Most leg workouts miss a huge part of the equation, which is your backside.
Many people train quads with squats and lunges but ignore the muscles that power hip extension and protect the spine. Lower body pull exercises target your glutes, hamstrings, and calves. These muscles drive explosive movement, build strength, and reduce injury risk. The problem is that they’re easy to skip, and harder to program well.
To help simplify your approach, this list of 5 lower body pull exercises for strength and muscle gains offers a quick-hit strategy for hitting key muscles. Each movement is ideal for boosting posterior chain development and improving performance across multiple sports.
In this article, you will learn:
- How lower body pulls build strength and muscle in key areas
- Which exercises match your level and equipment
- How to structure workouts for maximum results
Let’s break down exactly what lower body pull training looks like.
What Are Lower Body Pull Exercises?
Lower body pull exercises train the backside of your body, which is your posterior chain.
That includes the glutes, hamstrings, calves, and lower back. These muscles work together to pull your body up and extend your hips. Think of movements like deadlifts, glute bridges, or leg curls. If the effort starts from behind your body and you’re pulling weight up or in, you’re doing a lower body pull.
Biomechanically, these movements hinge at the hips. You push your hips back, load the hamstrings, and then drive the hips forward to lift the weight. This is called a hip hinge. It’s a simple motion that fires multiple muscle groups at once.
[wpcode id=”229888″]Your glutes are the engine. They’re the strongest hip extensor in your body. The hamstrings support them, working across both the hip and knee. Meanwhile, your calves stabilize your ankles, and your lower back holds the spine steady.
These exercises are powerful. But only when done with good form. A proper hip hinge keeps your spine neutral and shifts the workload away from your lower back and into your glutes and hamstrings. Miss that, and the whole chain breaks down.
If you want stronger legs, better posture, and fewer injuries, pull days matter.
Muscle Actions and Movement Patterns
Every lower-body pull exercise depends on two main actions: hip extension and knee flexion.
Hip extension happens when you straighten your hips from a bent position. You see it in deadlifts, swings, and hip thrusts. The glutes do most of the work here, with the hamstrings lending a hand. Knee flexion is the bending of your knee, like when you curl your heel toward your butt in a leg curl. That one’s all hamstrings.
But these actions don’t happen in isolation. The glutes, hamstrings, and erector spinae work together in sync. For example, as you lift in a Romanian deadlift, your glutes and hamstrings extend the hips while your erectors stabilize your spine. It’s a full-team effort.
The way your hamstrings act depends on the movement. In hip-hinge lifts, they often work eccentrically, controlling the weight as it lowers. In leg curls, they work concentrically, contracting to pull the weight in. You need both to grow stronger and more resilient.
That’s why variety matters. EMG studies show that different moves emphasize different parts of the hamstring (1). RDLs target the medial hamstrings under load. Glute-ham raises light up the muscle during the lift. Both are essential.
You don’t need a dozen variations. But you do need the right mix of hip- and knee-dominant pulls, with slow and controlled reps. That’s what keeps progress moving.
If you’re not sure which lifts hit which parts of the body most effectively, check out this breakdown of hamstring and glute exercises ranked. It compares popular exercises and their EMG results to help you prioritize the ones that deliver the most stimulus.
Equipment-Based Exercise Guide
Here is the equipment-based exercise guide.
Bodyweight Pulls
Bodyweight pulls are a solid foundation. They build awareness of hip position, glute activation, and hamstring control without external load.
Glute bridges teach the basic thrust pattern. Lie on your back with knees bent, feet flat. Drive your hips up by pressing through your heels and squeezing your glutes. Most people miss the full lockout or arch their back. Keep your ribs down and chin tucked.
Hamstring slides use towels or sliders under your heels. From a bridge position, bend your knees and pull your heels toward your hips. This builds knee flexion control. Go slow and don’t let your hips sag.
Nordic hamstring curls are tough. Kneel with your ankles pinned under a sturdy object, then lower your torso forward slowly. Most people collapse too fast. Use your hands to catch yourself, then push back up.
Machine and Cable Pulls
Machines provide stable resistance. They isolate muscles and let you focus on feel and form.
Seated or lying leg curls flex the knee with a consistent load. Keep your hips pressed into the pad and curl through the full range. Most people cheat by lifting their hips or rushing the movement. Stay slow and smooth.
Back extensions strengthen the entire posterior chain. Hinge from the hips, not the spine. Lift your torso to align with your legs and squeeze your glutes. Don’t arch past neutral. Too much range shifts load to the lower back.
Cable kickbacks and pull-throughs add tension from different angles. Kickbacks target the glute in isolation. Keep your torso still and leg control tight. Pull-throughs are like RDLs, but with a rope behind you. Focus on the hip hinge, not squatting.
Want to master this underrated movement? Here’s a detailed guide on how to build strong and great looking glutes with the cable pull through. It explains setup, execution, and how to program it for optimal growth.
Free Weights and Barbells
Free weight pulls are the gold standard for strength. They load multiple muscles across multiple joints and build serious posterior chain power.
Deadlifts come first. Keep the bar close to your shins, brace your core, and drive through the floor. Watch for rounding backs, hips shooting up too fast, or knees collapsing. Start with light weight and video your form.
Romanian deadlifts train the hamstrings through a deep hip hinge. Lower the bar down your legs with soft knees, then squeeze up. Don’t turn it into a squat or lock your knees. Feel the stretch and control the motion.
Good mornings use a barbell on your back or a resistance band at shoulder level. Hinge forward with a flat spine, then return upright. They teach upper back control and hamstring loading. Most mistakes involve bending the knees too much or rounding the back.
Hip thrusts use a bench and barbell. Drive through your heels, pause at the top, and squeeze the glutes. Keep your core tight. Don’t arch your back or lift your toes.
