Brandon Curry is readying for his tenth Mr Olympia occasion this 12 months and if a current video posted to YouTube is something to go by, The Prodigy’ remains to be as hungry as ever. Now 42, the large man could also be advancing in years, however his coaching has additionally superior together with the knowledge that he’s picked up throughout an enviable profession.
Fortunately, the bodybuilder broke down his strategy to longevity throughout a quad dominant leg day, inspiring the remainder of us to push ourselves in the direction of our personal potential.
“As you get extra mature, you gotta prepare smarter and ensure your arduous work just isn’t tearing you down an excessive amount of,” mentioned The Prodigy, who has been largely of the general public eye since putting a powerful fourth place on the 2025 Arnold Basic. “So, we’ll be utilizing some advance methods to verify we’re actually working the muscle, getting a very good exercise, however preserving these joints for the rest of this prep.”
Now wanting towards the 2025 Olympia occasion, Curry is hoping to return again stronger and at last observe up on his sensational win again in 2019.
Brandon Curry’s ‘Superior’ Quad Dominant Leg Exercise
- 3 Approach Leg Press — 8-10 Reps Per Foot Place
- Calf Raises — 3 Units x 8-10 Reps
- Hack Sissy Squats + Sumo Squats — 3 Units x 8-10 Reps
- Floating Heel Step — 3 Units x 8-10 Reps (every leg)
- Good Mornings — 3 Units x 8-10 Reps
Exercise Breakdown
Curry is grateful that his knees are feeling nice following his punishing prep for the 2025 Arnold Basic, and started this session with the leg press, using three totally different foot positions. He began out with a ‘common’ placement, together with his toes roughly within the heart of the footplate and warmed up with a full vary of movement that’s quad dominant but additionally activated the hamstrings and glutes.
Curry famous that the secret’s to carry the legs down in a managed method after which “try to get some explosion,” because the legs head skyward. The second foot place had his toes on the prime of the plate. This is called the ‘excessive’ foot placement and requires extra power from the hips and hamstrings than the common placement.
Ending up with a ‘slender’ stance again in the midst of the plate, Curry significantly crushed his quads and famous that regardless of the burden getting heavier, he nonetheless tries to elevate with the identical authority with the intention to preserve explosiveness and depth. “That’s the way you hit that failure level a little bit bit faster,” he mentioned, noting that with the intention to keep away from damage, it is very important cease lifting earlier than you “get caught.”
To permit the quads to recuperate a little bit, Curry used the leg press machine to carry out calf raises. He began out by specializing in the lifting portion however ended with a stretch to as soon as once more get a full vary of movement to “see if I can get a greater response out of them,” he defined. The previous Mr Olympia didn’t record his units or reps right here, as a substitute explaining that he was “occurring really feel,” so keep within the vary of hypertrophy and intention for 3 units of 8-12 reps.
“These sissy squats really feel nice,” famous Curry. “I do know folks assume it’s a knee killer, nevertheless it’s actually not.” The person from Nashville, Tennessee demonstrated a way the place he rolled down on to his toes on the decline earlier than rolling again to a flat-footed place. “That method, it’s a little bit simpler on the joints,” he continued.
Then, he went straight into the sumo squat utilizing the hack machine, flaring his knees out. He defined making a superset out of those two actions would maintain him working arduous “however a little bit bit smarter,” observing that he doesn’t must elevate as a lot load as a result of exhaustion issue right here, as soon as once more avoiding the sorts of accidents related to extreme weights.
“You possibly can name it as single leg squat if you’d like,” mentioned Curry of the floating step up as he positioned two resistance bands on the squat cage. He additionally utilized a wedge to boost his heels with the intention to make certain that this novel transfer is quad dominant. Curry positioned the highest band below his armpits and makes use of his proper shin to barely bounce off the underside band, whereas the left leg does the work of lifting from the raised heel place. Whereas that is definitely a complicated transfer to drag off, it has the advantage of isolating Curry’s quads for nice good points.
“After all, the heavier you might be, the tougher this will likely be,” he noticed earlier than switching sides. “Get as deep as attainable,” suggested Curry earlier than using the hack squat machine for some good mornings with the intention to hit the hamstrings.
This exercise reveals Brandon Curry’s potential to make use of machines the place he could beforehand have relied on free weights, and he’s additionally diversified his positions to seek out each out there stretch and vary of movement for his muscle tissues.
“Once we communicate from the angle of longevity within the sport of bodybuilding, we gotta look to the blokes like Dexter Jackson in fact. See how he was capable of keep within the sport,” commented Curry. “Present guys like William Bonac, and in the event you embrace me within the combine, watch how they do issues to kinda protect the physique and compete with longevity at a excessive degree. For the youthful guys: you’re solely bullet proof for a small body of time, then you definately notice ‘okay, I’m not that bulletproof no extra. I’ve gotta use by mind a little bit bit extra.’”