Doing leg curls with your toes pointed down builds the same amount of hamstring muscle and strength as pointing them up, but you can do it in less time. This means you might get the same results...

Doing leg curls with your foot pointed up or down leads to the same muscle growth and strength gains over 10 weeks. This means your starting leg position doesn't change how much your muscles grow or get stronger in the long run.

After 10 weeks of leg curls, it doesn’t matter if your foot is pointed up or down—you’ll get the same muscle growth and strength gains either way.

People did more total reps with their foot pointed up, but that didn’t make their muscles grow bigger or stronger than the leg with the foot pointed down.

When doing leg curls, keeping your toes pointed up lets you lift more total weight over time than pointing them down, even though both positions build muscle and strength equally. This extra volume might happen because one position is easier on your muscles or more mechanically efficient.

Whether your foot is pointed down or up during leg curls doesn’t change how much your hamstrings are working during the exercise.