To prevent hamstring injuries, the leg (knee) curl is usually recommended. This is a good exercise for development of the hamstring muscles and for strengthening the tendons that cross the knee joint. It helps provide a more stable knee for runners and athletes in other sports.
Hamstring exercises for runners should more closely duplicate the conditions seen in running. Thus it may be more effective to do this exercise in a standing position with Active Cords. In this exercise variant you hold the thigh up (about a 60° to the vertical) when you do the exercise. Because of this it is also effective in strengthening the hip flexors and the knee is free to move slightly to make the movement more natural.
This positioning places the hip end of the hamstrings on stretch so that the hamstring muscle at the hip and is taut. As a result, when flexion in the knee joint takes place, you get a much stronger contraction. There will be little if any slack in the muscle as there is in the lying position.
Even more important when doing hamstring exercise for runners, is to strengthen the hamstrings at the hip joint where they are involved in hip extension. Keep in mind that most injuries to the hamstrings occur at the upper hip end, not at the knee end. In addition, it is mainly the upper end of the hamstring that is involved in the running joint actions.
Thus, for maximum effectiveness hamstring exercises for runners should strengthen the hamstring muscle in a manner that more closely duplicates what occurs in running. For example, by strengthening the hamstring at the hip end you can enhance the pawback action. The pawback is the key action needed to bring about an effective touchdown, which in turn gives you a longer stride and increased stride frequency.
Doing the pawback exercise with Active Cords duplicates this running action. The pawback is a specialized strength exercise that produces a direct positive effect in improving your running performance and at the same time preventing injury.
Other exercises for strengthening the hamstrings in hip joint extension are the good morning and deadlift. Best of all is the glute-ham- gastroc raise. This latter exercise strengthens the hamstring muscle at both the hip and the knee in sequence.
For more information on the hamstring and specialized strength exercises for running, see Explosive Running.