The glute ham raise, or GHR, is one of the toughest hamstring exercises there is. You kneel on a GHD or glute-ham bench with your ankles locked under a pad, then lower your torso toward the floor by controlling your knees as they straighten, and pull yourself back up using your hamstrings and glutes. It’s rare in that it trains your hamstrings as a knee flexor and a hip extensor in the same rep, which is why it builds so much posterior chain strength for 2 to 3 sets of 4 to 8 reps at a time.
Most commercial gyms don’t have a GHD or a glute-ham bench at all, so you might not have the equipment to do one in the first place. Even if you do, the GHR is brutally hard. Most lifters can’t manage a single strict bodyweight rep without a partner holding their ankles or a band assisting them, which makes it a rough starting point if you’re new to the exercise or coming back from time off. Your knees and lower back can also take a beating if you push volume before you’ve built up the strength to control the descent.
I picked the 8 alternatives below because they hit your hamstrings and glutes through a similar range without needing a GHD, and most of them scale a lot easier than the GHR does. A few are close matches you could run in the exact same program slot, and others are heavier compound lifts you can lean on to build the same strength from a different angle. I’ll tell you when to use each one and exactly how to do it.
Table of Contents
- 1 The 8 Best Glute Ham Raise Alternatives
- 2 Reasons to Choose the Glute Ham Raise
- 3 Muscles Worked by the Glute Ham Raise
- 4 FAQs
- 4.1 What’s the closest alternative to a glute ham raise?
- 4.2 Can I build hamstrings without a glute ham raise?
- 4.3 What’s the best glute ham raise alternative for bad knees or a bad lower back?
- 4.4 What’s the best glute ham raise alternative at home?
- 4.5 Why can’t I do a single glute ham raise rep?
- 4.6 How many hamstring exercises should I do per workout?
- 5 Key Takeaways
- 6 Other Alternative Exercises
- 6.1 The 8 Best Hammer Curl Alternatives
- 6.2 The 8 Best Decline Bench Press Alternatives
- 6.3 The 10 Best Dumbbell Pullover Alternatives
- 6.4 The 9 Best Leg Press Alternatives
- 6.5 The 7 Best Deadlift Alternatives
- 6.6 The 10 Best Bench Press Alternatives
- 6.7 The 12 Best Pull-Up Alternatives
- 6.8 The 10 Best Plank Alternatives
- 6.9 The 9 Best Lunge Alternatives
- 6.10 The 10 Best Bent Over Row Alternatives
- 6.11 The 9 Best Pendlay Row Alternatives
- 6.12 The 10 Best Bulgarian Split Squat Alternatives
- 6.13 The 10 Best Lying Leg Curl Alternatives
- 6.14 The 10 Best Glute Bridge Alternatives
- 6.15 The 9 Best Seated Cable Row Alternatives (2023)
The 8 Best Glute Ham Raise Alternatives
- Nordic Curl
- Lying Leg Curl
- Seated Leg Curl
- Romanian Deadlift
- Stiff-Leg Deadlift
- Valslide Leg Curl
- Reverse Hyperextension
- Back Extension
1. Nordic Curl
When to Perform the Nordic Curl
The Nordic curl, also called the Nordic hamstring curl, is the closest thing to a GHR you can do without a GHD. It isolates the knee-flexion half of the GHR and loads your hamstrings almost entirely on the eccentric, which is the same demanding stretch-under-load that makes the GHR so effective. Use it when you want the hardest hamstring exercise on this list and you’ve got a partner to hold your ankles, or a Nordic curl bench or band anchor if you train alone. Keep it to 2 or 3 sets of 3 to 6 reps. It’s a strength and control exercise, so the reps stay low.
How to Perform the Nordic Curl
- Kneel on a pad with your ankles secured under a partner’s hands, a Nordic curl bench, or a heavy band anchored low behind you.
- Keep your hips extended and your body in a straight line from knees to shoulders.
