or flat on the floor). Secure a dumbbell vertically between your feet, grip the bench tightly for stability, and curl the weight up through a full range of motion. This variation works exceptionally well when using higher repetitions and a slow, controlled tempo.
6. Lying Banded Leg Curl
Loop a resistance band around a secure anchor point. Create a small loop inside the band on each side to slip your feet through, this prevents the band from sliding up and down your legs during the set. Lay down on a bench with your knees fully supported on the pads to keep your hips extended, and curl your heels toward your glutes against the band’s tension.
Hips-Flexed Machine Alternatives
To fully develop the hamstrings, you should combine hips-extended movements with hips-flexed movements to target the muscle fibers across different degrees.
7. Seated Banded Leg Curl
The standard way to perform a hips-flexed variation at home is to loop a resistance band to a low anchor point in front of you, sit in a chair, hook your ankles into the band, and pull your feet back under the chair. While this provides a baseline stimulus, it can be difficult to make sufficiently challenging.
8. Stable Lying Banded Leg Curl (Hips Flexed)
To create a much more stable and better-angled hips-flexed setup, get rid of the chair and anchor a resistance band up high. Lay on your back on the floor with your hips slid further back from the band’s anchor point to establish an optimal pull path. Slip your foot into the band and perform a leg curl by drawing your heel toward the floor. In this position, you can press your hands firmly into the ground to add stability, allowing you to completely focus on challenging the hamstring without worrying about keeping your leg elevated.
Advanced and Equipment-Based Alternatives
9. Nordic Curls & Razor Curls
The Nordic curl is an excellent bodyweight option that heavily taxes the hamstrings. Kneel on a pad and anchor your ankles securely. You can use a training partner to hold your legs, or build a DIY setup by sliding under a heavily weighted barbell packed with plates so it doesn’t roll or lift up. Keep your hips fully extended and slowly lower your torso to the floor, fighting the descent as long as possible.
- The Razor Curl: To shift into a hips-flexed variation, flex forward at the waist (hips bent) as you lower your body out, then pull yourself back up.
10. GHD (Glute Ham Developer) Leg Curls
If you train at a facility with a Glute Ham Developer, you can perform an elite leg curl variation. While a floor Nordic curl is binary and intensely difficult, a GHD allows you to scale the leverage to match your strength level. Anchor your feet in the foot pads against the roller. Sliding the foot apparatus further back away from the pad increases your mechanical leverage, making the movement easier so you can hit your target reps and sets. You can perform these with hips extended or as a hips-flexed razor curl.
Bonus: Cardio Equipment Slider (Rowing Machine or Treadmill)
You can leverage the sliding apparatus of common cardio machines to replicate a slider leg curl. On a rowing machine, lay on the floor next to the rail, place your heels securely on the moving seat, bridge your hips up, and curl the seat toward you. You can increase the challenge by adding a weight plate or dumbbell to your lap, or rigging resistance bands to pull against the rower. Note: A similar rolling execution can be performed using the belt of an unpowered treadmill by curling in and walking your feet back out.
Move, Lift, and Perform Like an Athlete
Building complete leg development requires intentional adjustments when standard gym machinery isn’t an option. Eliminate the guesswork from your accessory training and follow an evidence-based roadmap designed by professionals:
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Watch the Full Technical Breakdown
To see the exact setup for the banded foot loops, the body curl execution, and the GHD adjustments in action, check out the full guide here.