Stronger By Science has a quality article on reverse Nordic curls as well. I may be somewhat biased though since I wrote it. Lol

It's a great exercise. I started doing it 2 months ago from your recommendation, and the pump + burn on the quads is unreal. I can even feel my knee tendon! My only objection with this exercise is that it is called the reverse Nordic curl and not Nordic Extension lol

I’ve been pushing this, pistol squats and Nordic curls for years in order to defend bodyweight leg training and people call me stupid lol. Glad to see it getting love

I started performing reverse nordic curls after you introduced them to me through your channel. They are my new favorite quad exercise! Thank you Dr Wolf

You can give yourself assistance on the reverse Nordic curl by holding on to a cable attachment. More weight makes it easier. This also helps keep yourself stable. Then you can progress gradually by giving yourself less assistance, similar to assisted pullups/dips. You can put your legs on a mat to make it less painful on your ankles/knees. I do them on a deadlift crash mat where my foot can partially hang off the end. That helps distribute the weight more comfortably.

I started doing them when I found out about you talking about importance of loading in stretch position, by far the best quad exercise, SFR is through the roof and work capacity for whole program is way greater now that I don't have to worry about squat variations contributing to axial fatigue and messing up my lower back

I just added reverse Nordic curls to my leg day based on your recommendation in a previous video. I'm definitely feeling them and am looking forward to that rectus femoris growth.

for guys learning this movement or not strong enough yet, you an use a high pully with flat bar as an assist. slowly reducing the weight.

This is actually my favourite exercise for quads, the stretch from both ends is phenomenal

I've started doing this because I do not have in my basement gym a good way to do leg extensions, and I really like these!

Yesterday I tried this on my leg day for the first time. Initially it felt weird, but I was able to make it more confortable by rotating my feet out. I did 3 sets of around 7 reps using a band for assistance.The pump on my quads was amazing with less fatigue than I usually get from legs extension. First impression was super positive, gonna keep improving my technique and going deeper!

I dislocate my shoulder on upper days to get better stretch, then get in cast till next Monday for maximal gains

Instantly subscribed. Thanks for the video!

Thanks for sharing this brother! My wife and I have the privilege of being able to use a device called the “Neubie” with our training. It allows us to either tell the muscle fibers to lengthen or contract based on the selected setting. We have been using it this week on a lengthening setting to stretch and get deeper into the position for this exercise. Eventually we can switch to using contractions and focus on hypertrophy. So far, we are feeling tension in areas on our quads that we have not felt before and are very appreciative. Thank you so much for all you do brother and keep being awesome!

Honestly love this and have been doing in the home gym since -no extension machine.

The reason it’s unpopular is many people don’t have the flexibility for it, it looks foolish to do, and any normal untrained person is probably not sting enough to go far or even fully down.

It's a great exercise, but as you say, you have to give it some time to get used to it. If necessary, you should also put some padding under your knees. For example, I can't do them on the floor without pain. But with 1-2 cushions under my knees it works very well (might look weird in a public gym, but when training at home... definitely worth a try). You can also use a resistance band attached to the rack in front of you for this exercise. This allows you to do more repetitions, helps you to get into the exercise, perform it with a controlled motion and also gives you something to hold on to with the band, adding some felt security.

“Only if you really hate yourself” is a great way to describe an intensity technique haha

You can get a lot of the same benefits of a reverse nordic but in a more stable/comfortable position by doing cable leg extensions using a bench + ankle straps connected to a low pulley. Set the pulley height to maximize tension in the stretch position and you've got an even better exercise than reverse nordics IMO. Requires less core stabilization and is easier to start doing full ROM or lengthened partials and load/progress and doesn't rely on bodyweight which may fluctuate overtime.

I Love this!! Thank you Milo

Pumped for Myoadapt in the next few months! Or whenever it's out. I don't care if it's perfect or a little buggy at the beginning.

A good approach I can recommend to this exercise is support yourself with TRX bands. This way you can go all the way down while being supported with your hands on TRX. It gives you modality of weight you put at bottom position and that you can reach bottom at first approach. Moreover it clears my anxiety of falling down or breaking my knees 😅

Going to put this in the one of my leg days, got Sissy Squats in one and my Rectus Femoris has such a good stimulus. So Reverse Nordics on another leg day would be a great addition 😊

I do this exercise all the time on leg day & absolutely love it! I'm currently using a band for assistance but working up to using nothing

I like the music on this one. Good job. Great info as always.

