A smart hamstring workout for athletes does more than build muscle. It protects you from strains, keeps your sprint mechanics sharp, and helps you produce and absorb force on the field or track. If you want a hamstring workout for athletes that builds strength fast, you need to blend sprinting, lengthened-position strength work, and a bit of mobility.
The guide below walks you through why your hamstrings matter, how to warm them up, and the exact exercises you can plug into your training this week.
Understand what your hamstrings actually do
Your hamstrings are a group of three muscles on the back of your thigh. They help you extend the hip, bend the knee, and control your leg as it swings forward and hits the ground when you run. They play a major role in both the stance and swing phases of your running stride, which is why they are so involved in sprinting and change-of-direction work.
For athletes, strong hamstrings are especially important to avoid injury and to support overall lower-body strength and stability. You should not expect hamstring strength alone to turn you into a world-class sprinter, but it is a key foundation for healthy, powerful movement.
Hamstring strains are also among the most common injuries in sports like soccer, basketball, and baseball, often occurring when the muscle is stretched at high speed or loaded suddenly. A well-planned hamstring workout helps lower that risk while improving your performance.
Warm up your hamstrings the right way
Before you start loading your hamstrings, you need to raise your body temperature and move through ranges of motion that feel similar to your sport.
Begin with 5 to 10 minutes of light cardio, such as easy jogging or cycling. Then move into dynamic stretches that target your hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. Research on hamstring mobility suggests that combining dynamic hamstring stretches before workouts with static stretches afterward improves flexibility and helps prevent small muscle tears and soreness.
Think of the warm up as rehearsal. You are not trying to feel a deep stretch. You are teaching your muscles and nervous system the movements you will perform at higher speeds and under heavier loads.
Quick rule of thumb: dynamic before you train or play, static after you finish.
Test your hamstring flexibility first
Many athletes assume their hamstrings are tight, but often you actually have enough flexibility for your sport. You might be limited more by strength, control, or pelvic positioning than by the muscle length itself.
A simple way to check your hamstring flexibility is the straight leg raise test. Lie on your back, keep one leg straight on the ground, and raise the other leg with the knee fully extended until you feel tension in the back of your thigh. If you can reach roughly 80 degrees or more between your thigh and the ground, you likely have good hamstring flexibility for most field and court sports.
If you fall short of that or feel a clear difference side to side, you can make flexibility and mobility work a slightly higher priority in your hamstring workout for athletes. Just remember that you still need strength at those new ranges of motion, not just looser muscles.
Build strength where injuries actually happen
Hamstring injuries often occur when the muscle is lengthened and working hard, such as in the late swing phase of sprinting. That is why exercises that load the hamstrings in a stretched position are so valuable.
Lengthening eccentric exercises like the Nordic hamstring exercise, Romanian deadlift, and specific lengthened-position drills such as Askling’s “extender,” “diver,” and “glider” have become central in hamstring rehab. They have been shown to support more effective recovery and lower the risk of reinjury compared to more conventional programs.
For prevention, Nordic hamstring exercises done three times per week during a 10 week preseason, followed by shorter weekly maintenance sessions, have been shown to significantly reduce hamstring injury rates in athletes like football players. Eccentric hamstring strength is often still reduced even after athletes return to play, which may help explain the high recurrence rate of hamstring strains. Building that strength back in a lengthened position is a direct way to address the issue.
Use sprinting as your top hamstring tool
When you think about a hamstring workout for athletes, sprinting should sit at the top of the list. Sprinting is rated as an S+ tier hamstring exercise for contact athletes and is described as the most powerful way to build athletic hamstring strength and performance.
Sprinting is also the most sport-specific hamstring exercise. It uses repeated, high-speed muscle contractions and trains the elastic components of the muscle and the stretch shortening cycle that you rely on for acceleration and top speed. A “microdosing” approach, where you perform short, high-quality sprints with full recovery, is often recommended to develop speed and hamstring robustness without overloading you.
Treat sprinting itself as both a performance tool and an injury prevention exercise, especially if your sport already demands a lot of running.
Prioritize the most effective strength moves
Alongside sprinting, you need smart strength work that hits the hamstrings from multiple angles and in different types of muscle action. For contact and field athletes, hamstring exercises are often ranked by effectiveness for building functional strength and resilience.
S tier exercises include Romanian deadlifts and seated hamstring curls, which are very effective for developing both strength and muscle size. A tier exercises, such as straight leg bounds, single leg Romanian deadlifts, Nordic curls, and razor curls, are also excellent choices that carry over well to sport.
You can still benefit from B and C tier exercises like kettlebell swings in certain situations, such as later in rehab or when you want a lighter or more explosive option. Just remember that back squats and split squats, while great for legs overall, are not hamstring focused and sit at the lowest tier for targeted hamstring work. They should not be your main hamstring exercises if your specific goal is hamstring strength and protection.
Focus on eccentric and lengthened training
Some of the most promising research for hamstring development and injury prevention points toward training in a lengthened state with eccentric or lengthening focused work.