- Lower your torso toward the floor as slowly as you can, resisting the fall with your hamstrings the entire way down.
- Once you can’t control the descent any further, catch yourself with your hands and push back up, then reset and repeat.
Equipment: a training partner, a Nordic curl bench or GHD, or a resistance band anchored behind you.
This video from E3 Rehab shows how to set up and perform the Nordic hamstring curl, including regressions if the full range is too much at first.
Tips for the Nordic Curl
- Keep your hips locked straight the whole rep. If your hips pike or your glutes shut off, you’re turning it into a different exercise.
- Use a band anchored in front of you for assistance if you can’t control a full unassisted rep yet.
- Fight the fall as long as you can before catching yourself with your hands. Even a few extra inches of controlled descent builds real strength.
- Expect soreness the first few sessions. This is one of the most eccentric-heavy exercises you can do for your hamstrings.
For a full side-by-side breakdown of these two, see our glute ham raise vs Nordic curl comparison.
2. Lying Leg Curl
When to Perform the Lying Leg Curl
This is your easiest, most accessible swap. Nearly every commercial gym has a lying leg curl machine, and it isolates the knee-flexion side of the GHR without asking for any of the balance or eccentric control a Nordic curl demands. I’d use this for straightforward hamstring hypertrophy work, or as a lower-stress option while you build up the strength to attempt a GHR or Nordic curl. Run it for 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps.
How to Perform the Lying Leg Curl
- Lie face down on the machine with the ankle pad resting just above your heels.
- Grip the handles and keep your hips pressed flat against the bench.
- Curl your heels toward your glutes, driving the movement from your hamstrings.
- Lower the weight back under control until your legs are straight again.
Equipment: lying leg curl machine.
This video from Physique Development shows how to perform the lying leg curl with correct setup and technique.
Tips for the Lying Leg Curl
- Keep your hips pinned to the bench. If they lift as you curl, you’re using your lower back instead of your hamstrings.
- Slow the eccentric down on purpose. It’s the closest thing this machine has to the GHR’s controlled lowering phase.
- Point your toes toward your shins rather than pointing them, which keeps your calves from taking over the rep.
- Pause for a full second at the top of each rep for a harder squeeze.
If your gym only has one leg curl machine and it’s not this one, see our lying leg curl alternatives guide for more options.
3. Seated Leg Curl
When to Perform the Seated Leg Curl
- Sit in the machine with the back pad set so your knees line up with the machine’s pivot point.
- Hook your ankles under the top pad and grip the side handles.
- Curl your legs down and back, driving your heels toward the seat.
- Let the pad return to the start under control without letting the stack slam.
Reach for the seated version instead of the lying version when your gym only has one, or when you want to bias the hamstring closer to where it attaches at the hip, since your hips stay flexed the whole set instead of neutral. That hip-flexed position is actually a little closer to the stretched position your hamstrings are in during the bottom of a GHR. I run this for 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps.
How to Perform the Seated Leg Curl
Equipment: seated leg curl machine.
This video from ScottHermanFitness shows how to perform the seated leg curl on a Cybex machine, though the setup is nearly identical across brands.
Tips for the Seated Leg Curl
- Set the seat back so your knees line up with the machine’s pivot before you start, or you’ll get a rough range of motion.
- Keep your hips flat against the seat instead of arching to help push the weight.
- Point your toes up toward your shins to keep the tension on your hamstrings and off your calves.
- Squeeze hard at the bottom of the rep for a full second before letting the pad return.
Not sure which leg curl machine is worth your time when your gym has both? Our lying leg curl vs seated leg curl comparison breaks down the difference.
4. Romanian Deadlift
When to Perform the Romanian Deadlift
The Romanian deadlift, or RDL, trains your hamstrings mostly as a hip extensor rather than a knee flexor, which is the other half of what the GHR trains. It’s the heaviest loading option on this list and a great main lift for building real strength and size through your whole posterior chain, hamstrings included. I’d program this as a main lift on a lower body or deadlift day, for 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 10 reps.
