The only exercise I do now are straight leg dead lifts, but my back gets tired long before my hamstrings, anyone know exercises to do besides machines and only body weight movements

Or are the hamstring machines the best way to go?

Here are a bunch of hamstring exercises:
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ThighWt.html#anchor1942303

The only exercise I do now are straight leg dead lifts, Or are the hamstring machines the best way to go?

The machines or curls are the best thing (IMO). I agree on the deadlifts, they are a back exercise and should be used for ham strings, when nothing else is available.

Gotta disagree with you RTE.

Straight leg deadlifts are NOT a back exercise. They are a hamstring/glut exercise.

Normal deadlifts are a lower back exercise.

Gotta disagree with you RTE.

Straight leg deadlifts are NOT a back exercise. They are a hamstring/glut exercise. .

Might be, but my bad back can't tell the difference. I can even feel it on a flat bench leg curl machine. I prefer the head angled down bench. To stay away from problem, I use standing leg curl machines.

The only exercise I do now are straight leg dead lifts, but my back gets tired long before my hamstrings, anyone know exercises to do besides machines and only body weight movements

Or are the hamstring machines the best way to go?

I don't like the leg curl machines. I prefer leg curls with the swiss ball. You can do this on the floor, on your back. Another good one is the one legged deadlift (nearly straight legs). It does get the back and the glutes, but I feel it in the hammies the most.

My gym has a seated leg curl machine for the hammys i use once in a while...its like a quad extension except the bar for you legs sticks out to begin with and you push it backwards...also, how about squats???

My gym has a seated leg curl machine for the hammys i use once in a while...its like a quad extension except the bar for you legs sticks out to begin with and you push it backwards...also, how about squats???

Squats are primarily quads. I tried to get away with basically just doing them and lunges for a while, quads grew and grew but the hamstrings basically stayed the same. I would not recommend following in my footsteps, at the least.

Ah, hamstrings. I have been thinking about writing an article about training the posterior chain. I think it is a very undertrained group, but perhaps the most important to athleticism. Some of my favorite PC(posterior chain) exercises are: Good Morning, Pullthrough, and Reverse Hyper-extension. I also love the Glute-Ham Raise for knee flexion. You can also increas hamstring involvement in your normal leg routine by incorporating box squats and by squatting deeper. That should be enough to get you started.

Olympic lifting will also really hit your PC. The require deep squatting and also develop a very powerful hip snap.

I have been started, I squat once a week do the dead lifts, I was looking for more advanced hamstring exercises, I end my squat lift above 300 and I'm sure that it is my quads and not my hamstrings that are the limiting factor, I do straight legged deads but my back gets tired before my hams, though I do feel it in my hams, I think ill give some of the machines a try

Also how far down to people go on squants and would anyone advise going below parallel to the ground, I used to go real low but hurt myself, now i dont go anywhere below parallel

What was the nature of your injury?
I squat very deep, hamstrings press against calves and ass about 6 inches off the ground. It definately limits the weight a lot, but recruits more hip/hamstring involvement and transfers to sport better for me. I am thinking about adding a parallel squat day so I can work on getting more weight up and really over loading my quads at the top half of the movement.

For your hamstrings I really suggest trying Glute-Ham Raises and Good Mornings or as Bushmaster suggested one leg deadlifts.

Im not sure what it was exactly, but was told by trainers and such at school it was too much stress on my joints...? (does that make sense), I would end up limping really bad during football practice and was told by some doctors not to go beyond paralell

Note i didnt look too much into it and just took their advice as I was younger and didnt think to question a doctor, the reason they told me was that the knee joints were not made to apply pressure to them at that angle, with the legs beyond parallel, ever since them ive been afraid of going beyond parallel in squats

True parrallel squats are pretty low, not much difference between that and ass to the grass for me. I feel squats in my entire leg when doing them.

