Weighted Glute-Ham Raise
Once bodyweight glute-ham raises feel easy, hugging a plate to your chest adds the resistance needed to keep building hamstring and glute strength. The movement blends knee flexion and hip extension into one of the best posterior-chain builders there is. Add load only when you can pull yourself up smoothly through the full range.
- Type
- Strength
- Browse by muscle
- Biceps Femoris, Semitendinosus, Gluteus Maximus
- Browse by movement
- Knee Flexion
- Target
- Biceps Femoris, Semitendinosus, Gluteus Maximus
- Secondary
- Erector Spinae
- Tertiary
- Gastrocnemius Medial Head, Gastrocnemius Lateral Head
How to do it
- 1
Set up on a glute-ham developer with your ankles secured and thighs on the pad.
- 2
Hold a weight plate against your chest with both arms crossed over it.
- 3
Start with your torso upright, hips extended, and body in a straight line.
- 4
Lower your torso forward under control until it is roughly horizontal.
- 5
Pull yourself back up by driving your heels into the footplate and flexing the knees.
- 6
Finish tall with the glutes squeezed. Inhale as you lower, exhale as you rise.
Tips
- Keep your hips extended and body straight; do not fold at the hips to cheat up.
- Add weight in small jumps since the leverage makes each plate feel heavy.
- Drive through your heels and think about curling your body up, not just lifting your chest.
Variations
Common mistakes
- The plate is held away from the chest with straight arms instead of hugged in tight, which turns a controlled hold into extra leverage pulling you forward at the worst point in the range.
- The ankles are not properly secured in the pad before starting, so the base of support shifts partway through a rep under load instead of staying fixed.
- Holding the breath through the whole rep instead of following an inhale-down, exhale-up pattern spikes pressure and makes it harder to keep the trunk braced in a straight line as you lower.
- The set continues past the rep where the descent stops being controlled, so the added plate turns a slow lowering exercise into a fast, jarring drop.
Frequently asked
- How much weight should you add when starting the weighted glute-ham raise, and what should you master first?
- Once you can do 3 sets of 8 to 10 strict bodyweight reps, add a light plate, often 5 to 10 pounds, held snugly against the chest, and expect that small weight to feel much heavier than it looks. You should own a smooth, controlled bodyweight version with no hip folding before adding any load at all. Increase the plate in small steps and drop back to bodyweight reps anytime the descent starts speeding up.
- What can replace the weighted glute-ham raise without a glute-ham machine or a plate?
- A Nordic curl with a partner or a strap anchor trains a very similar loaded hamstring lengthening pattern. A single-leg Romanian deadlift with a dumbbell is a solid substitute that also builds hamstring strength, though it does not combine hip extension and knee flexion the way the glute-ham raise does.
- Who should add weight to the glute-ham raise, and who should hold off?
- It adds progressive load to one of the best posterior-chain builders available, suited to lifters who have outgrown the bodyweight version. It's a poor choice for anyone who still folds at the hips or can't control the bodyweight descent, since adding a plate to a shaky pattern mostly adds risk, not strength.
Related exercises
Other movements among FitRay's 2,000+ exercises that load the same target muscle — same equipment and level first.