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Hamstring strengthening exercises

Hamstring strengthening exercises

The importance of hamstring strengthening exercises

Hamstring strengthening exercises offer lots of benefits for your overall health and mobility. Strong hamstrings enable your knees, legs, back, and hips to function smoothly and provide protection from injuries. Hamstring strengthening exercises can improve overall leg strength, relieve lower back pain, and increase flexibility. But the most important reason to do hamstring exercises or any strength training is the way they make you feel.

Exercise is a proven mood-lifter, helping you to improve your outlook, relieve anxiety, and feel better about life and yourself. That’s why, at PureGym, we focus on the way that exercise makes you feel more than the way it makes you look. We call it putting mood above muscle – and it’s just one more way that PureGym provides a different kind of gym experience.

Why strength training is different at PureGym

When you come to PureGym for hamstring strengthening exercises or knee strengthening exercises, you’ll be surrounded by regular people, not models or bodybuilders. We understand that healthy comes in all shapes and sizes, and our members prove that every day. It’s part of our body-positive culture, where everybody feels comfortable working out together.

Everything about our gyms is designed to help lift your mood as you exercise your body.

  • Our enthusiastic staff is always happy to welcome you and make you feel comfortable.
  • Our personal trainers are experts at everything from hamstring and knee strengthening exercises to cardio workouts and core routines.
  • Our bright, open, and colorful spaces are designed with colors that have a positive effect on your mood. Our spacious floor plans give everybody enough breathing room to exercise the way they want. And our lighting fixtures simulate sunlight to keep your workouts energized.
  • Our sparkling clean spaces mean you can focus on fitness rather than cleanliness.
  • Guest privileges (with your Green membership) let you bring a friend with you four times per month.
  • Our supportive and inclusive community of members is always ready to help cheer you on as you rack up your tiny wins and achieve your fitness goals.

All the equipment you’ll need for hamstring strengthening exercises

PureGym gyms have the state-of-the-art equipment you’ll need for hamstring strengthening exercises, leg strengthening exercises, or ankle strengthening exercises.

  • Strength training: Work out with 50+ pieces of equipment (at most locations) including plate-loaded and selectorized machines, cable crossovers, power racks, squat racks, Smith machines, 40 pairs of dumbbells up to 90 pounds, and Olympic benches.
  • Functional training: Power your HIIT and bodyweight circuit training with equipment that includes rowers, medicine balls, Plyo boxes and TRX gear.
  • Multi-use stretch areas: Work with premium training equipment like battle ropes, stability balls, kettlebells, Bosu balls, resistance bands, foam rollers, and more.
  • Cardio exercise: most of our gyms feature 80+ machines, including treadmills, rowers, bikes, ellipticals, and step mills.

The amazing benefits of exercise

From hamstring and hip strengthening exercises to cardio routines and core workouts, exercise delivers amazing benefits for mind and body.

  • Elevate your mood. Exercise releases endorphins and other neurochemicals that produce feelings of positivity and well-being while relieving anxiety and stress.
  • Drop the pounds. Cardio and strength workouts can help you lose weight and build muscle mass to keep it off.
  • Strengthen bones. Weight-bearing exercise that puts a light stress on your bones triggers the cells that promote bone growth and density.
  • Keep the muscle. Physical activity, especially strength training, can help to reduce the loss of muscle mass that happens as you get older.
  • Boost your energy. A workout can provide you with extra energy all day long.
  • Avoid disease. Exercise helps to reduce the risk of chronic disease by increasing cardiovascular health, improving insulin sensitivity, lowering blood pressure, and reducing blood fat levels.
  • Boost immunity. When you workout, your body sends antibodies and white blood cells coursing through your veins more rapidly to help fight disease.
  • Support your brain. By pumping more blood to your brain, exercise can help increase your focus, protect your memory, and enhance your cognitive abilities.
  • Sleep well at night. A good workout during the day usually leads to better sleep at night.

FAQs: What are hamstring strengthening exercises?

What are hamstring strengthening exercises?

Hamstring strengthening exercises are designed to strengthen the muscles and tendons in three muscle groups on the backside of your upper leg. Your hamstrings are responsible for extending your hips, tilting your pelvis, and bending your knees.

What are some examples of hamstring strengthening exercises?

Common hamstring exercises include glute bridges, reverse planks, hamstring curls, back extensions, Bulgarian split squats, deadlifts, and straight-leg deadlifts.

What are the benefits of strong hamstrings?