How to Perform the Romanian Deadlift
- Stand holding a barbell at hip level with a shoulder-width grip.
- Keep a soft bend in your knees and push your hips back to start lowering the bar.
- Slide the bar down your legs, keeping your back flat, until you feel a strong stretch in your hamstrings.
- Drive your hips forward to stand back up, squeezing your glutes at the top.
Equipment: barbell (dumbbells work as a lighter substitute).
This video from NASM, the National Academy of Sports Medicine, shows how to perform the barbell Romanian deadlift with correct form.
Tips for the Romanian Deadlift
- Keep the bar dragging close to your legs the whole way down. Letting it drift forward turns this into a good morning and stresses your lower back more than it should.
- Hinge at your hips, don’t squat down. Your knees barely bend past their starting angle.
- Stop lowering the bar once your hamstring flexibility runs out, usually around mid-shin, not when the bar hits the floor.
- Expect to lift noticeably less than your regular deadlift, since you’re skipping the leg drive.
Want more hip-hinge options that train your hamstrings the same way? See our Romanian deadlift alternatives guide.
5. Stiff-Leg Deadlift
When to Perform the Stiff-Leg Deadlift
The stiff-leg deadlift is a close cousin of the RDL, but you keep your knees nearly locked and typically pull from the floor instead of starting at hip level, which puts a deeper stretch on your hamstrings. Use this once the regular RDL feels too easy or when you want more time under stretch for hamstring growth. It’s more demanding on your hip flexibility and lower back than the RDL, so keep the loads a bit lighter and the reps in the 8 to 12 range for 3 sets.
How to Perform the Stiff-Leg Deadlift
- Stand with the bar over your midfoot, feet roughly hip-width apart.
- Bend at your hips with your knees only slightly bent, keeping them stiff rather than locked completely straight.
- Lower the bar close to your shins as far as your hamstring flexibility allows, keeping your back flat.
- Drive your hips forward to stand the bar back up.
Equipment: barbell (straps help once grip becomes the limiting factor before your hamstrings do).
This video from ScottHermanFitness shows how to perform the barbell stiff-leg deadlift.
Tips for the Stiff-Leg Deadlift
- Don’t force a deeper range than your hamstrings allow. A rounded lower back to touch the floor isn’t worth it.
- Keep your knees stiff, not locked bone-on-bone straight, which is a small but important difference for your knee joints.
- Use less weight than you’d use on a regular deadlift or even an RDL. This exercise is more about the stretch than the load.
- If your lower back rounds before your hamstrings feel the stretch, that’s your flexibility limit, not a cue to keep pulling.
6. Valslide Leg Curl
When to Perform the Valslide Leg Curl
This is your no-machine option, and it’s the one I’d point you to for a home gym or a hotel room. You bridge your hips up and curl a pair of sliders or furniture pads toward your glutes, which keeps your hips extended by your glutes while your hamstrings do the knee-flexion work, a similar split of labor to the GHR. Bodyweight for 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps is plenty to start, and going single-leg is the natural progression once double-leg reps stop being a challenge.
How to Perform the Valslide Leg Curl
- Lie on your back with your heels resting on sliders, furniture pads, or a towel on a smooth floor.
- Bridge your hips up off the floor until your body forms a straight line from shoulders to knees.
- Keeping your hips up, drive your heels away to slide your legs out straight.
- Curl your heels back toward your glutes to return to the starting position, keeping your hips elevated the entire time.
Equipment: a pair of sliders or furniture gliders, or a towel on a hard floor.
This video from Mike Robertson shows how to perform the valslide leg curl.
Tips for the Valslide Leg Curl
- Keep your hips up the whole set. If they sag toward the floor, your glutes have stopped doing their job.
- Start double-leg before you try a single-leg version. It’s a big jump in difficulty.
