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glute-ham-developer

A Glute Ham Developer That’s

Sitting in Your Driveway!

Usually, in order to perform the glute-ham raise, you need a glute ham developer or machine. These pieces of equipment can cost $500-$1000 or more.

But by using a car as a brace for your feet, and a thick pad to cushion your knees, you can perform the glute-ham raise right at home!

The glute-ham raise (along with the one legged squat, possibly) is THE BEST exercise for developing the posterior chain muscles of the calf, hamstrings, glutes, and lower back.

These muscles are VITAL for any athletic activity. Most elite athletes have extremely well developed posterior chain muscles, enabling them run, jump and move exlosively.

What’s more, by using a glute ham developer, you are able to train the hamstrings at both the knee and hip joints. This is unlike the common hamstring curl on a machine, which only trains the muscle at the knee joint. In action such as running or jumping, the hamstring acts at both joints.

Do you keep pulling your hamstrings? If so you probably need to get stronger hamstrings!

Start doing glute-ham raises using your improvised glute ham developer. Say goodbye to pulled hamstrings and say hello to explosive athletic performance!

Start

  • First, make sure that:
    • Your feet will fit under your car (sorry if your only ride is a lowrider!)
    • There aren’t any trim pieces that you will damage with your feet.
  • Use some sort of pad for your knees (here I am using a rolled up yoga mat)
  • Start by engaging your hamstrings and glutes, and slowly lower yourself down from this upright position.

Lowering Down

  • Keep engaging your hamstrings and glutes, flex them to control your descent.
  • Even if you can’t completely control your descent by flexing your hamstrings and glutes (don’t worry, you will get stronger if you keep trying!), make sure to keep flexing these muscles, even as you are falling.

Assist as Needed

  • As you reach the bottom of the movement, feel free to use your arms for assistance in slowing yourself down
  • BUT, make sure to keep flexing your hamstrings and glutes. Try to use your arms as little as possible.

Bottom

  • Even at this end position, flat on the ground, make sure to keep your hamstrings and glutes engaged.

Raising Back Up

  • If you can’t rise up by just using your hamstrings and glutes, give yourself some assistance with your arms.
  • But again, make sure to keep flexing those hamstrings and glutes maximally!
  • You might need a little momentum to get all the way back up to the start position, so give yourself a small boost with your arms, if necessary. But again, KEEP ACTIVATING those hamstrings and glutes.

Stay In Line

  • Here you can see that I am starting to bend forward at the waist, as my hamstrings lose some tension (fatigue!). Don’t do this. Try to keep your thighs and back in a straight line as you go from down to up in the glute ham raise.

Back to Start

  • Return to the starting position, continuing to strongly flex the glutes and hamstrings, keeping your thighs and back in a straight line.

Some Thoughts…

  • This is a tough exercise. Take your time learning it. I have been trying to do a few sets 2 or 3 times per week, stopping one rep before failure on each set. It’s only been a couple weeks, but I can see improvement already. I am trying to avoid completely frying my hamstrings!
  • I remember seeing a video of the NFL’s Adam Archuleta doing glute ham raises a while back. I heard he gained a lot of speed doing training that included using the glute ham developer in college, going from running a 4.85 sec to 4.39 sec 40 yard dash.