Bench Bridge

If you train at home, as many do, you may find yourself limited to equipment. One muscle group that you may think is difficult to target properly when training at home is the hamstrings. But actually, if you have dumbbells and/or a barbell the following make great hamstring exercises – squats, deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, and walking lunges.

Another good hamstring exercise that you can do even if you don't have barbells or dumbbells is the bench bridge. To do the bench bridge, lie on the floor next to a bench with your back flat on the floor and your heels up on the bench. Your knees and hips should each form 90-degree angles. You can keep your arms at your sides on the floor or place them across your chest. Press your heels into the bench as you contract your hamstrings and glutes to extend at the hips to lift your glutes up until your torso and upper legs are in a straight line with just your upper back touching the floor. Your torso and thighs should form about a 45-degree angle with the floor. Hold this top position for a second and squeeze your hamstrings and glutes as hard as you can. Then slowly lower your glutes back to the floor and repeat for reps.

You have two options to increase the resistance during the bench bridge. One is to do this exercise with just one leg. To do this start in the same position as you would the two-legged bench bridge. But only keep one foot on the bench while you extend the other leg straight out over the bench.

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