Split squats train one leg at a time. Elevate the back foot and lower down with the front heel driving the motion. Though often quad-heavy, keeping the shin vertical shifts load to the glutes and hamstrings.
Bands and Resistance Tools
Bands are great for home training or adding variety. They increase resistance as you stretch them, which makes the top part of each rep harder.
Banded hip hinges mimic RDLs or good mornings. Stand on the band and hold it at shoulder or hip height. Hinge with control and tension. Don’t let the band snap you back.
Banded hamstring curls can be done lying down or standing. Anchor the band and curl your heel toward your glutes. Keep steady tension and don’t rush the rep.
How to Program Lower Body Pulls
Getting results from lower body pull exercises isn’t just about what you do. It’s also about how you do it. Smart programming means matching sets, reps, and intensity to your goals, then managing your week for progress and recovery.
Training for Strength
Strength work uses heavier weight and lower reps. Go for 3 to 6 sets of 3 to 5 reps at 80 to 90 percent of your one-rep max. Rest 2 to 4 minutes between sets. These longer rests let you recover fully so you can lift with intent.
Focus on big compound lifts like deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, and good mornings. Track your progress weekly and aim to add small amounts of weight or an extra rep when you can lift cleanly.
Training for Hypertrophy
Hypertrophy training targets muscle growth with more reps and volume (2). Use 3 to 5 sets of 5 to 30 reps at 60 to 80 percent of your one-rep max. Rest for up to 5 minutes between sets to ensure full recovery.
This works best with a mix of compound and isolation moves. Include RDLs, hip thrusts, hamstring curls, and reps cable work. Focus on controlled and full ranges of motion. Push close to failure but stop before form breaks down.
For an evidence-backed approach to sculpting your lower half, dive into the best science based lower body workout hams and glutes growth. It breaks down what really works for glute and hamstring development based on research, not just opinion.
Tempo and Time Under Tension
Use a slow, deliberate pace. A 2-second lift and 3-second lower is a good rule. This builds control, increases time under tension, and makes each rep count.
Avoid fast or bouncy reps. Tempo is what turns moderate weight into serious muscle stimulus.
Frequency and Weekly Volume
Train lower body pulls 1 to 3 times per week, depending on your experience. Beginners can grow with one focused session. Intermediate and advanced lifters need more frequency to make progress.
Aim for 10 to 20 sets per muscle group per week. That includes glutes, hamstrings, and lower back. Balance hard and moderate sessions across the week so you recover well and stay consistent.
Progression and Intensity Management
To keep improving, add weight, reps, or sets gradually. Use simple progressions, small weekly increases go a long way. Don’t chase failure on every set. Most of the time, leave 1 to 2 reps in reserve.
Rotate heavy and light sessions. Avoid stacking all your big lifts on one day. That way you train hard, stay fresh, and recover faster.
Sample Training Templates
Training templates help turn knowledge into action. Below are example pull-focused sessions for three levels of experience. Each one targets the posterior chain and fits into a broader weekly structure.
Beginner Pull Day
Frequency: 1 to 2 sessions per week
Goal: Learn movement patterns and build endurance
- Glute Bridge: 3 sets of 12 to 15
- Seated or Lying Leg Curl: 3 sets of 12 to 15
- Back Extension (Machine or Bodyweight): 3 sets of 10 to 12
- Standing Calf Raise: 3 sets of 15
Keep rest around 60 seconds. Focus on control and clean form.
Intermediate Pull Day
Frequency: 2 sessions per week
Goal: Build strength and size with higher volume
- Barbell Deadlift: 3 sets of 6 to 8
- Romanian Deadlift: 3 sets of 8 to 12
- Barbell Hip Thrust: 3 sets of 10 to 12
- Hamstring Curl (Machine or Band): 3 sets of 10 to 15
- Single-Leg Calf Raise: 3 sets of 8 to 12 per leg
Rest 90 seconds between sets. Track reps and add weight weekly.
Advanced Pull Program
Frequency: 2 to 3 sessions per week
Goal: Maximize posterior chain strength and muscle growth
Day 1 – Strength Focus:
- Barbell Deadlift: 4 sets of 3 to 5
- Bulgarian Split Squat: 3 sets of 6 to 8
- Weighted Back Extension: 3 sets of 8
- Standing Calf Raise: 4 sets of 6 to 10
Day 2 – Hypertrophy Focus:
- Romanian Deadlift or Good Morning: 3 sets of 6 to 10
- Nordic Ham Curl: 3 sets of 6 to 8
- Cable Pull-Through: 3 sets of 10 to 15
- Hamstring Slide Curl: 3 sets of 10 to 12
- Seated Calf Raise: 3 sets of 12 to 15
Alternate hard and light days to recover while progressing.
Conclusion
Lower body pull exercises train the muscles most people overlook. These movements strengthen your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back while improving posture and power.
You now know how these exercises work, how to pick the right ones for your level, and how to program them to meet your goals. Consistency, good form, and smart progression will drive your results.
Next up? Learn how to balance your training with an upper body push day. That way your entire body gets stronger, not just your legs. It’s the next step toward building a complete and effective workout routine.
References:
- van den Tillaar R, Solheim JAB, Bencke J. COMPARISON OF HAMSTRING MUSCLE ACTIVATION DURING HIGH-SPEED RUNNING AND VARIOUS HAMSTRING STRENGTHENING EXERCISES. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2017;12(5):718-727.
Krzysztofik M, Wilk M, Wojdała G, Gołaś A. Maximizing Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review of Advanced Resistance Training Techniques and Methods. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019;16(24):4897. Published 2019 Dec 4. doi:10.3390/ijerph16244897
