Nordic Hamstring Exercise vs. GHR Hamstring Curl

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I see a lot of strength coaches and rehab clinicians use the nordic hamstring curl and the GHR hamstring curl interchangeably.

It's important to recognize the difference between these 2 exercises so that you can apply them appropriately to your rehab and performance training scenarios.

The main difference between the nordic hamstring curl and the GHR hamstring curl is where the knee is placed. During the nordic hamstring curl, the knee is directly on the ground. During the GHR hamstring curl the knee is placed before the pad. This changes the fulcrum of the movement as well as the length of the lever arm. Making the GHR hamstring curl significantly easier to perform.

Now the nordic hamstring curls intent was to always be supramaximal load. Meaning you will fail at some point and you should not be able to perform the concentric portion of the lift. If our goal is to strengthen the hamstring as we lengthen, then we should just perform the eccentric portion of the lift.

If our goal was more hypertrophy of the muscle then either option would work. Just eccentrics of both eccentric and concentric portion of the lift (or standard isotonic exercise).

For these 2 purposes, the nordic hamstring exercise should never be performed with assist (because the intent is for it to be either just eccentric or a supramaximal eccentric). If you would like to perform the movement as an isotonic to get multiple reps and help drive hypertrophy, then a GHR is a better piece of equipment to utilize for that. If the GHR machine is not available, then performing the nordic hamstring curl with assist to be able to do the concentric action would be allowable. However, just remember the goal of a nordic is not to be able to do a concentric. That would mean you are training the exercise submaximally. Which in and of itself is not a bad thing...But you still need to introduce the supramaximal load from time to time as well!

https://youtu.be/jfiKNVeq0R0