How to Do the Hamstring Walkout: Benefits and Technique

Two Types of Strength and the Neglected Hamstring Walkout

There are two types of strength: absolute strength, the total weight a lifter can lift, and relative strength, the weight a lifter lifts relative to their body weight. Two lifters may lift the same weight, but the lighter lifter will have better relative strength. A neglected way to improve both is performing challenging bodyweight exercises like the Hamstring Walkout.

What is the Hamstring Walkout?

It’s a hip extension variation that challenges your hamstrings in an eccentric and isometric fashion. You start in a hip extension position, then slowly walk your heels away from your body in tiny, controlled steps. The farther you go, the more tension your hamstrings. Once your legs are nearly straight, reverse the movement while maintaining a strong hip extension until you return to the starting position.

How to Do The Hamstring Walkout

1. Drive through your heels to lift your hips into a strong hip extension position.
2. Your knees, hips, and shoulders should form a straight line. Keep your ribs down, glutes squeezed, core braced, and back straight throughout the exercise.
3. Slowly walk one heel forward a few inches, then repeat with the other foot.
4. Keep walking your feet forward until your legs are nearly straight while your glutes hold strong.
5. Step your feet toward your glutes one at a time until you’re back to the starting position.

Muscles Worked With the Hamstring Walkout

• Hamstrings: They control the slow walkout (eccentric strength) and the walk-back (concentric and isometric strength).
• Glutes: Keep them engaged throughout to maintain the hip extension position.
• Core (rectus abdominis, oblique, and transverse abdominal): Keeps your hips neutral and prevents excessive lower back arching.
• Lower Back (Erector Spinae): Helps maintain spinal alignment and prevents hyperextension.
• Calf: Work to control the small steps and maintain ankle stability.

Common Hamstring Walkout Mistakes

A Loss of Tension in the Hamstring Muscles

As you walk your feet out, your hips lose position, shifting the tension away from your hamstrings and to your lower back.

The Fix: Engage your glutes and actively push your hips toward the ceiling. Maintain a straight line from your shoulders to your knees throughout the exercise.

Taking Too Big of a Step

You take exaggerated strides instead of controlled small steps, losing tension in the hamstrings.

The Fix: Take short, controlled steps—your hamstrings will work harder, and you’ll maintain better stability.

Your Arching Your Lower Back

If your lower back is on fire more than your hamstrings, you’re probably compensating by arching your lower back.

The Fix: Brace your core and focus on your glute and hamstring tension. If needed, reduce the range of motion and gradually build up to full ROM.

A Total Breakdown of Form Due To Speed

Speeding through the walkout and rushing back to the start position reduces time under tension, which is the whole point of this exercise.

The Fix: This exercise’s magic happens during the eccentric phase (walking the feet out). The slower you go, the harder your hamstrings work.

Hamstring Walkout Benefits

Enhanced Hamstring Strength

Many hamstring exercises focus on concentric strength, but real strength comes from controlling the eccentric phase—which is what the Hamstring Walkout requires. By slowly extending your legs while maintaining tension, you train your hamstrings to handle tension longer, improving their endurance.

Improved Muscle Coordination

The Hamstring Walkout teaches your glutes, hamstrings, and core to work together, enhancing balance, hip stability, and overall posterior chain coordination. This improved synergy translates directly to stronger squats, more powerful deadlifts, and better athletic performance. Plus, because it mimics the eccentric loading of sprinting, jumping, and cutting, strengthening this movement leads to faster sprints, higher jumps, and a lower risk of injury.

Better Knee Stability

Your hamstrings play a vital role in knee health. Weak hamstrings increase the risk of knee and hamstring injuries. The Hamstring Walkout forces your hamstrings to control knee stability under tension, which helps bulletproof your knees in and out of the gym.

The Hamstring Walkout Sample Workout

• Warmup: 1-2 sets of 8 reps before your main workout.
• Finisher: 3 sets of 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off at the end of your lower-body day.
• Strength workout: Pair the Hamstring Walkout with Nordic Curls and Single-Leg RDLs for a serious hamstring challenge.

Conclusion

The Hamstring Walkout is an excellent bodyweight exercise for building strong hamstrings without equipment. By incorporating this exercise into your workout routine, you can enhance hamstring strength, improve muscle coordination, and reduce the risk of knee injuries.

FAQs

Q: What is the best way to perform the Hamstring Walkout?
A: Start in a hip extension position, then slowly walk your heels away from your body in tiny, controlled steps. Maintain a strong hip extension position throughout the exercise.

Q: How many sets and reps should I do for the Hamstring Walkout?
A: For a warmup, do 1-2 sets of 8 reps. For a finisher, do 3 sets of 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off. For a strength workout, pair the Hamstring Walkout with Nordic Curls and Single-Leg RDLs for a serious hamstring challenge.

Q: Can I do the Hamstring Walkout with equipment?
A: No, the Hamstring Walkout is a bodyweight exercise that requires no equipment. It is designed to challenge your hamstrings in an eccentric and isometric fashion.