Dr. Wolf, with exercises like reverse nordics and doing only lengthened partials are you concerned with lacking functional strength/ability in shortened positions which may impact longevity and movement ability as people age and possibly make people more injury prone? Basically, if your primary goal is hypertrophy but you also want functional strength and mobility long-term to combat age related degeneration, would you recommend incorporating full ROM exercises which emphasize tension at different points throughout the ROM?

Standing single leg cable extension also viable, pick this up from Dr. Eric Helms

Just a few inputs i can give cause I've got those in my program for almost two years now. First is i like to keep my spine a bit more neutral than what you show here and go much deeper, ideally almost with your scapulae toiching the floor at the bottom, but that might not be for everyone (if you have big hamstrings i don't think its even possible to flex that far back without arching excessively). A nice thing i started incorporating lately is to do a mechanical dropset after the RNC by doing a hip flexion from a seiza position (knees and shins on the ground, butt on the heels) that really hammers the rectus femoris which i found works mostly as stabilisation during the RNC, i found that i can pump out as many reps as i did with RNC with that to really mess up my quads in general. I also found it helped me tremendously with running (works the rectus femoris from the same extended position you find yourself in when your back leg needs to be pushed forwards). As for loadability if you can strap your lower leg on the ground you can hold a dumbbell at chest height, and even a light dumbbell makes it much much harder because of the lever lenght. Heck if you're big even just holding your arms crossed at chest height instead of along your torso makes a lot of difference. If you can't strap your lower leg you can hold something like a plate or dumbbell at hip/abdomen height byt the lever lenght is short and it's not very effective, but at that point with free legs if you hold anything past 5-10% bw you're gonna tip backwards at the bottom of the rep (not a pleasant experience lemme tell you 😂). The good thing is as you said loading might not even be necessary, I'm very very light and i do endurance and trail running so i kinda need it at 125lb bw but pretty much all lifters weight much more than that 😂😂😂

my pro tip: do this at a lat pulldown machine (or cable pully) on the floor and use it as a way to deload the weight if you are not strong enough to do them yourself, people will stare for sure and think you're stupid, but their probably a bunch of life long intermediates on gear anyway.

10:16 the most significant factor for comfort personally is not the ground softness but keeping my shoes on. That prevents pain through the maintained extension of the feet, which causes me more pain than at the knees. Worth to try it out if someone struggles with it too.

I started doing these last week and they've been good for me. I used to max out the front leg extension machine for 12-15, but on these I'm struggling to get 6-8.

To add a little bit more resistance, you can also lift your arms above your heads. My college fitness coach used to have us do this for sit-ups and it seems to increase the sensitivity

I've been a fan of these for years, but I have a few things to add because I feel like you're looking at the issue of loading backward. For most lifters, it's not going to be about adding weight but subtracting it to be able to actually do quality reps and more easily progressively overload. One strategy I've used is resistance bands, but an even better option is cables. You can counter your body weight so that you can get fully deep no matter your level of strength starting out. This will help you lock in form a lot and will give the benefit of letting you slowly move the pin up the stack as you need less accommodating resistance over time. Being able to go full depth even at the start is better than a short ROM at the top. It can also let you do high rep work . Even if you can get several head to the floor full range reps, you might want to do some occasional work in the 12-30 range, and accommodating resistance really allows for this. It's also a way to warm up for these. You would start squats by slapping several plates on at ehat would be your 5RM or even 8RM. The mistake a lot of people make with things like pull ups as well is not using something to let them warm up that movement at a weight they could comfortably get somewhere from 12-20 reps with. Very few people can do that with BW pull-ups or reverse nordics. This can lead to drastically compromised form in an effort to complete them motion rather than engage the proper muscles and then those ha its stick.

Thank you for this tutorial sir 🙏

Hey Milo, can you make a video on muscle maturity? I’m interested in what the science says

Milo, you have a clear opportunity here to partner with an equipment company to make an RNC machine. The lack of a machine is probably what is preventing most people (including myself) from bothering with this exercise. Just a thought!

