Brandon Curry is readying for his tenth Mr Olympia event this year and if a recent video posted to YouTube is anything to go by, The Prodigy’ is still as hungry as ever. Now 42, the big man may be advancing in years, but his training has also advanced along with the wisdom that he’s picked up during an enviable career.
Thankfully, the bodybuilder broke down his approach to longevity during a quad dominant leg day, inspiring the rest of us to push ourselves towards our own potential.
“As you get more mature, you gotta train smarter and make sure your hard work is not tearing you down too much,” said The Prodigy, who has been largely of the public eye since placing an impressive fourth place at the 2025 Arnold Classic. “So, we’ll be using some advance techniques to make sure we’re really working the muscle, getting a good workout, but preserving these joints for the remainder of this prep.”
Now looking toward the 2025 Olympia event, Curry is hoping to come back stronger and finally follow up on his sensational win back in 2019.
Brandon Curry’s ‘Advanced’ Quad Dominant Leg Workout
- 3 Way Leg Press — 8-10 Reps Per Foot Position
- Calf Raises — 3 Sets x 8-10 Reps
- Hack Sissy Squats + Sumo Squats — 3 Sets x 8-10 Reps
- Floating Heel Step — 3 Sets x 8-10 Reps (each leg)
- Good Mornings — 3 Sets x 8-10 Reps
Workout Breakdown
Curry is thankful that his knees are feeling great following his punishing prep for the 2025 Arnold Classic, and began this session with the leg press, utilizing three different foot positions. He started out with a ‘regular’ placement, with his feet approximately in the center of the footplate and warmed up with a full range of motion that is quad dominant but also activated the hamstrings and glutes.
Curry noted that the key is to bring the legs down in a controlled manner and then “try and get some explosion,” as the legs head skyward. The second foot position had his feet at the top of the plate. This is known as the ‘high’ foot placement and requires more force from the hips and hamstrings than the regular placement.
Finishing up with a ‘narrow’ stance back in the middle of the plate, Curry seriously crushed his quads and noted that despite the weight getting heavier, he still tries to lift with the same authority in order to maintain explosiveness and intensity. “That’s how you hit that failure point a little bit quicker,” he said, noting that in order to avoid injury, it is important to stop lifting before you “get stuck.”
To allow the quads to recover a little, Curry used the leg press machine to perform calf raises. He started out by focusing on the lifting portion but ended with a stretch to once again get a full range of motion to “see if I can get a better response out of them,” he explained. The former Mr Olympia didn’t list his sets or reps here, instead explaining that he was “going on feel,” so stay in the range of hypertrophy and aim for three sets of 8-12 reps.
“These sissy squats feel great,” noted Curry. “I know people think it’s a knee killer, but it’s really not.” The man from Nashville, Tennessee demonstrated a technique where he rolled down on to his toes on the decline before rolling back to a flat-footed position. “That way, it’s a little easier on the joints,” he continued.
Then, he went straight into the sumo squat using the hack machine, flaring his knees out. He explained making a superset out of these two movements would keep him working hard “but a little bit smarter,” observing that he doesn’t need to lift as much load due to the exhaustion factor here, once again avoiding the types of injuries associated with excessive weights.
“You can call it as single leg squat if you want,” said Curry of the floating step up as he positioned two resistance bands on the squat cage. He also utilized a wedge to raise his heels in order to be sure that this novel move is quad dominant. Curry placed the top band under his armpits and uses his right shin to slightly bounce off the bottom band, while the left leg does the work of lifting from the raised heel position. While this is certainly an advanced move to pull off, it has the benefit of isolating Curry’s quads for great gains.
“Of course, the heavier you are, the harder this will be,” he observed before switching sides. “Get as deep as possible,” advised Curry before utilizing the hack squat machine for some good mornings in order to hit the hamstrings.
This workout shows Brandon Curry’s ability to use machines where he may previously have relied on free weights, and he’s also varied his positions to find every available stretch and range of motion for his muscles.
“When we speak from the perspective of longevity in the sport of bodybuilding, we gotta look to the guys like Dexter Jackson of course. See how he was able to stay in the game,” commented Curry. “Current guys like William Bonac, and if you include me in the mix, watch how they do things to kinda preserve the body and compete with longevity at a high level. For the younger guys: you’re only bullet proof for a small frame of time, then you realize ‘okay, I’m not that bulletproof no more. I’ve gotta use by brain a little bit more.’”
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