Your hamstrings are the ACL's backup. Every time you land, stop or cut, they pull the shin back and take load off the ligament, and a Nordic trains that exact job at long muscle length under real force. It strengthens the muscle, the tendons and the tissue around the back of the knee, and it evens out the quad-to-hamstring balance that most ACL research points at. I don't have an ACL in my right knee, and Nordics are a big part of why I can still ski.
You don't need a full Nordic curl to get the benefit. The lowering half, the eccentric Nordic, is where the strength gets built, and it's where everyone should start.
How to do it
- Kneel on something soft with your feet anchored: a strap on a bench, a partner holding your ankles, or a bedsheet shut in a door frame.
- Squeeze your glutes so your hips stay open. From the knees up, your body is one straight line, and it stays that way the whole rep.
- Lower yourself forward as slowly as you can, bending only at the knees. Three to five seconds down is the target. Hands up in front of your chest, ready to catch.
- Catch yourself on your hands, push back up to the start with your arms, and reset. That's one eccentric Nordic.
Only worry about the lowering until you can get all the way to parallel with full control. Then you can start pushing back up with less help from your hands, and eventually none, which is the full Nordic curl.
Three ways to make it easier
- A band. Anchor a long band high in front of you and hold it at your chest. It takes weight off at the bottom, where the rep is hardest. This is how I learned, with a bedsheet holding my feet. Nordics don't have to be expensive.
- Pads or pillows in front of you. Stack them so the range is short, and take one away every week or two as you get stronger.
- An adjustable bench. Kneel on the bench with the back raised. The steeper the incline, the easier the rep. Flatten it over time. This is my setup now, and it's what got me to a full eccentric Nordic.
Sets and reps.
3 sets of 5 eccentric Nordics, once a week, is enough to progress when you start. Hamstrings take longer to recover than the rest of your legs, so give them the week. If you want more hamstring work in between, use a hamstring curl machine or a dumbbell with a Monkey Foot, both of which are easier to recover from.
Mistakes I see most
- Folding at the hips. The rep is only counting if the hips stay open. If your butt goes back, the hamstrings are off the hook. Squeeze the glutes and bend at the knees only.
- Dropping. If you fall through the last half of the rep, shorten the range with pads or a band until you can control all of it.
- Too many, too often. Hamstrings need more recovery than your quads do. Once a week is enough to progress when you start.
- Skipping the anchor. If your feet lift, the rep is over. Spend the ten dollars on a strap or use the bedsheet trick.
Where it lives in the Strong Knees System
Kneehab Foundations and Kneehab Strength build the hamstring base first, with banded curls, RDLs and slow single-leg work. Eccentric Nordics come in on the posterior chain days in Kneehab Performance, and they stay in through both blocks. If your knee is still settling, the banded hamstring curl does the same job at a lower intensity, and it's the swap I'll give you.
Equipment, from free to fancy
- Free: a bedsheet shut in a door frame, or a heavy couch, or a friend holding your ankles.
- About $10: a Nordic curl strap that wraps around a bench. This is what I use, on this adjustable bench.
- About $20: a NordStick that hooks under a door. I haven't used one myself, but it's the same idea as the strap.
- A proper Nordic bench: I own the NordBench Pro now. It folds up, it doubles as a back extension and a Nordic bench, and it's a really good option for a home gym if you want one. You don't need it to start.
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