IRON Series 30 Min Hamstrings Workout – Hip Extension & Flexion | 16

30 Min Hamstrings Workout – Hip Extension & Flexion is Day 16 in Caroline Girvan‘s Iron Series. This is an excellent deadlift and hip thrust workout. Caroline lasers in on your hamstrings and works them very well. Your glutes will get some work, too, but the hamstrings definitely bear the brunt of this workout. I love deadlifts so this was a fun workout for me. I was afraid my forearms or grip strength would start giving out from all of the deadlifts but even that must be getting stronger! The stretch at the end was very focused and thorough. It felt great. I used one of Heather Robertson‘s Daily 10 workouts as a finisher–Day 13: 10 Min Booty Band Workout.

All of the exercises in this workout are done interval style: 60 seconds of work followed by 30 seconds of rest. There is a timer in the upper left hand side of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recovery Caroline previews the next exercise. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage.

30 Min Hamstrings Workout – Hip Extension & Flexion is 36:47 minutes; 2:35 minute intro, no warm up and 3:50 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a chair or bench, and fitness mat. Optional: a towel to protect your hips from the heavy dumbbell. Caroline is using one 30kg/66.1 pound, 17.5 kg/38.6 pound, and one 12.5kg/27.6 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

1. Slow eccentric RDL (Romanian deadlift, lower slowly, raise normal speed) (40# DBs)
2. Paused RDL (lower slowly then pause at the bottom before raising at normal speed) (40# DBs)
3. Normal tempo RDL (37.5# DB)
4. Slow eccentric staggered RDL (single leg deadlift, back/non-working leg is in kickstand, lower slowly and raise at normal speed) (one 40# DB)
5. Repeat #4 on other side of body
6. 1.5 rep staggered RDL (same position as #4, lower to bottom of deadlift, raise halfway, lower to bottom of deadlift then raise all the way) (one 40# DB)
7. Repeat #6 on other side of body
8. Staggered RDL to forward lean lunge (alternate one single leg deadlift with one reverse lunge, hinge torso forward over front leg when in lunge) (one 25# DB)
9. Repeat #8 on other side of body
10. Balanced RDL (single leg deadlift lifting back/non-working leg off floor when hinging forward) (one 25# DB)
11. Repeat #10 on other side of body
12. Hamstring thrust slow (lean back against your bench or chair, one heavy DB on hips, feet on floor but further away from chair than if you were doing a regular hip thrust, knees are slightly bent, heels press into floor, raise and lower hips) (one 45# DB)
13. Hamstring hold (keep hips raised isometrically at top of lift for entire interval) (one 45# DB)
14. Full range hip thrust at normal speed for 20 seconds; hold isometrically at top of lift for 20 seconds; full range hamstring thrust at normal speed for 20 seconds (one 45# DB)
15. x1 leg hamstring thrust (same position as #12, body weight/no DB, lift one leg and keep it raised entire interval, raise and lower hips)
16. Repeat #15 on other side of body
17. Full range x1 leg hip thrust at normal speed for 30 seconds; hold isometrically at top of lift for 15 seconds; full range x1 leg hamstring thrust at normal speed for 15 seconds
18. Repeat #17 on other side of body

Finisher:

1. RDL w/ 2 DBs for 60 seconds (40# DBs)
2. 15 second rest
3. RDL w/ 1 DB for 60 seconds (one 40# DB)

For more info on Caroline Girvan’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.