The Best Exercise to Improve Speed and Run Faster was a video I had shot a few months ago discussing the glute ham machine. You can read about that exercise by clicking here, in case you missed it. I feel that hamstring strength is a huge part in developing speed and this exercise really hits the hamstrings good and gets them stronger. You get strong hamstrings and that can usually correlate to some great speed.

The big problem with the glute ham machine is not that many people have access to it. Normally, I find them at my facility (which many of you probably aren’t in town to see), a high school weight room, or a college weight room. If you don’t have access to any of those, then you probably aren’t going to be able to use it. Most commercial gyms don’t have them and most equipment stores don’t sell them.

Consequently, I decided to discuss an alternate exercise that you can do to help develop the necessary strength you need to run faster. That is where the manual hamstring curl will come into play. This is a pretty tough exercise and very demanding on the hamstrings. If you can get good at this exercise you will have some very strong hamstrings that can muster up some serious firepower for your speed development. Watch the video below to see how this exercise works to get your hammies strong and get you faster.

Watch the video, but here are step by step guidelines on performing this exercise correctly:

  • You need to get on your knees and secure your feet with something. It can either be someone holding your ankles down, slide them under a platform that won’t move, or recently I have seen someone use a plywood board and tie rope around it tight enough to hold your feel down securely.
  • So you start with your body upright on your knees. You will look like a capital “L” with your shins being the bottom part of the “L.”
  • Then what you will do is lower your body at your knees as slow as you can so it starts falling to the ground. Really feel those hamstrings fighting to keep you in position.
  • At the last instant, put your hands out to help cushion your fall and give a slight push off the ground to help you return to the starting position.
  • Contract at the hamstrings to get you back to the top.
  • To make the intensity harder, minimize how much you push off the ground. The more you push off, the easier it will be.
  • Repeat for desired repetitions.

Watch the video to get a good idea on what you need to do to perform this exercise correctly. I think it is a great substitute for the glute ham machine and will really work those hamstrings to get you faster. Try it out and let me know what you think.