IF YOU’RE A dedicated lifter, your lower body doesn’t lack attention in your workouts. You might even dedicate an entire session to it each week (hello, leg day). But just because your training plan is packed with deadlifts, squats, lunges, calf raises, hip thrusts, and step-ups doesn’t mean you’re doing everything you can to maximize your leg development.
You probably walk right past one of the most powerful lower body machines every time you’re at the gym: the glute ham developer (GHD). It might look like a gussied-up horizontal Roman chair, but the GHD is a different beast entirely. Instead of targeting your glutes and lower back with hyperextensions, the GHD allows you to laser focus on your biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus (collectively known as your hamstrings) with an exercise called the glute ham raise (GHR).
It’s so effective at what it does that only the deadlift can rival its hamstring-building power, making it a formidable addition to any leg day. Use these tips to weave it into your routine for maximum results. AS MENTIONED ABOVE, you’ll need a GHD to perform a GHR.
Where a Roman chair puts your body at a 45-degree angle and only allows movement in the hips, the GHD elevates you off the floor, locking your ankles between two sets of rollers while your knees (in the starting position) and then thighs (in the down position) rest on rounded pads. In so doing, it shifts the emphasis from your lower back to the backs of your legs, requiring you to use your hamstrings to lower and raise your body primarily through knee flexion as you perform the GHR. A small research trial suggests the glute ham raise is so effective at targeting your hamstrings that it’s on par with the Romanian deadlift and superior to such leg-sculpting staples as the leg curl and good morning.
And the benefits don’t stop there. In addition to your hams, you’ll light up muscles all along your posterior chain, including your calves, glutes, and erector spinae. Even your abs will kick into gear to help your erector spinae support and stabilize your spine.
IF YOUR STRENGTH program is divided into training splits, add the GHR to your leg day. If your weekly routine skews more toward total body workouts, incorporate the GHR into one or two of them, making sure it’s among a diverse selection of leg exercises spread across three or four strength sessions. Either way, it’s a good idea to perform it toward the end of a workout after heavier compound lifts like the squat and deadlift.
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