Great video and very interesting, will give this a go. Only one question, would you say this is an overall quad builder or more similar f the ‘top’ of the quad? I ask because I don’t see much ‘tension’ or stretch at the knee area? What’s the thoughts on this?

Yeah! Already doing that one) Seen it from you. When you see it for the rirst time and analize benefits - you get surpized how goot it is

Best superset for legs is: Exercise 1: RDL Exercise 2: Sissy squats or reverse nordics

You can also do a matrix quad blaster Elevated with way more range of motion i already do pendulum sissy squats And reverse Nordic

@Jujimufu did a video with Chris Duffin where they highlighted the benefits of the reverse nordic. It's always cool to see science confirm and explain existing methods!

Started doing these. Thanks

Does this mean we get a video on regular nordic curls now?!

Never heard of it but today is leg day so I'll try it.

I gave these a try. Seems like I couldn't lean back very far - not sure if that was a physical limit or fear. I had a bed behind me to catch me. Even with this slight lean, it was quite challenging and gave a bit of a burn in the quads. Great thing is that I can do this in the bedroom at any time. Don't have to wait for a gym session. Thanks for the suggestion.

I love these technique videos! More!

Landmine sissy squats are better than reverse nordics for a stretch emphasis leg exercise. Why? 1) Landmine setup lets you progressively overload movement more easily than reverse nordic. 2) Landmine setup increases external load at bottom position and reduces external load at top position You can also perform sissy squats with lengthened partials if you want.

Tried these last week. Absolutely brutal with that sweet sweet (i.e. TERRIBLE) stretch on the quads.

I needed an exercise to progress after maxing out pistol squats at over 30 reps for 3 sets, I couldnt even do 1 of these at max depth lmao. slowly progressing this at the moment by holding onto a band and lowering my head into a chair.

Just tried it, and what the hell the stretch is insane, quads on fire right from the get go, can't do more than 5 reps though 😄

How about doing this exercise with the ankle in dorsiflexion?

i kinda like it but it feels awkward and painful for knees, leg extension feels more stable

Question. Given squats won’t do the rectus femoris, or hamstrings, and given weighted glute bridges do your glutes as much as squats (Contreras, Henselmans study) if I wanted purely to optimise glute and quad growth, could I eliminate all squatting and leg press movements and replace them with the reverse nordic? Would I be missing out on anything?

I'll inform the local A&E department before giving these a try. I think holding a secured band/rope will help while learning the form.

Given these give a good stretch to all 4 quad muscles, including rec fem, would they be suitable for someone with mild patella alta? Be keen to hear any thoughts, or suggestions on other suitable exercises.

Nothing to do with your information. Which is amazing and I appreciate it!!!! I would like to suggest NOT doing the side angle shot of you speaking. It really takes away from your words. Besides you're great at looking right into the camera and giving us your brilliance. I could go on but I won't. Carry on with your work! You are helping so many of us that need it broken down as you do! Thank you!

Truly awesome exercise! Is it okay to only extend my spine to a roughly neutral position? This way, I can do around 12 reps with 14 kg extra. My quads are still relatively small, though (I've only been training legs for 6-7 months). 😅

Hey @WolfCoaching I've found that holding dumbbells (like light 10 lbs one) on my lower quads while performing these help to keep my knees from coming up and giving me more stretch and full ROM. Is there any possible negatives to this?

Many bros and bro scientists on YT have been wicked triggered by your attempts to popularize this exercise. Idk what they are so afraid of

Where can I get a board like that on the top rigth corner?

I really like these. Sissy squats and or reverse nordics after a pistol squat or some kind of split squat is all I do for my quads. I prefer sissy squats if I had to pick one but that's just personal preference. Maybe doing both is redundant but I don't mind.

Here’s your solution, do both. Leg ext and reverse Nordic . One focuses on the contraction and the other on the stretch.. This thing about “which ones better” is not necessary. They are both useful in their own ways period !!

My issue with chest-supported rows over cable rows is that they're really uncomfortable. I don't know if it's an adaptation issue or a strength issue or what, but it always makes me feel like im being crushed

I found this interesting and it is something I will implement, since I am missing a quad exercise in my routine. Just one question: how do you know you are progressing? This exercise seems really difficult to know you are doing each rep the same/correctly

What if they cause knee pain?