Because your hamstrings are connected to your back, strengthening these muscles can help reduce lower back pain. Strong hamstrings can help reduce the risk of injury – especially to the knees, hips, and lower back – and make it easier to do everyday movements like bending down to pick up a bag of groceries or getting up from a low seated position. Hamstring strength can also improve flexibility and leg strength and decrease the risk of sciatica.

High-intensity interval training, or HIIT training, is an exercise routine that is considered one of the most effective and efficient ways to get fit. HIIT routines involve short bursts of all-out effort with a period of rest in between. HIIT workouts are believed to offer the same improvements in endurance as cardio workouts that are 10 times longer. HIIT training can increase cardio health and burn calories faster than other workouts, and it can reduce blood sugar levels and increase metabolism for hours after your workout is done.

At PureGym, we love HIIT training for all the health benefits it offers. But we believe the real power of HIIT is the way it makes you feel. An HIIT fitness workout is almost guaranteed to boost your mood. We’ve designed a gym experience that’s dedicated to the feel-good power of fitness, which is why HIIT training fits right in at Blink.

How PureGym Fitness is different

PureGym is different kind of gym. Where most gyms feel competitive and intimidating – especially if you’re new to fitness – the culture at PureGym is warm and welcoming. That’s because our members are real people, not models, who understand that healthy comes in all shapes and sizes, and we are proud to celebrate every unique body in our fitness clubs.

When you step inside a PureGym gym, you’ll feel the waves of positivity right away. It starts with our enthusiastic staff members – they are bona fide Mood-Lifters who are always excited to see you and to help you feel comfortable at the gym.

Our spaces are designed to lift your mood, too. We use colors that are scientifically proven to have a positive impact on your attitude, and our lighting fixtures simulate the warm energy of the sun. Our floor plans are extra spacious, giving everyone the room they need to exercise in peace. And our playlist features tunes at 110+ beats per minute to keep your body moving and your workout energized.

All the gear you need for HIIT training

PureGym gyms offer state-of-the-art equipment for HIIT training and every kind of workout.

  • Functional areas include equipment for HIIT and body weight circuit training, including rowers, Plyo boxes, medicine balls, TRX gear, and more.
  • Multi-use stretch areas offer premium training equipment that includes stability balls, kettlebells, battle ropes, foam rollers, Bosu balls, and resistance bands.
  • Extensive resistance training equipment includes 50+ pieces of equipment (at most locations), including selectorized and plate-loaded machines, power racks, Smith machines, squat racks, cable crossovers, 40 pairs of dumbbells up to 90 pounds, and Olympic benches.
  • Premium cardio equipment includes 80+ machines (at most locations) such as step mills, ellipticals, rowers, bikes, and treadmills.

How HIIT training boosts your mood

HIIT training – or any exercise – is bound to have a positive effect on your mood. That’s because when you exercise, your brain releases a variety of feel-good chemicals that help elevate your mood. These chemicals – endorphins, serotonin, dopamine, and others – can also relieve anxiety, increase feelings of positivity, and lessen the symptoms of depression. Exercise is also known to increase energy levels and relieve stress, and to improve the quality of your sleep by regulating your body temperature more effectively. There’s also the confidence you get from realizing that your workouts are paying off, and that you can lift a little more or go a little farther today than you could last week.

FAQs: What is HIIT training?

What is HIIT training?

HIIT training stands for high-intensity interval training, an exercise routine that combines short bursts of very intense activity with periods of rest or moderately intense exercise in between. There is no single formula for HIIT training. Some workouts involve a 2:1 ratio with 40 seconds of all-out exercise, for example, followed by 20 seconds of lighter exercise. Other routines are based on a 1:1 ratio or a 1:2 ratio for HIIT workouts for beginners. Most HIIT workouts last 30 minutes or less.

What are the benefits of HIIT training?

HIIT workouts are time-efficient, as HIIT training lets you pack more exercise and benefits into a shorter workout. Studies have shown that HIIT training can improve cardiovascular fitness and burn more calories in a shorter period of time. Your metabolic rate is higher for a longer period after an HIIT workout. An HIIT training can help to lose weight, lower blood pressure and blood sugar, and reduce your resting heart rate.

What are examples of HIIT training?

A common HIIT training routine might include sprinting for 15 seconds followed by walking or jogging for one or two minutes, or doing squat jumps as quickly as possible for 30 to 90 seconds followed by 30 to 90 seconds of walking. A full-body HIIT workout might involve exercises like squats, burpees, jumping rope, push-ups, lunges, box jumps, dips, and medicine ball throws, performing each exercise as intensely as possible for 45 seconds, then taking a 15 second break in between.