- A towel works fine on tile or hardwood. On carpet you’ll need actual sliders or furniture gliders.
- Drive the extension out under control rather than letting your legs shoot straight, which is what actually builds strength through the range.
7. Reverse Hyperextension
When to Perform the Reverse Hyperextension
The reverse hyper isolates the hip-extension half of the GHR with almost none of the knee-flexion demand, and your torso stays fully supported the entire set, which takes real stress off your lower back compared to a GHR. It’s a great pick if you’re managing lower back issues but still want real posterior chain volume, or if your gym happens to have a reverse hyper machine sitting unused. Since it’s low-impact, you can push higher reps, 3 sets of 12 to 15 works well.
How to Perform the Reverse Hyperextension
- Lie face down on the machine with your hips at the edge of the pad and your legs hanging over the swing arm.
- Grip the handles in front of you to brace your upper body.
- Swing your legs down and then up until they’re roughly in line with your torso, driving the motion with your glutes and hamstrings.
- Control the swing back down rather than letting momentum take over.
Equipment: reverse hyper machine.
This video from Mark Bell at Super Training Gym shows how to use the reverse hyper machine correctly.
Tips for the Reverse Hyperextension
- Let the swing build a little momentum on the way down, but control it on the way back up instead of muscling every rep from a dead stop.
- Don’t hyperextend your lower back at the top. Stop once your legs are roughly level with your torso.
- Think of this as a glute and hamstring exercise, not a lower back swing. Your torso should stay still on the pad.
- Start with just the pendulum’s own weight before adding plates. It’s heavier than it looks.
8. Back Extension
When to Perform the Back Extension
A 45-degree back extension bench is a lot more common than a GHD or a reverse hyper machine, which makes this the most accessible hip-extension option on the list. Set your hips just in front of the pad instead of directly on it, and you can bias your glutes and hamstrings over your lower back, which is the closest budget stand-in for the GHR’s hip-extension half. Start with bodyweight for 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps, then hold a plate at your chest once that gets easy.
How to Perform the Back Extension
- Set your hips just in front of the pad, not directly on top of it, so you can hinge freely.
- Lock your ankles under the footpads and cross your arms over your chest.
- Lower your torso by hinging at your hips, keeping your back flat the entire way down.
- Extend back up by squeezing your glutes and hamstrings rather than arching your lower back.
Equipment: 45-degree back extension bench (a weight plate held at your chest once bodyweight gets easy).
This video from MuscleWiki shows how to set up and perform the 45-degree back extension.
Tips for the Back Extension
- Hinge from your hips, not your lower back. Your spine should stay in roughly the same position the whole rep.
- Set your hips slightly forward of the pad specifically to shift the emphasis onto your glutes and hamstrings instead of your spinal erectors.
- Stop at a straight line from head to heels at the top. Don’t hyperextend past it.
- Add a plate at your chest once bodyweight reps get past 15 to 20 without much effort.
If your hamstrings are lagging behind the rest of your legs, our guide to fixing underdeveloped hamstrings covers how to structure all of this into a real program.
Reasons to Choose the Glute Ham Raise
None of the 8 alternatives above are a downgrade, but the GHR still does something none of them fully replicate. It’s the one exercise that trains your hamstrings as a knee flexor and a hip extensor in the same continuous rep, and that combined demand is exactly what your hamstrings do when you sprint. If you’ve got access to a GHD and you can already control a few strict reps, it’s worth keeping in your program rather than replacing outright.
- You have access to a GHD or glute-ham bench. Not every gym has one, so use it while you can instead of defaulting to a machine.
- You want the deepest eccentric hamstring loading available. The controlled lowering phase is what research on hamstring injury prevention keeps coming back to, and the GHR trains that better than a machine curl does.
- You’re chasing a real bodyweight strength benchmark. Being able to control a full GHR rep without a band or partner is a legitimate marker of hamstring and glute strength on its own.