As far as hurting your back with SLDL, are you sure you are doing them right and you are not using too much weight? http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=workout&Number=320430&Forum=workout&Words=magic%20moving%20ass&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Old=allposts&Main=320231&Search=true#Post320430

I found this on google and I think it explains some things about how to do the exercise to really hit the hamstrings without hitting the back real hard.

my back doesnt get hurt, just gets sore and tired alot more than my hamstrings do, I always just figured my back was underdeveloped and I have been working on it, do you think that this could be that I am doing it worng

Some measuring points to help aid in deciding if my back is underdeveloped in relation to my legs (quads/hams/ even calves)

I can work out up to 315+ for about 10 for slow parallel squats
Dead lift only to 225 before my back starts to pinch in places and I really feel the stress, but usually can still get a good lift on it
Calves no problem there can do calve raises w/just about anything

I definitely think that I am doing it correctly, I seem to be doing it llike they say to in that thread, and I was shown how to do it by succesful weight trainers, when I do the exercise I can certainly feel it in my hamstrings, just my back gets tired long before my hamstrings, maybe I should just use machines to suppliment the exercise until my back gets stronger

It's possible that you have a back problem, but I wouldn't know without actually observing you doing those lifts to know if your form was correct. Some people have bodies that are better suited to regular deadlift than squats (limb length, height, etc.) and vice versa. I couldn't really say for sure one way or the other from a text post.

While the stiff-legged deadlift does kill my lower back, I really don't know of anything that hits my hamstrings better or with more intensity, provided you do it properly.

I do also like the lying leg curl machine.

And, others, which I don't currently use: seated leg curls, standing leg curls (1 at a time, obviously), lunges too I believe.

While the stiff-legged deadlift does kill my lower back, I really don't know of anything that hits my hamstrings better or with more intensity, provided you do it properly.

I do also like the lying leg curl machine.

And, others, which I don't currently use: seated leg curls, standing leg curls (1 at a time, obviously), lunges too I believe.

Lunges are mostly a quad movement.

SLDLs when done right should not cause back pain. I'm the poster child for lower back trauma. once I figured out how to do them right, (and Good Mornings, and squats for that matter; these all look scary to anyone with back problems) I no longer have back pain when doing them. I did all of these last night. towards the end of the SLDL set I felt a little tension in the lumbar area, which was probably caused by fatiguing of the arch, but no pain.

what the abcbodybuilding link up there said: it's mostly about ass movement and arch, though I didn't know about not locking your knees. I'll try that next time.

anyway, yes, I definitely feel this routine in the hams and buttcheeks, as intended. this is one where it really helps to visualize those muscle groups in action when doing it.

I prefer leg curls with the swiss ball. You can do this on the floor, on your back.

I second the recommendation for this exercise. They are awesome, and easy to do at home, where it's hard in many cases to get good leg equipment or machines.

It may be a shock, but more than likely you're doing a little thing wrong. I've had the exact same problem. my form looks just fine. What isn't fine and now I've fixed, is that I wasn't conciously contracting my glutes/hams to move my body upright, I was just trying to lift the damn bar. I think that's really the key. And keeping the bar near your shins can help as well. You'll still feel it in your back, but after a workout or two you shouldn't feel too bad about it.

Lunges are mostly a quad movement.

Well, that's what common sense tells me too, just in how they feel (even though I never do them myself, they're just weird feeling), but A LOT of programs I've seen list lunges as a hamstring movement.

Body-for-Life, for example, lists lunges in thir hamstring section:

http://www.bodyforlife.com/train_mens.shtm

Well, that's what common sense tells me too, just in how they feel (even though I never do them myself, they're just weird feeling), but A LOT of programs I've seen list lunges as a hamstring movement.

Body-for-Life, for example, lists lunges in thir hamstring section:

http://www.bodyforlife.com/train_mens.shtm

They're so damn ambiguous. Unless the hamstring part comes into play in the non-lunging leg, I think they are decidedly a quad movement. It may depend on which leg you emphasize though and that could be why they never worked as a ham movement for me. EXRX doesn't list them under hamstrings for one.