Lie face down on the padded surface of the machine. Grasp the handles, straighten your knees and hook you feet under the set of roller pads. The pads should make contact on your Achilles tendon.
1. Inhale and raise your feet upward until your knees are as fully bent as possible. It would be ideal to touch your buttocks with your heels or the roller pads.
2. Lower your legs to the starting position as you exhale and complete the movement.
3. Begin the next repetition.
Notes: This exercise places emphasis on the entire hamstring group and the gastrocnemius.
By using light weights, as you curl your feet upward you will place more emphasis on the semitendinosus or semimembranosus, i.e., angle your toes inward. By angling your toes outward you can place emphasis on the biceps femoris long and short heads.
Generally, this will not happen because most participants always want to use too heavy a weight load.