Standing Leg Curls with an Exercise Ball

Video Transcript

"ALICE MONSAERT: This stability ball exercise is called the "Standing Leg Curl." It's going to target the hamstring muscle, which is the back of the thigh. I'll place the ball on the ground and place one heel on top of the ball. The exercise is pushing down through the heel as I extend the leg, and then pushing down to the heel as I curl the leg in. So, my joint action is knee extension and then knee flexion. So as I do knee flexion, the resistance onto the ball is targeting the hamstring. I can advance this exercise by actually going into a semi-squat on my supporting leg and pulling in with the heel. I'm using my arms to counterbalance my weight, and then, I can advance this one other level by staying in that squatted position and just working on the hamstring curl. So again, you need to drive the heel down into the ball to get the resistance and strengthen the back of the legs for the hamstring."