Hamstring Workout with Brian Cage

This hamstring workout left us sore for a week!

Brian Cage (Lucha Underground star, Wrestling Phenomenon, 5% Nutrition Athlete, and Body Spartan Brand Ambassador) swung by this past week and put Gabe Tuft and Shane Hall through one hell of a hamstring workout. Gabe and Brian had a phone call earlier in the week to discuss what they were going to work and film. Brian said,

“Everyone always asks how they can do a full hamstring workout alone. All they can think of is doing a bunch of hamstring curls or wide-stance squats. Let’s do a full hamstring workout and show them what we can do.”

Gabe agreed and recruited Shane Hall, Body Spartan’s newest brand ambassador, to join the workout. The full video is below and the full workout in tabular form, fully explained, is also below. This is a full episode of BTS84 (Behind the Scenes for 84 Days) so there’s a ton of epic post-workout information and filming after the hamstring workout.

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Get the right equipment for this hamstring workout

Anyone who’s serious about using this (or any other) hamstring workout should seriously consider arming themselves with the right equipment. Without a doubt you will want a weight belt. It doesn’t need to be a power lifting belt, unless you are a competitive power lifter. Our team just uses a basic Harbinger belt that is fairly inexpensive and lasts a lifetime. Also, wrist wraps are highly recommended. You don’t have to use them on every set that’s a pulling exercise, but as the weight increases, would you rather sacrifice your leg gains to your forearm strength, or would you rather push them to the limit? That’s why we use them. Below are links to Amazon.com with these products, along with BCAA’s and creatine. Two supplements that are a stable of any bodybuilder.


Essential Hamstring Workout Gear
DEAL OF THE DAY
ENDS IN
DEAL OF THE DAY
ENDS IN
DEAL OF THE DAY
ENDS IN

 

 

Hamstring workout exercise 1: Triple set with abductor machine, adductor machine, and glute machine

Hamstring workout

Hamstring workout using adductors

Hamstring workout with glute machine

You can do these in any order you choose. The goal is to pre-exhaust these muscle groups prior to hitting the hamstrings.

Set Triple Set Reps Rest
1 Adductor machine/abductor machine/glute machine 30/30/15 each leg None
2 Adductor machine/abductor machine/glute machine 30/30/15 each leg None
3 Adductor machine/abductor machine/glute machine 30/30/15 each leg 2 minutes to next exercise

Hamstring workout exercise 2: Romanian Dead Lifts

Hamstring workout with Romanian Dead Lifts, lower position

Hamstring workout with Romanian Dead Lifts

For this exercise, use 25lbs plates rather than 45lbs plates. This allows you to stretch down farther, and engage the hamstrings more. Put a slight bend in your knees and keep your back straight and contract your core through the entire motion. This is not a normal dead lift where you utilize your legs to move through the first part of the movement. Rather, you are keeping your legs as straight as possible (still with a slight bend in the knees), and using your hamstrings and glutes to move through the repetitions.

Set Varied tempo set Reps Rest
1 No 20 | 1 plate 2 minutes
2 No 20 | 2 plates 2 minutes
3 No 15 | 2 plates 2 minutes
4 Yes 5 | 1 plate | 5-second tempo None
10-15 | 1 plate | normal tempo 2 minutes to next exercise

Hamstring workout exercise 3: Jefferson Squats

Hamstring workout jefferson squats

Hamstring workout jefferson squats top

Just like with the Romanian dead lifts, we’ll use 25lbs plates for this exercise, rather than 45lbs plates. Take a wide stance with one leg perpendicular to the bar and the other leg parallel with the bar. You should center yourself over the bar. Then, use an over-under grip to hold the bar. Perform a squat motion and make sure you push outward on your knees to keep them tracking in line with your feet. You want to avoid a pronated stance with the knees (caving inwards).

Set Drop set Reps Rest
1 No 15 2 minutes
2 No 12 2 minutes
3 No 8 2 minutes
4 No 8 2 minutes to next exercise

Hamstring workout exercise 4: Conventional Dead Lifts

Hamstring and leg workout

Use a double overhand grip for this exercise. It tends to put more tension on the hamstrings, than the lower back. Use a shoulder width grip and about the same foot stance. Get your shins as close to the bar as possible, ours actually touch the bar prior to lifting. Then squat down as far as you can with a straight back, engage your core, and lean back so that if you were to let go of the bar you would fall backwards. Now pull using your legs in the first part of the movement. Once the bar passes your knees, you will use more of your back to complete the movement. It’s very important that you don’t round your back and that you keep it straight. Also, the bar should stay in the same vertical plane the entire movement. It should never move forwards or backwards, but rather straight up and straight down in the same vertical plane that it started.

Set Drop set Reps Rest
1 No 15 2 minutes
2 No 12 2 minutes
3 No 8 2 minutes
4 No 8 2 minutes to next exercise

Hamstring workout exercise 5: Single leg hamstring curls using Occlusion Bands

BTS84 episode with Brian Cage and hamstring workout

If you don’t have a single leg hamstring curl machine at your gym, you can use a standard double leg hamstring curl machine. The occlusion bands are something we use from time to time, but not every workout. They restrict blood flow from leaving the targeted muscle group and trap the blood in the muscle cells. This causes a massive pump. You can’t use heavy weight due to the quick fatiguing that happens, but it’s one hell of a pump! You can grab occlusion bands from the link below, or you can use knee wraps to get the same effect:

 

Set Drop set Reps Rest
1 No 20 2 minutes
2 No 15 2 minutes
3 No 12 2 minutes
4 No 10 2 minutes to next exercise

Hamstring workout final thoughts

If you’re looking to add mass to your legs, workouts like these that completely mix up your leg workout are going to do the trick. You need to continuously shock the muscles though and never allow them to adapt to what you’re doing. Nutrition and supplementation are also key to muscle growth. Without them, you’re just working to work, without the hope of any major results. Our Unleashed Bulking Program has all of these elements. It has over 80 different workouts. No two workouts are the same and the intensity of the workouts increase as the program goes on. It’s over 11 weeks of training with 4 days of “pre-season”. The program automatically calculates your macros for you, along with your daily cardio time, heart rate, and it also has a body composition tracker. The program is made specifically for bulking.

Click the link below for more information!

Unleashed workout program by Body Spartan

 

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