Nordic hamstring training improves eccentric knee flexor strength and increases muscle size but generally works the hamstring at shorter muscle lengths. Lengthened state eccentric training, where you train with the hip flexed to around 120 degrees, has been shown to produce greater increases in total hamstring muscle volume and in the biceps femoris long head, which is a common site of hamstring strain. In one study, maximum eccentric knee flexion torque increased by 17 percent after 12 weeks of lengthened state training, compared to 11 percent after Nordic training.
This type of lengthened training also produced larger increases in the connective tissue area at the muscle, which may improve how force is transmitted. Since many hamstring strains happen with the muscle lengthened, it makes sense to train strength and control in that same position.
For your own training, this means exercises like Romanian deadlifts, single leg Romanian deadlifts, and Nordic variations with the hips flexed can be especially valuable. You want to feel strong and stable when your hamstring is on stretch, not just when it is shortened.
Add mobility and control work that sticks
Improving hamstring mobility is not just about longer muscles. You need to teach your body to use that range with control. Many athletes who feel “tight” actually lack pelvic control and the ability to separate hip motion from lower back motion.
Techniques like PAILs and RAILs, which combine static stretching with isometric contractions at the end of your range, can help your nervous system “save” new flexibility so you do not snap back to your old limits after a session. Eccentric isometric Romanian deadlifts, where you lower for 3 to 7 seconds and then hold at the bottom for 2 to 5 seconds, are also very effective for building mobility, strength, movement control, and muscle growth at longer muscle lengths.
You can also use drills like reverse active straight leg raises and band pullover straight leg raises to improve hamstring flexibility while training pelvic stabilization and hip movement. These patterns are especially useful if you feel flexible on the table but still restricted or awkward when you run or cut.
Put it together into a weekly hamstring plan
To turn these ideas into a practical hamstring workout for athletes, aim to hit your hamstrings two to three times per week with a mix of sprinting, heavy strength work, and focused mobility.
Here is a simple structure you can adapt:
- One or two sprint sessions per week using short, high-quality sprints with full recovery
- Two strength sessions per week including a hip hinge, a knee flexion movement, and at least one eccentric or lengthened position exercise
- Two short mobility or control sessions per week, ideally paired with your lifting or conditioning days
You can adjust the volume based on your sport schedule and how your legs feel from day to day. The goal is to build work capacity gradually without spiking your total load, since big jumps in intensity and volume are a known risk factor for hamstring issues.
Sample hamstring workout for athletes
Use this full body lower focus workout once or twice a week, leaving at least one day in between:
-
Sprint prep
Perform 4 to 6 accelerations of 20 to 30 meters at 80 to 90 percent effort with full recovery between reps. Focus on smooth, powerful strides. -
Main strength block
- Romanian deadlift, 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 8 reps, moderate to heavy, with control on the lower
- Single leg Romanian deadlift, 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps per leg, lighter weight, focus on balance and hip control
- Seated hamstring curl or lying hamstring curl, 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps, controlled tempo and full range
- Eccentric or lengthened focus
- Nordic hamstring curl or assisted Nordic, 2 to 3 sets of 4 to 6 controlled eccentrics
- Or eccentric isometric Romanian deadlift, 2 to 3 sets of 5 reps with a 3 to 5 second lower and a 2 to 3 second pause at the bottom
- Mobility and control finisher
- PAILs and RAILs hamstring stretch, 1 to 2 rounds per side
- Reverse active straight leg raise or band pullover straight leg raise, 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps per side
Perform dynamic hamstring and hip mobility before this session and save deeper static stretches for the end. Over time you can progress by increasing sprint intensity, adding a little weight or another set to your main lifts, or increasing the duration of your eccentric phases.
Avoid common hamstring training mistakes
Even a well designed hamstring workout for athletes can backfire if you ignore basic training principles. To stay on track:
Listen to soreness signals after workouts. Some muscle soreness is normal, but sharp or focal pain, especially near the sit bone or the outer back of the thigh, is a sign to back off and possibly consult a professional. Respect fatigue. Overexertion and pushing hard on tired legs increase your risk of strains and tears.
Balance your hamstrings with your quadriceps. Strengthening the hamstrings and their opposing quadriceps through resistance training helps balance muscle power and reduce fatigue. This matters if your sport involves a lot of sprinting, jumping, and quick changes of direction.
Progress gradually. Avoid doing too much too soon, especially when you first add sprints or heavy eccentric work. Your muscles and connective tissues need time to adapt. Increase either intensity or volume in small steps, not both at once.
Finally, remember that hamstring training is not one and done. The benefits of exercises like Nordics and lengthened state eccentric work are maintained when you continue to train them, even at lower doses, across your season.
Start by adding one or two of the exercises above into your next workout, pay attention to how your hamstrings feel, and adjust from there. With consistent, smart training, you can build hamstring strength fast while keeping your legs healthy for the long season ahead.
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