Heavier doesn’t always mean better, as Jay Cutler has discovered with age. During his prime, Cutler won four Mr Olympia titles, with his iconic quad-stomp pose in 2009 made possible by the legs he built from regularly squatting more than 220kg.
Since then, however, Cutler has reduced that weight to just 61kg – less than a third of what he lifted at his peak. Yet it’s had little impact on the size of his legs. The 52-year-old has maintained much of the mass that dominated bodybuilding stages in the late 2000s by prioritising intensity over load.
‘To go back to how we used to train, when it was super intense, we feel like we train intense for our age,’ Cutler says. ‘But is it really impressive when you used to see me squatting 500 pounds (226kg) and now I'm squatting 135 (61kg)? The legs are still big. Everyone is like, “I can't believe you train that light and still maintain size”.’
Research published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research has found that muscle growth can be similar whether lifters use heavy weights for low reps or lighter weights for high reps. What matters most is training close to failure, making the exact weight less important than many people think.
Cutler made the point while speaking to Rich Gaspari, the former bodybuilder known for adopting a similar lower-body training approach.
‘That's what I kept doing – I kept size training a lot lighter,’ said Gaspari.
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‘It makes you think, “Damn, did I really need to train like that?”’ Cutler responded.
These days, Cutler focuses on lighter loads and higher reps for his leg training. The bodybuilding legend has since shared the high-volume workout he still uses to maintain lower-body size.
‘I’m not counting reps necessarily. I’m just kind of going off feel here,’ he said in a YouTube video. ‘I try to just pump, tear some fibres, and then try to get that feel. I know I’m going to do a lot of volume.’
Jay Cutler's Leg Workout
A. Seated Leg Curl x 3 sets of 8-20 reps
B. Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift x 3 sets of 8-20 reps
C. Walking Lunge x 2 sets of 8-20 reps
D. Lying Leg Curl x 2 sets of 8-20 reps
E. Leg Extension x 3 sets of 8-20 reps
F. Leg Press x 3 sets of 8-20 reps
G. Barbell Squat x 3 sets of 8-20 reps
H. Pendulum Squat x 3 sets of 8-20 reps
How to Do the Movements
Seated Leg Curl
- Sit in a leg curl machine with your heels against the lower pad and the upper pad against your thighs.
- Bend at the knee to pull the pad down as far as possible then return to the start position.
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift
- Start standing tall with your feet underneath your hips.
- Hold your dumbbells in front of your thighs.
- Send your hips behind your heels with a flat back as if you're 'shutting a car door' with your backside.
- Keep the knees directly above your heels and shins vertical to the floor.
- As you lower the weight, keep your shoulder blades drawn towards each other and head in line.
- Feel a stretch in your hamstrings.
- When the weight is below your knees, send your hips forward to return to the starting position.
Walking Lunge
- Start by standing straight with a dumbbell in each hand.
- With one leg, take a big step forward and place the foot flat on the ground.
- Bend both knees and lower down under control until both your knees are bent at 90 degrees and your front thigh is parallel to the floor.
- Keep your front heel down throughout the lunge.
- Push through the front foot and bring your back foot forwards, stepping straight into another forward step.
- Repeat on the other side.
- Keep your hips square and feet facing forwards throughout the movement and keep the range of motion consistent throughout.
Lying Leg Curl
- Lie face-down on a leg-curl machine with your knees hanging off the back edge of the bench.
- Position your lower legs under the ankle pads so the undersides of the pads touch your calves just above your ankles.
- Without moving your upper body, curl your lower legs until the ankle pads are almost touching your glutes.
- At the top of the move, contract your glutes for two seconds, then lower your legs until they're almost straight.
Leg Extension
- Set up the leg extension machine with your knees at 90 degrees and the pad on top of your shins by your ankles.
- Make sure you adjust the seat to suit your needs.
- Grip the handles at the sides of the seat.
- With your core engaged, extend your legs so the padded roller lifts and your legs are completely straight. Squeeze your quads and pause.
- Slowly bend the legs, resisting the weight as you lower it until the plates meet. Repeat.
Leg Press
- Press through the sled with your feet, maintaining tension in your torso.
- Release the sled from the safety lock, then control the weight down.
- Watch your knees as you lower the weight, making sure you don't allow them to cave in or track excessively outward.
- Lower down as far as you can, maintaining upper body tension with your back flush against the pad.
- Don't allow your butt to raise off the seat; if you shift you've gone too deep.
- Press through the pad with both feet to raise the wait back up, extending your knees.
Barbell Squat
- Begin by grabbing the barbell a little wider than shoulder-width apart and un-rack the bar with it on the meaty part of your shoulders, below your neck.
- Breathe deep, creating tension in your core.
- Step back into a position with your feet wider than shoulder width apart, keeping your chest open with your elbows pinned down and back.
- Maintain an upright torso and push your hips back, lowering into a squat, bending your knees until your thighs pass parallel to the floor, aiming for the crease of your hips to drop below your knees.
- Explosively drive the floor away to push yourself back to standing.
Pendulum Squat
- Stand on the pendulum squat machine with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Squat down until your thighs are parallel to the floor, then return to the starting position.
