Knee Curl Exercises
Knee curl exercises involve curling your knee so that your ankle comes toward your buttocks. This does not actually work your knee, but rather works your hamstrings and/or quadriceps; the motion is in the knee, but the power comes from elsewhere.
Knee curls are excellent ways to build your leg muscles and improve your flexibility, and can be done seated, standing or lying down. What's more, they can be done freely or with weights, depending on your goals and fitness level.
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Standing Knee Curls
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Stand with one arm bracing yourself against a wall, then curl your leg backward at the knee. Hold it for a second, then slowly bring it back down. You need to be deliberate. This is not a speed-based exercise -- if you swing your leg, you'll just build momentum and your muscles will not be exercised.
Lying Leg Curls
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Lie down on the floor and curl your legs toward your buttocks in the same slow motion as above. Curl one leg at a time, then do both at a time. Try to curl them as far as possible to improve your flexibility.
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Weighted Seated Curls
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Sit at a leg curl machine with the top pad just below your kneecaps and the bottom pad on your ankles. Curl your knees in the same direction as the above exercises, pulling the weight up as you bring your ankles toward your buttocks. Use a smaller weight with lots of reps (20-plus) for a cardiovascular workout and a larger weight with fewer reps (four to six) for a strength training workout.
Weighted Lying Curls
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Lie on the bench attached to a lying knee curl machine with your kneecaps just below the lip of the bench and your ankles on the circular pad. Bring the pad to your buttocks by curling your knees. Follow the same weight guidelines as above.
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