HamstringsMachineBeginner

How to Do a Seated Leg Curl

By Bryan Alger, Co-Founder of Gravitus

· Updated Sep 30, 2026

A seated leg curl is a hamstring machine. Sit with your knees on the pivot and the thigh pad locked, and curl the ankle roller under the seat. Sitting stretches the hamstrings at the hip, so it grew them more than a lying curl in a 12-week study. Most lifters do 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 15 reps.

Sets x reps 3-4 x 8-15

Median 10-rep weight 13060 lbkg men 8035 lbkg women

Muscles Hamstrings, calves

Setup Knees on the pivot, back upright

Seated Leg Curl start and curl positions

1Start. Knees in line with the pivot, thigh pad locked above your knees, ankle pad just above your heels and legs almost straight.
2Curl. Pull your heels under the seat as far as the pad goes, then let your legs straighten over 2 to 3 seconds.

Watch 1 video demonstration

Technique

How to do a seated leg curl

Sit with your back on the pad and move the backrest until your knees line up with the machine's pivot.
Set the ankle pad on your lower calves, just above your heels, with your legs almost straight. Lock the thigh pad down just above your knees.
Hold the handles, sit tall and keep your hips on the seat.
Curl your heels down and back under the seat as far as the pad allows. Pause for a second.
Let your legs straighten over 2 to 3 seconds until your knees are almost straight, without letting the plates touch.

Setup

How to set up the machine

Backrest positionKnees on the pivotSlide the backrest until the side of your knee lines up with the pivot. Off the pivot, the ankle pad rolls along your shin.

Thigh padSnug above the kneesLock it down just above your kneecaps so your thighs cannot lift as you curl.

Ankle padJust above the heelsSet it on your lower calves, above the Achilles, with your legs almost straight.

Backrest angleUpright, not reclinedSitting up bends the hip and stretches the hamstrings. That stretch is the reason to use this machine.

The hip angle is what separates this machine from the lying curl. In the study that found more growth, the seated machine held the hip at 90 degrees and the lying machine at 30 degrees (Maeo 2021). A backrest reclined far back opens the hip and gives some of that stretch away. If yours adjusts, set it upright. Leaning your chest forward bends the hip further, though no study has tested that for growth.

Compare

Seated vs lying leg curl vs Romanian deadlift

Attribute	Seated leg curl	Lying leg curl	Romanian deadlift
Hip position	Bent 90 degrees	Nearly straight	Hinges through the rep
What moves	Knee	Knee	Hip
Hamstring growth in 12 weeks	14%	9%	Not in that study
Best for	Hamstring size	A second curl, or when the seated machine is taken	Hip strength, glutes

Verdict

Seated first. Twenty adults trained one leg on each machine for 12 weeks, and the seated leg grew its hamstrings 14% against 9% (Maeo 2021). The gap came from the three hamstrings that cross the hip, which sitting stretches. The short head of the biceps femoris only crosses the knee and grew the same either way. The curl and the Romanian deadlift train different joints, so keep both.

Feet

What your toes change, and what they don't

Flexing or pointing your feet does not change how hard the hamstrings work. In a 10-week trial on a lying curl, toes pulled up and toes pointed gave the same hamstring activity, strength gains and growth. The toes-up leg moved more total weight (Cadeo 2023), likely because the calf helps more in that position.

Turning your toes in shifts some activity to the inner hamstrings, and turning them out shifts it to the outer biceps femoris, across three standard exercises (Lynn 2009). That was measured as muscle activity, not growth. Point your toes straight ahead and pick the ankle position that lets you feel your hamstrings most.

Gravitus data

How much weight should you seated leg curl?

On Gravitus, the median man lifts 130 lb (60 kg) for 10 reps on the seated leg curl, and the median woman 80 lb (35 kg).

Men, typical 130 lb for 10 reps

Most lift: 100 to 165 lb
Top 10% lift: 200 lb or more
Starting out: under 100 lb

Women, typical 80 lb for 10 reps

Most lift: 60 to 100 lb
Top 10% lift: 130 lb or more
Starting out: under 60 lb

Men, typical 60 kg for 10 reps

Most lift: 45 to 75 kg
Top 10% lift: 90 kg or more
Starting out: under 45 kg

Women, typical 35 kg for 10 reps

Most lift: 27.5 to 45 kg
Top 10% lift: 60 kg or more
Starting out: under 27.5 kg

One-rep max / 10-rep weight, rounded to 5 lb (2.5 under 40). From 17,724 men and 5,779 women who log the seated leg curl on Gravitus, computed Oct 4, 2026 (Brzycki). Methodology
Percentile	Men	Women
25th	135 / 100 lb	80 / 60 lb
Median	175 / 130 lb	105 / 80 lb
75th	220 / 165 lb	135 / 100 lb
90th	270 / 200 lb	175 / 130 lb

