Jay Cutler’s Leg Workout

The legendary IFBB professional bodybuilder Jay Cutler has dedicated his life to bodybuilding.

From appearing on the cover pages of some of the top fitness magazines to winning Mr Olympia four times, this world-famous retired bodybuilder is an inspiration to many. However, Cutler’s ripped body was not built in a day. It took several years of heavy lifting and vigorous training for him to become the legend he is today.

When it comes to Jay Cutler’s leg workouts, you’ll be surprised to know that there isn’t anything extraordinary in his routine. He prefers sticking to the basics of lifting heavier weights and invests his time in a lot of compound exercises.

He also doesn’t believe in resting between sets, which makes his exercise routine more strenuous and challenging. Cutler does each set right after the other and takes minimal rest in between. He believes that is not only good for his overall muscle growth, but it also helps him get his heart pumping at a higher rate.

While many athletes’ leg workout routines are all about working the hamstrings, Jay Cutler utilises a variety of compound exercises for maximum development and muscle growth.

---

What is Jay Cutler’s Leg Workout Routine?

Cutler prefers doing a variety of compound exercises to target each muscle in his leg and from different angles. Some of his favourite leg exercises include:

1) Leg Extension

Even though his workouts change from time to time, Cutler prefers starting his leg day with leg extensions. This warm-up exercise includes four sets of 12 to 15 reps and allows for a continuous piston motion. He also doesn’t pause to squeeze at the top movement, as he believes doing that increases the blood flow in his quads.

2) Leg Press

The leg press is a compound exercise Cutler prefers for his quads, as it gives him total control. He doesn’t like to load the leg press machine with all the weight it can possibly hold and perform partial reps. Instead, he moves deep in every rep and slows down the movement to increase intensity.

---

3) Hack Squat

Jay Cutler likes to practice hack squats to target his upper quads and the area over his knees. He believes it's a strong exercise for his legs, and he also doesn’t try to use a lot of weight.

---

4) Front and Rear Squat

Doing squats after the 40s is quite challenging because the ageing muscles make it difficult to handle weights. However, Cutler, being an incredibly exceptional body builder, prefers front or rear squats with weights in his leg routine.

---

5) Seated Leg Curl

Cutler used to divide his leg routine into distinct exercises targeting both his hamstrings as well as his quads. However, recently, he has been more into targeting his entire thigh in one exercise, and for that, he prefers seated leg curls.

---

Moreover, Cutler also includes the following exercises on his leg day:

• Romanian deadlift
• Donkey calf raise
• Seated leg curls
• Lying leg curls
• Single-leg hamstring curls
• Hamstring lying leg curls
• Standing machine calf raise
• Stiffed-legged deadlift
• EZ barbell walking lunges.

---

Cutler Trains Every Five Days

Unlike many others who prefer leg workouts twice a week, Jay Cutler trains his legs hard every five days.

Cutler believes working his hamstrings and quads from all angles and focusing on things like repetition, speed and foot position have helped him grow his thighs even more, making them mature and seasoned.

"To achieve great results from my leg exercises, I always made sure to target them from different positions and angles from week to week," says Cutler.

As he takes very few to absolutely no breaks between his sets, Cutler is able to carry out his entire leg workouts before his intensity recedes. He also keeps his repetitions low to moderate so that he can get through each set with maximum intensity and full power.

Jay Cutler’s leg workout always ends with drop sets that help him boost his intensity when he's likely to give up.

Overall, he manages to pass through a variety of leg exercises while keeping his efforts the same from the start to his last rep. Presently, he follows a one-day on, one-day off routine for his workouts and usually prefers doing leg exercises on the last day of training.