Ring Leg Curl
What Is the Ring Leg Curl?
Ring Leg Curl is a compound exercise that primarily targets the hamstrings and also engages the glutes, calves and core. It is an intermediate-level movement in which you lie on your back with your heels in a pair of low-hanging gymnastic rings, lift your hips and pull your heels toward your glutes, so the hamstrings bend the knees while also helping hold the hips up.
The main appeal is a demanding hamstring exercise that needs nothing more than a set of rings. A Machine Lying Leg Curl bends the knee while a pad pins the hips in place, but here the hamstrings bend the knee and extend the hip in the same rep, which is closer to how they work when you run or hinge. Because the rings hang freely, you also have to stop them swinging and keep your pelvis level, so hip and trunk control get trained alongside hamstring strength. It usually sits after the main squat or hinge of a lower-body session as accessory hamstring work, and it is a staple of home and calisthenics setups where no leg curl machine is available.
The hamstrings do most of the work, with the glutes holding the hips up and the calves helping bend the knee, since the gastrocnemius crosses the back of the knee. Holding the hips high for the whole set rather than letting them rise and fall with each rep, lowering slowly, and working one leg at a time all make the exercise harder.
The ring leg curl suits anyone who can already hold a steady Glute Bridge and wants more hamstring work without a machine. If the rings feel too unstable or you cannot finish clean reps, build up with the Exercise Ball Leg Curl, where the ball rolls along the floor in a more predictable line, and use the Machine Lying Leg Curl when you want a curl you can load precisely.
Muscles Worked
- Biceps Femoris
- Primary
- Semimembranosus
- Primary
- Semitendinosus
- Primary
- Gluteus Maximus
- Medium
Instructions
- Hang the rings so they sit a few inches above the floor, both at the same height.
- Lie on your back beneath the rings and place your heels in them, legs straight and together.
- Rest your arms on the floor by your sides, palms down.
- Brace your abs and lift your hips just off the floor so your body forms a straight line from shoulders to heels.
- Press your heels down into the rings and bend your knees, pulling your heels toward your glutes.
- Let your hips rise as your knees bend, finishing with your upper back on the floor and your body in a straight line from knees to shoulders.
- Squeeze your glutes and pause briefly at the top without arching your lower back.
- Slowly straighten your legs, lowering your hips back to just above the floor while keeping the rings from swinging.
- Repeat for the desired number of reps, keeping the rings under your heels throughout.
Common Mistakes
Arching the lower back
Pushing the hips higher by arching the lower back instead of squeezing the glutes moves strain onto the spine and takes tension off the hamstrings.
Dropping the hips to the floor
Letting the hips crash down and rest between reps releases the hamstrings, so keep them hovering just above the floor until the set is done.
Swinging the rings
Kicking the legs in with momentum sets the rings swinging and turns a controlled curl into a sloppy pendulum.
Rushing the lowering phase
Letting the legs shoot back out skips the slow straightening of the knees, which is where much of the hamstring work happens.
Rings sliding toward the arches
When the rings drift from under the heels toward the middle of the foot, the feet lose their grip and the curl gets unstable.
Injuries
Ring Leg Curl is a low risk exercise when performed with proper technique. The load is only your body weight and nothing presses down on the spine, so the typical problems are an irritated lower back from arching to lift the hips, and hamstring or calf cramps when the muscles are new to bodyweight curls.
Brace your abs and squeeze your glutes before the hips rise, and stop the hips once your body forms a straight line from knees to shoulders rather than pushing them higher by arching. Set the rings low and even, keep them under your heels rather than your arches, and move slowly enough that they do not swing, so your feet cannot slip out and drop to the floor.
If the full exercise is too much, regress to the Glute Bridge or the Exercise Ball Leg Curl, or shorten the range so you only curl partway. Once clean sets of 10 to 15 reps feel easy, hold a full bridge for the whole set, slow the lowering phase, or work one leg at a time.
Stop the set if a cramp grips the back of the thigh or calf, straighten your legs and let it settle before trying a shorter range. Sharp or sudden pain high in the back of the thigh is not a cramp and can signal a hamstring strain, so end the session and have it checked before training the hamstrings again.
- Primary Focus
- Hamstrings
- Equipment
- Rings and body weight
- Modality
- Strength
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
Alternative Exercises
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: How high should the rings hang?
Set them a few inches above the floor, just high enough that your legs can start straight without the rings dragging on the ground. Both rings need to hang at exactly the same height so one leg does not end up doing more of the work.
- Q: Why do my calves work so hard during ring leg curls?
The gastrocnemius crosses the back of the knee, so it helps bend it. In a study of 21 physically active adults doing a suspended hamstring curl on TRX straps, the calf muscles worked at a higher share of their maximum than the hamstrings, with the feet held pointed in the foot cradles.
- Q: Why do my hamstrings cramp during the set?
Cramping is common when the hamstrings are new to bodyweight curls or are held in their shortest position for too long. Stop the set, straighten your legs, and next time shorten the range or the pause at the top and build up the reps gradually.
- Q: Should my hips stay up the whole time?
Yes, keep them just off the floor for the whole set and let them rise as your heels come in. Holding a full bridge even while your legs are straight is a harder progression once the standard version feels easy.
- Q: How is it different from the Exercise Ball Leg Curl?
The pattern is the same, but a ball supports your legs from below and rolls in a fairly straight line, while the rings hang freely and can swing in any direction. That makes the Exercise Ball Leg Curl the easier place to learn the movement before moving to rings.
- Q: Can the ring leg curl replace the Nordic Hamstring Curl?
No, they train the hamstrings differently. The Nordic Hamstring Curl lowers your whole upper body from a kneeling position with the hamstrings braking the fall, a far heavier lowering demand than curling your legs in the rings, so the two work best side by side.