Sliding Leg Curl
What Is the Sliding Leg Curl?
Sliding Leg Curl is an isolation exercise that primarily targets the hamstrings and also engages the glutes and calves. It is an intermediate-level movement in which you lie on your back with your heels on a towel or sliders, lift your hips off the floor and pull your heels toward your glutes, then slide them back out under control. Because the hips stay lifted the whole time, the glutes and lower back hold the bridge while the hamstrings bend and straighten the knees.
The hamstrings have two jobs: they extend the hip and they bend the knee. Hip hinges such as the Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift train the first, and leg curls train the second. The Sliding Leg Curl asks the hamstrings to bend the knee while the hips are held up, which makes it a popular bodyweight alternative to a leg curl machine and a common stepping stone toward the Nordic Hamstring Curl in hamstring injury prevention programs. It usually sits after the main lifts of a lower-body session, or in a warm-up or prevention block for field and court athletes.
The slide back out is where much of the work happens. The hamstrings lengthen under load as the knees straighten, and the further the heels travel, the harder it gets to keep the hips off the floor, so slowing that phase down is the simplest way to make the exercise harder. The glutes work throughout to hold the bridge, but the hamstrings do more: in a study of healthy adults doing four bodyweight hamstring exercises, a single-leg sliding bridge drew more activity from the hamstrings than from the gluteus maximus, and it was one of the two exercises with the highest hamstring activity. Single-leg reps put the whole job on one leg, and slide-out-only reps, where you slide out on one leg and curl back in with both, overload the lowering phase.
All you need is a towel or a pair of sliders and a smooth floor, so the Sliding Leg Curl suits home workouts, travel and anyone without access to a leg curl machine. If your hips drop or your hamstrings cramp in the first few reps, build up with the Glute Bridge to learn to hold the hips up, and keep the curl short until you can control it. If you have an exercise ball, the Exercise Ball Leg Curl trains the same hips-up curl with your heels on the ball.
Muscles Worked
- Biceps Femoris
- Primary
- Semimembranosus
- Primary
- Semitendinosus
- Primary
- Gluteus Maximus
- High
- Rectus Abdominis
- Minimal
Instructions
- Lay a small towel on a smooth, hard floor, or place a slider under each heel.
- Lie on your back with your legs straight and your heels together on the towel, toes pointing up.
- Cross your arms over your chest and keep your head and upper back on the floor.
- Brace your core and squeeze your glutes to lift your hips just off the floor, so your body forms a straight line from shoulders to heels. This is the starting position.
- Press your heels into the towel and bend your knees to pull it toward your glutes, driving your hips higher as your heels come in.
- Stop when your knees are bent to about 90 degrees and your shoulders, hips and knees form a straight line.
- Pause briefly with your glutes squeezed and your ribs down.
- Slide your heels slowly back out until your legs are straight, keeping your hips off the floor the whole way.
- Repeat for the set, then lower your hips to the floor to finish.
Common Mistakes
Letting the hips sag
Dropping the hips toward the floor as the heels slide out breaks the bridge and takes much of the load off the hamstrings.
Arching the lower back
Pushing the hips up by overextending the lower back shifts the effort to the spine, so keep your ribs down and squeeze your glutes instead.
Rushing the slide out
Letting the heels shoot out skips the lowering phase, which is where the hamstrings do much of their work, and lets the knees snap straight.
Pressing through the toes
Pushing through the balls of the feet instead of the heels lets the calves take over and makes the towel or sliders harder to control.
Using a surface that grips
A towel on carpet or a rubber mat barely slides, which turns each rep into a jerky drag instead of a smooth curl.
Injuries
Sliding Leg Curl is a low risk exercise when performed with proper technique. There is no weight to drop, and the floor supports your upper body throughout. The strain points are the hamstrings, which can cramp near the top of the curl or strain if the heels shoot out faster than you can control, and the lower back, which takes over when you arch it to keep the hips up instead of squeezing the glutes. Letting the legs snap straight at the end of the slide can also jolt the knees.
Start with two legs and a short range, and only slide out as far as you can while keeping your hips off the floor. Brace your core with your ribs down, keep the pressure through your heels and move slowly in both directions. A towel on a hard, smooth floor or sliders made for your floor type give a steady glide, while a surface that catches and releases makes the reps jerky. Because the slide out loads the hamstrings as they lengthen, expect muscle soreness one to three days after your first sessions, and add sets gradually.
If the full movement is too hard, place your arms on the floor at your sides for more stability, shorten the range, or go back to the Glute Bridge until holding the hips up is easy. To progress, slow the slide out, then work one leg at a time, and move on to the Nordic Hamstring Curl when you want a much harder knee-flexion challenge.
Stop if you feel a sharp or pulling pain in the back of the thigh, which can signal a hamstring strain, or pain in the knee or lower back. If a cramp starts, end the set and stretch gently before trying again without pulling your heels in as far. Anyone returning from a recent hamstring injury should follow a clinician's guidance on when to start sliding curls.
- Primary Focus
- Hamstrings
- Equipment
- Body weight and other
- Modality
- Strength
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
Alternative Exercises
Other Names for the Sliding Leg Curl
The Sliding Leg Curl is also known as:
- Slider Hamstring Curl
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: What can I use if I don't have sliders?
A small towel or a pair of socks works well on a hardwood, tile or laminate floor, and paper plates or furniture sliders work on carpet. The surface just needs to let your heels glide smoothly without catching.
- Q: Should my hips stay off the floor for the whole set?
Yes. Keeping the hips lifted keeps the hamstrings and glutes working in both directions, so if they sink to the floor as you slide out, shorten the range to the point where you can still hold them up.
- Q: How does the Sliding Leg Curl compare with the Nordic hamstring curl?
With two legs it is much easier, but a single-leg version can load the hamstrings about as hard. In a study of active adults that modeled hamstring forces, a single-leg slider curl with a slow slide out produced peak force in the biceps femoris long head similar to the Nordic hamstring exercise and to full-speed sprinting, and both put the hamstrings under less stretch than a Romanian deadlift. That makes sliding curls a good step toward the Nordic Hamstring Curl and a useful partner to it.
- Q: Why do my hamstrings cramp during sliding leg curls?
With the hips lifted and the knees bent, the hamstrings are working in their shortest position, where cramps are common until you get used to the movement. End the set, stretch gently, and come back without pulling your heels in quite as far, building up the range over a few sessions.
- Q: How do I make sliding leg curls harder?
Slow the slide out to 3 to 5 seconds first, then try sliding out on one leg and curling back in with both. Once that feels smooth, do full single-leg reps, and move on to the Nordic Hamstring Curl for a bigger challenge.
- Q: How many reps should I do?
Start with 2 to 4 sets of 5 to 8 slow, controlled reps while you learn to keep your hips up, then build toward 8 to 15 reps before moving to a single-leg version.