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 method to longevity throughout a quad dominant leg day, inspiring the remainder of us to push ourselves in 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 formidable fourth place on the 2025 Arnold Traditional. “So, we’ll be utilizing some advance strategies to ensure we’re actually working the muscle, getting a superb exercise, however preserving these joints for the rest of this prep.”
Now wanting towards the 2025 Olympia occasion, Curry is hoping to come back again stronger and at last observe up on his sensational win again in 2019.
Brandon Curry’s ‘Superior’ Quad Dominant Leg Exercise
- 3 Manner 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 Traditional, and started this session with the leg press, using three completely different foot positions. He began out with a ‘common’ placement, along with his ft roughly within the middle 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 is to deliver the legs down in a managed method after which “attempt to get some explosion,” because the legs head skyward. The second foot place had his ft on the prime of the plate. This is called the ‘excessive’ foot placement and requires extra drive 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 load getting heavier, he nonetheless tries to carry with the identical authority with the intention to keep explosiveness and depth. “That’s the way you hit that failure level just a little bit faster,” he mentioned, noting that with the intention to keep away from harm, you will need to cease lifting earlier than you “get caught.”
To permit the quads to get better just a little, 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 listing his units or reps right here, as a substitute explaining that he was “happening really feel,” so keep within the vary of hypertrophy and purpose 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, but it surely’s actually not.” The person from Nashville, Tennessee demonstrated a method 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 just a little 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 just a little bit smarter,” observing that he doesn’t must carry as a lot load as a result of exhaustion issue right here, as soon as once more avoiding the forms of accidents related to extreme weights.
“You’ll be able to name it as single leg squat if you need,” mentioned Curry of the floating step up as he positioned two resistance bands on the squat cage. He additionally utilized a wedge to lift his heels with the intention to ensure 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 actually a sophisticated transfer to tug off, it has the advantage of isolating Curry’s quads for nice positive factors.
“In fact, the heavier you’re, the tougher this can 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 exhibits Brandon Curry’s potential to make use of machines the place he could beforehand have relied on free weights, and he’s additionally different his positions to search out each accessible stretch and vary of movement for his muscular tissues.
“Once we converse from the attitude 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 for those who embrace me within the combine, watch how they do issues to kinda protect the physique and compete with longevity at a excessive stage. For the youthful guys: you’re solely bullet proof for a small body of time, you then notice ‘okay, I’m not that bulletproof no extra. I’ve gotta use by mind just a little bit extra.’”