I shattered my ankle a few years ago, dont have he ankle flexibility for this exercise

Started trying these a few months ago. Wish this video was out then, it took me four weeks to think of putting a rolled up mat under my feet which is what really made it click for me. 😂

Quads day today! 🔥

Any thoughts on the "normal" nordic curl (where you train the hamstrings)?

I like to do this one while holding a 10 pound cable in each hand so I not only get muscle confusion, but entire gym confusion.

What do you think are some good approaches for dealing with inflexible feet for leaning back in the reverse nordic

Friend of mine would hold a DB infront of him when he did these The Reverse Nordic is my ABSOLUTE favorite exercise for my quads at the moment

Feels So weird with the back over extended . Is it still effective keeping it the glutes contracted the feet lifted helps heaps bit def hands in front for extra stability. Not what u said but lol

What the best way for folks to due this that may not have the strength lilenusing cords or such

I do my leg extensions using monkey feet lying on a bench, butt right at the edge and my knee point at about 45 degrees. I get stretch on the quads in bottom position and the hip flexor are stretched. Think I’m going to add reverse nordics to my other leg day.

What would make reverse Nordic curls perfect for me would be doing it on a pad so my feet don't have to be pointed, and then so that I don't fall backwards from not having my feet for the needed leverage, have my legs strapped to the floor. I am gonna build something for this!

If you need to load would facing away from a pulley using a rope work or is it too cumbersome? As in kneel facing away holding the rope as if you're going to do a tricep overhead extension. Or would you need to raise yourself off the ground a bit to keep tension on the pulley?

I'll try this out with a cable to assist!

My hamstrings jam against my calves way before full quad extension. Seen the same on other trainees too. This doesn't work for my flexibility. Sissy squats.

Is using a band for assistance a good way to regress the exercise, or does the fact it helps the most at the stretch position defeat the main benefit of the exercise, making it better to just stick to a shorter ROM with no band assistance?

Dr. Milo says "Is composed" not "Is comprised" in his promo, so he will get my money.

Does it matter that I'm so weak in that stretched position that I have to do them with a cable assist? So much more tension possible in a leg extension machine.

I wish I could do this exercise, but every single time I do it, my foot cramps up. 😭

why don't you react to some video of House of hypertrophy?

I get your argument Milo but is it not possible that being able to increase the load substantially for leg extensions and being able to change to a flexed hip position will make up for the issues you identify with leg extensions in terms of hypertrophy? We need research comparing Reverse Nordics with hip flexed leg extensions.

Does this stress the knees? My patellar tendon is a bit finnicky and I wonder if I can do this.

Been trying these. Feel pretty good but kinda hurt top of feel and can really only do 4-6 deep stretched reps. Hopefully gonna add some weight if I can get to around 12 in the future

Can these be superset with RDLs? I do that currently with leg extensions and would be swapping them

I rate this exercise A tier at best

Why don't you go all the way down on the reverse nordics?? If you place your feet a bit wider you can touch the ground with your glutes and head and than go up from there. Way larger range of motion and more stretch.

Everytime I get to the end rom my fucking foot cramps up so hard.

can i help myself with a TRX while performing the Reverse Nordic Squat?

Would you say you can grow the vmo better with short rom partials?

It seems like this is mostly for advanced lifters, because if you're a beginner and can't even do one rep (which is essentially your body weight) then it's hard to imagine how this exercise is better than doing leg extensions with a lighter load even if it's not in the optimal length range.

Are you from Norway??

I don’t know.. no joke but i find them to easy with BW or some extra low weight, and when I try to take a 25kg plate to be in the 6-12 rep range it just becomes a flexibility and abs exercise for me.. With just a 20kg plate or less i can do so many reps that it just becomes painful in the joints of the foot (especially in the point where we shoot balls on football)

Ok i have the weirdest issue with these, but every time i lean back my feet cramp so hard i have to stop... like the way I'm squeezing or straining with my feet against the ground makes thr arch of my foot cramp into a ball and i cant seem to work out anyway to make it stop while attempting these 😢

Without external load, how effective could it be good for size growth?

The problem with that exercise I fall on my back. My knees come up pretty early in when I lean back. How do you counter that?

The movment is gruesome but the issue is i can only do 2 3 reps and am top heavy, any idea how to make the movement lighter ? i train at a gym