Stability Ball Leg Curls Guide And Tips (2023)

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The best leg curl variation for building and strengthening hamstring muscles is stability ball leg curls. It features dozens of benefits, including stabilizing the spine through core challenges.

While it has many advantages, many people make several mistakes when performing it. They usually allow their hips to swivel while curling their legs. Consequently, the exercise becomes more difficult and may result in injury.

So, keeping all these factors into account, I have shared a complete step-by-step guide on stability ball leg curls which will surely help you to do this exercise properly.

So let’s jump into it.

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Stability Ball Leg Curls Exercise: Overview

Primary targeted muscle group: Hamstrings, Glutes.
Secondary targeted muscle groups: Calves, Abs, Quads
Experience level: Intermediate
Equipment required: Stability ball
Exercise Type: Isolation – Pull

Other Names For This Exercise

Ball leg curl
Stability ball leg curl
Swiss ball hamstring curls
Exercise-ball Supine leg curl

Stability Ball Leg Curls Step-By-Step Guide

Read and follow the below-mentioned steps carefully to do this exercise correctly and properly:

Step 1: Starting Position

Lie supine and place your back on the floor with the lower legs on the stability ball. After that, extend your arms out to your sides for support and balance. Lastly, raise your hips and lower back off the floor to keep your body straight.

Congrats! Now you are in the starting position. So let’s start the exercise.

Step 2: Procedure

Keeping your back and hips straight, exhale as you flex your knees and roll the stability ball towards your back with your heels.
Remember, your feet must roll onto the top of the ball, and your body should lift further off the floor.
Start inhaling as you roll the ball back to your starting position by extending your knees.
Repeat these steps for the desired number of repetitions.

Bonus Tips For Performing The Stability Ball Leg Curls

Hopefully, now you should be aware of the proper way of exercising. In this section, I’ll discuss some bonus tips for this exercise. Surely, these tips will help you a lot.

Keep your hips and back straight. Only your lower legs should move.
Be careful not to press down into the floor with your neck and head.
Make sure that your hips remain elevated through the movement. Don’t let your hips drop while bending your knees.
Try to keep your core muscles engaged throughout the entire workout.
Spread your arms to the side if it is too difficult to balance.
Palpate your gluteal musculature with your hands if you cannot feel your glutes activating.
Consider squeezing something like a yoga block or foam roller in between your knees if you want to improve the activation of your hamstrings or abs.
Don’t put too much pressure on your lower back while extending the glutes.
Perform the single-leg curl only after you have mastered the double-leg curl.

Mistakes To Be Avoided

Keep these common mistakes in your mind when performing this advanced exercise. Doing the leg curls with the proper training is essential to make them more effective and safer.

Be careful not to press down into the floor with your neck and head.
Don’t let your hips drop as your knees bend.
Don’t put too much pressure on your lower back while extending the glutes.
Perform the single-leg curl only after you have mastered the double-leg curl.
Don’t allow your hips to swivel while curling the legs.
Don’t roll your feet in the middle of the ball. Try rolling them on the top of the ball.
Never sag your body.

Safety And Precautions

Follow these safety measures to avoid any serious injury:

Pay close attention to your form throughout the exercise.
Keep a slow and steady pace while drawing the ball.
Don’t place the ball on slippery surfaces like tile or treated concrete. This will cause the ball to pop out from under your feet.
Always choose a surface with greater friction, such as grass or carpet. Also, you can use a yoga mat for extra traction.

Benefits of Stability Ball Leg Curls

Following are some major benefits of the stability ball knee tuck exercise:

Build and strengthen the hamstrings muscles.
It also engages the core and Glutes muscles in stabilization.
With this exercise, the knee flexors are also targeted, which helps in bringing our heels closer to our glutes.
Along with the hamstrings, it also targets the hip extensors.
It develops anti-rotational core strength.
With this exercise, your core is better prepared to engage, and your spine is protected.
It helps in preventing low back pain and injuries.
This exercise also improves sports performance.

Muscles Targeted In Stability Ball Leg Curls

Main Targeted Muscles:

The hamstrings and glutes are the main targeted muscles of this exercise. It’s a simple but effective exercise to strengthen your glutes, hamstrings, and core muscles.

Synergists:

With leg curls, the synergists are also targeted. These include, popliteus, sartorius, gastrocnemius, and gracilis. This helps to provide movement for the prime mover.

Stabilizers:

The stability ball leg curls also target the stabilizers of your body which induce the gluteus maximus and erector spine. Due to this, the work of training and movement will be spread instead of putting all the stress onto the primary movers.

Antagonists Stabilizers

Antagonist stabilizers are also the target of this exercise. These muscles include rectus abdominis, obliques, and tibialis anterior.

Popular Stability Ball Leg Curls Workouts

Many celebrities and athletes use this exercise as an essential part of their leg workout.

The Gwen Stefani workout uses the Stability ball leg curls as part of Gunnar Peterson’s workout.
The Kin Kardashian workout uses this exercise to work her legs and core simultaneously. This helps with a busy routine.
The Derek Jeter workout uses these crunches to build his core. In addition to the hamstrings, the strong core allows him to field grounders and throw the ball better.
The Sofia Vergara workout uses these curls to keep her legs tightly tuned.
The Beyonce workout and Jay-Z workout use this exercise to work their knee joints and hips.

FAQs

How Do You Do A Leg Curl With A Ball?

Raise your hips while keeping the weight on your shoulder blades and feet. Flex your knees while pulling the balls as close as you can.

What Muscles Do Stability Ball Leg Curls Work?

The stability ball leg curls are an effective exercise to strengthen your glutes, hamstrings, and core muscles.

Are Leg Curls Effective?

Yes. Leg curls are effective, especially for bodybuilders, as they increase muscle mass. But these curls can also cause a shortening and tightening of the hamstring muscles.

Are Leg Curls Primarily Isolate Your Hamstrings?

Yes. Leg curls primarily isolate your hamstrings. This exercise helps strengthen the muscles and also improves flexibility.

Can Leg Curl Cause Back Pain?

The leg curl exercise strengthens the hamstrings, making it an essential part of a lower leg routine. Leg curls are not harmful to the low back when performed correctly, but they can cause low back pain if performed incorrectly.

Why Does My Lower Back Hurt After Leg Curls?

When performing hamstring curls, keep your back neutral. Having an arched lower back will cause your hamstrings not to work properly. In this case, your back will have to do the work, which can cause back pain and discomfort.

Contract your abs during the exercise to avoid arching your back.

Meta Description

The best leg curl variation for building and strengthening hamstring muscles is stability ball leg curls. The exercises provide dozens of benefits, including stabilizing the spine through core exercises.

A leg curl performed correctly is not harmful to the low back, but a leg curl performed incorrectly can cause low back pain.

Stability ball leg curls guide and tips are essential because they can help you perform the exercise correctly. You can also avoid injuries by following these tips.

Wrap Up

The article concluded that the stability ball leg curls could be performed in two steps. In the first step, you must bring your body into position, and in the second step, you must perform the steps mentioned above.

After going through the above guide, hopefully, you will be cleared about the stability ball leg curls exercise. I’m sure that now there will be no issue for you, and you’ll correctly perform this exercise.

This guide and tips are based on my experience and deep research, and I’m sure you’ll benefit greatly from it.