- You want one exercise that covers both hamstring functions. A lying leg curl and an RDL together train the same two functions the GHR trains in a single rep, but that takes two separate exercises instead of one.
For more hamstring exercises that hit the muscle from different angles, see our compound hamstring exercises and isolation hamstring exercises roundups.
Muscles Worked by the Glute Ham Raise
Your hamstrings cross both your hip and your knee joints, which is why they can act as either a hip extensor or a knee flexor depending on the exercise. The GHR and its alternatives split up that work differently depending on which one you pick:
- Biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus (hamstrings): the primary target across every exercise on this list, though which portion gets hit hardest depends on whether the movement is knee-flexion dominant (leg curls, Nordic curl) or hip-hinge dominant (RDL, stiff-leg deadlift).
- Gluteus maximus: works hardest on the hip-extension exercises like the RDL, reverse hyperextension, and back extension, and it’s what keeps your hips locked straight during the Nordic curl and GHR.
- Gastrocnemius: the upper calf muscle crosses the knee joint too, so it assists on every knee-flexion exercise, especially the leg curls.
- Erector spinae: works isometrically to keep your spine stable on the RDL, stiff-leg deadlift, and back extension, though a well-executed back extension should still bias the glutes and hamstrings over the lower back.
- Adductor magnus: a secondary hip extensor that assists on the RDL and stiff-leg deadlift alongside your glutes and hamstrings.
FAQs
What’s the closest alternative to a glute ham raise?
The Nordic curl. It isolates the same eccentric knee-flexion demand the GHR trains, just without the hip-extension half. If you want both halves covered without a GHD, pair a Nordic curl with a Romanian deadlift instead.
Can I build hamstrings without a glute ham raise?
Yes. Your hamstrings grow from progressive loading through a decent range, whether that load comes from a GHD, a machine, a barbell, or a pair of sliders on the floor. Any exercise on this list will build real hamstring size and strength if you train it hard and add weight or reps over time.
What’s the best glute ham raise alternative for bad knees or a bad lower back?
The reverse hyperextension is usually the friendliest on both. Your torso stays supported the whole set, which takes the lower back stress out of the equation, and the swinging motion is easy on the knees compared to a deep knee-flexion exercise like the Nordic curl. The lying or seated leg curl is a good backup if your gym doesn’t have a reverse hyper machine.
What’s the best glute ham raise alternative at home?
The valslide leg curl if you’ve got sliders or a towel and a smooth floor, and the Nordic curl if you’ve got a partner to hold your ankles or a heavy band to anchor. Between the two, you can cover both hamstring functions the GHR trains without any machine at all.
Why can’t I do a single glute ham raise rep?
Most lifters can’t, at least not at first. The GHR demands a level of eccentric hamstring strength that regular training doesn’t build on its own. Start with the lying or seated leg curl and the RDL to build a base level of hamstring strength, then work toward a Nordic curl with band assistance before you attempt an unassisted GHR.
How many hamstring exercises should I do per workout?
One or two is enough on a day where you’re also squatting or deadlifting, since your hamstrings already pick up work from those lifts. On a dedicated leg day, 2 to 3 exercises that cover both hamstring functions, like a leg curl for knee flexion and an RDL for hip extension, will train the muscle thoroughly without piling on junk volume.
Key Takeaways
If you’re building toward an unassisted GHR, start with the lying or seated leg curl and the Romanian deadlift to build a strength base, then work in a band-assisted Nordic curl once those feel manageable. If your gym just doesn’t have a GHD and you need a permanent swap, pair a leg curl variation with the RDL or stiff-leg deadlift to cover both hamstring functions the GHR trains in one rep. Training at home, the valslide leg curl will get you most of the way there with nothing but a towel and a smooth floor. Whatever you pick, progress it the same way you’d progress a GHR: more control on the eccentric before you chase more weight or more reps.
Other Alternative Exercises
If you enjoyed this post, check out our other roundups of the best alternatives for other exercises.
