Open Exercise

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Catalogue

Reverse Nordic Curl

oec:reverse-nordic-curl

A bodyweight exercise performed from a tall-kneeling position that challenges the quadriceps through loaded eccentric and concentric knee extension.

Generated by gemini-3.8-flash from the sources below. No person has checked this record. Don't rely on it for safety.

Also called: Natural Leg Extension, Bodyweight Leg Extension, Reverse Nordic

How to do it

Setup

  1. Assume a tall-kneeling position on a padded mat with your knees spaced hip-width apart.
  2. Point your toes behind you with the tops of your feet flat against the floor.
  3. Squeeze your glutes and brace your abdominals to align your shoulders, hips, and knees in a straight line.

Movement

  1. Keeping your torso and thighs completely rigid, slowly lean your entire body backward by bending at the knees.
  2. Lower yourself under control as far as comfortable or until your quadriceps are fully stretched.
  3. Drive through your shins and contract your quadriceps to extend your knees and pull your body back up to the starting tall-kneeling position.

Breathing

Inhale as you lower your body backward; exhale as you pull yourself back up to the top.

Cues

  • Stay locked in a straight line from knees to shoulders
  • Do not break at the hips
  • Control the descent

Common faults

Flexing at the hips and sitting back toward the heels.
Squeeze the glutes and maintain complete hip extension throughout the entire range of motion.
Hyperextending the lumbar spine to create an illusion of deeper lean.
Brace the core tight and keep the ribcage down to keep the spine neutral.

Safety

  • Use knee padding to protect the joint from hard surfaces.
  • Only descend through a pain-free range of motion, as this movement places high tensile stress on the patellar tendon.

Muscles

  • Rectus femoris prime mover
  • Vastus lateralis synergist
  • Vastus medialis synergist
  • Vastus intermedius synergist
  • Gluteus maximus stabilizer
  • Rectus abdominis stabilizer
  • Iliopsoas stabilizer

Joints

  • Knee: Flexion, Extension
  • Hip: Isometric stabilization
  • Lumbar spine: Isometric stabilization

Details

Movement
Knee extension isolation
Modality
Calisthenics, Strength, Rehabilitation
Mechanics
isolation
Force
push
Laterality
bilateral
Kinetic chain
closed
Level
intermediate
Equipment
None
Record
Repetitions
Load
bodyweight

Related

Sources

This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.

Data

reverse-nordic-curl.json