Nordic Curl

How to do it

1. Kneel on a pad with your ankles held down firmly - a partner, a loaded bar, or under a sofa edge.
2. Keep your body in a straight line from knees to shoulders, glutes squeezed.
3. Lower yourself forward as slowly as you can, resisting the whole way.
4. Catch yourself with your hands when you can no longer hold, then push back up.
5. Almost nobody can do a full rep at first - the slow lowering is the whole exercise.

Muscles it trains

Percent of one session's target for that muscle. Anything at 100% finishes that muscle on its own.

How it compares

Compared with the Seated Leg Curl, it loads Glutes 40 points higher, Calves 5 points higher. It needs Bodyweight where the other uses Machines. Compared with the Bodyweight Good Morning, it loads Lower back / erectors 55 points lower, Hamstrings 30 points higher, Calves 20 points higher.

Other ways to train this

• Seated Leg Curl Machines
• Lying Leg Curl Machines
• Ball Leg Curl Exercise ball
• Sliding Leg Curl BodyweightIntermediateReference
• TRX Hamstring Curl Suspension trainerIntermediate
• Banded Standing Leg Curl Resistance bands

Other exercises for the Hamstrings

• Bodyweight Good Morning 65% Bodyweight
• Bodyweight Step-Ups 30% Bodyweight
• Cossack Squat 25% Bodyweight
• Split Squat 25% Bodyweight

Exercise illustrations and data by RepDB (repdb.co), used under licence.