Exercise library

How to do the Natural Glute Ham Raise

A intermediate compound exercise using bodyweight, working the hamstrings.

Primary musclesHamstrings
Secondary musclesCalves, Glutes, Lower back
EquipmentBodyweight
LevelIntermediate
TypeCompound
ForcePull

Steps

  1. Using the leg pad of a lat pulldown machine or a preacher bench, position yourself so that your ankles are under the pads, knees on the seat, and you are facing away from the machine. You should be upright and maintaining good posture.
  2. This will be your starting position. Lower yourself under control until your knees are almost completely straight.
  3. Remaining in control, raise yourself back up to the starting position.
  4. If you are unable to complete a rep, use a band, a partner, or push off of a box to aid in completing a repetition.

Tracking it in OneRep

Add the natural glute ham raise to a routine and your previous weight and reps sit beside every set, so the decision to add load is made by what is already on the screen rather than by memory. Exercise history and volume trends are one tap away, and logging works offline for the gyms where signal does not reach.

Because OneRep tracks food on the same timeline, a stall on this lift can be read against what you were actually eating that month — which is the difference between a programming problem and an eating one. More on that in tracking progressive overload without a spreadsheet.

Where the instructions come from

The steps above come from free-exercise-db, a public-domain exercise dataset. They are general guidance, not coaching for your body: if a movement hurts, stop and get someone qualified to look at it.