Seated Leg Curl
Reviewed by Bryan Cortez, MS
Flex the hips, stretch the hamstring — that's why seated curls grow them faster.
Coaching profile
knee-flexion default. This page is the practical coaching layer: use it for setup, cues, programming, pain-free adjustments, and substitutions. The complete biomechanics tier list lives on the muscle page.
How the rankings are built →Demonstration
Demonstration production queue
The written coaching card is ready. The owned video is next.
Physique Skool is filming one canonical demonstration per exercise. Until this movement is published, use the setup, execution, common errors, programming, and substitutions below.
Browse Physique Skool on YouTubeAppears in Book 1
Four-Day Standard
Full Body A
Exercise 4 in the session · Seated Leg Curl (or Lying Leg Curl): 3 sets of 10–15 reps.
Four-Day Standard
Lower A
Exercise 4 in the session · Seated Leg Curl (or Lying Leg Curl): 2 sets of 10–15 reps.
Four-Day Standard
Lower B
Exercise 4 in the session · Lying Leg Curl (or Seated Leg Curl): 3 sets of 8–12 reps.
How to do it
Setup
- Seat-back upright, thigh pad locked, knee at the pivot, pad on the lower calf.
Execution
- Curl down and under, squeeze, control the stretch back up; keep the hips pinned to the seat.
Common Errors
- Hips sliding forward out of position
- Not controlling the stretch back up
- Half reps
- Toes relaxed instead of set
Cues That Work
- Pin the hips down; pull the heels under the seat; control the long return
No-Fly Zone
under 5 reps
Programming
Sequence priority
Late
Single-joint, low fatigue, high SFR — a late finisher or pre-exhaust; the stretched position makes it a top hamstring builder.
Progression
Model — Double
Fallback model — Triple
Double progression: 8→15, then add a pin (or micro-plate) and reset.
Best program fit
Pull, Legs, Lower
Load increments
If it hurts
Pain is information, not a challenge to push through. Stop the set if pain is sharp, worsening, or changes how you move. These are exercise-selection options, not medical diagnosis or rehabilitation advice.
Work down this list in order. Stop at the first change that removes the pain.
Step 1
Setup tweaks
Toe position; foot rotation in/out.
Step 2
ROM / tempo / bias
Pause; slow eccentric; emphasize the deep stretch at the top.
Step 3
Implement swap
Lying leg curl, Nordic curl, or single-leg curl.
Substitutions
The Evidence
Isolates knee flexion from a stretched position. It does not train hip extension. Pair it with a Romanian deadlift.
SFR — 2.3
Put the exercise inside a system.
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