One-rep max / 10-rep weight, rounded to 2.5 kg (1 under 20). From 17,724 men and 5,779 women who log the seated leg curl on Gravitus, computed Oct 4, 2026 (Brzycki). Methodology
Percentile	Men	Women
25th	60 / 45 kg	37.5 / 27.5 kg
Median	80 / 60 kg	47.5 / 35 kg
75th	100 / 75 kg	62.5 / 45 kg
90th	122.5 / 90 kg	77.5 / 60 kg

Seated leg curl stacks run through cams and levers that differ by brand, so 100 lb on one machine is not 100 lb on another. Do not compare with a lying curl either: the same people lifted 70% more seated than lying, one leg at a time (Maeo 2021). Compare yourself to your own log on the same machine.

Anatomy

Muscles worked

HamstringsBend the knee. The long head of the biceps femoris, the semitendinosus and the semimembranosus also cross the hip, so sitting stretches them. The short head crosses only the knee.

Primary

GastrocnemiusThe big calf muscle crosses the back of the knee and helps bend it, more with your toes pulled up.

Secondary

CoreHolds your torso still against the backrest while the thigh pad holds your legs down.

Stabilizer

Programming

Sets, reps and rep range

3-4Sets

8-15Reps

0-2Reps left

Stop each set 0 to 2 reps short of failure. Sets taken close to failure build muscle across a wide range of reps (Schoenfeld 2021), so any range from 8 to 15 works if the last reps are hard. In the 12-week study, 5 sets of 10 at 70% of max, twice a week, grew the hamstrings 14% (Maeo 2021).

Add reps first. When every set reaches 15 clean reps, move the pin down one plate and drop back to 8 to 10.

Form

Common mistakes

Knees off the pivotThe ankle pad rolls along your shin and one end of the rep feels wrong. Move the backrest until your knees line up with the pivot.
Loose thigh padYour thighs lift and your hips help with the curl. Lock the pad down just above your knees.
Leaning backReclining opens the hip and cuts the stretch that makes this machine worth using. Sit tall.
Stopping short of straightLegs long is where the hamstrings are most stretched. Let your knees almost straighten every rep.
Dropping the weightLower over 2 to 3 seconds and keep the plates off the stack between reps.

Variations

Seated leg curl variations

Single-leg seated leg curlOne leg at a time on the same machine. Evens out a weaker side.

Lying Leg CurlFace down with your hips nearly straight. Grew the hamstrings 9% against 14% for the seated curl over 12 weeks (Maeo 2021).

Standing Leg CurlOne leg at a time, standing, with the hip straight like a lying curl.

Nordic Hamstring CurlKneel with your ankles held and lower your body forward under control. Bodyweight and very hard.

Romanian DeadliftTrains the hamstrings at the hip instead of the knee. Pair it with a curl.

FAQ

Questions people ask

What muscles do seated leg curls work?

The hamstrings, all four parts. The gastrocnemius in the calf helps bend the knee, and so do the sartorius and gracilis.

Is the seated leg curl better than the lying leg curl?

For hamstring size, yes. Over 12 weeks the seated leg grew its hamstrings 14% and the lying leg 9% in the same people (Maeo 2021). The lying curl still works as a second curl or when the seated machine is taken.

Does seated leg curl work glutes?

No. The glutes extend the hip, and your hip does not move on a seated leg curl. Train them with hip thrusts, squats or Romanian deadlifts.

Is seated leg curl a compound exercise?

No. Only the knee moves, so it is an isolation exercise for the hamstrings.

How many reps for seated leg curl?

8 to 15 per set for 3 to 4 sets, stopping 0 to 2 reps short of failure. The study that found the most growth used 5 sets of 10 at 70% of max, twice a week (Maeo 2021).

Why do I feel seated leg curls in my calves?

The gastrocnemius crosses the back of the knee and helps bend it, so some calf work is normal. It helps more with your toes pulled up. Ankle position did not change hamstring activity or growth in a 10-week trial (Cadeo 2023), so point your toes if the calves take over.

How much weight should I seated leg curl?

For 10 reps, the median on Gravitus is 130 lb (60 kg) for men and 80 lb (35 kg) for women. The strongest quarter lifts 165 lb (75 kg) and 100 lb (45 kg) or more.

Gravitus See where your seated leg curl ranks

Log every set and see your percentile on every lift, seated leg curl included.

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References