The Jay Cutler Leg Workout | The Ultimate Guide!

Are you curious about the Jay Cutler leg workout?

Do you wonder how Jay Cutler trained his quads and hamstrings for size and strength?

Then you’ve come to the right place.

In this comprehensive guide, I will show you how to use the Jay Cutler leg workout to take your training to the next level!

Introduction

Part 1: The Jay Cutler Training Program
Part 2: Jay Cutler’s Leg Workouts

Jay Cutler is one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time. He won the Mr. Olympia competition 4 times in a row and was famous for his massive legs.

So what did his leg workouts look like?

Jay says he used to train his legs with anywhere from 20-40 sets per workout! Here is the exact training split that Jay used to use:

The Jay Cutler Training Split

Day 1: Chest
Day 2: Arms
Day 3: Back
Day 4: Off
Day 5: Shoulders
Day 6: Legs
Day 7: Off

Jay Cutler likes to train his quads and hamstrings together on the same training day. Jay says he gets a better pump in his legs and it’s always worked for him so there’s no need to switch things up.

Jay likes to train his quads and hamstrings with about 4-6 exercises each. He always starts his workouts with quads and then moves onto hamstrings at the end of the workout.

Early in his career Jay would perform heavy front squats and back squats. However, as he matured as a bodybuilder he realized he could get better leg growth with different machine exercises like leg presses and hack squats with less risk of injury.

Here is one of Jay Cutler’s go-to bodybuilding leg workouts. Check it out:

Jay Cutler Leg Workout #1

Exercise #1: 45 degree leg press, 5 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #2: Machine hack squat, 5 sets of 8-10 reps
Exercise #3: Machine leg extension, 5 sets of 8-10 reps
Exercise #4: Smith machine squats, 4 sets of 8-10 reps
Exercise #5: Seated leg curl, 4 sets of 10-12 reps
Exercise #6: Walking barbell lunges, 3 sets of 8-10 reps
Exercise #7: Lying leg curls, 4 sets of 8-12 reps
Exercise #8: DB stiff-legged deadlift, 4 sets of 8-12 reps
Exercise #9: Kneeling leg curl, 2 sets of 8-10 reps

Here is the training video:

In this video Jay Cutler says that he doesn’t plan his entire workout ahead of time. He might have an idea of what he wants to do but everything depends on how he is feeling that day.

“I have no set number of reps, weights, exercises that I’m planning on doing. When I walked in the gym I said “OK, this is what I’m starting with.”

And I pointed around and said OK, this is what I’m going to do.

But I didn’t know how my body would feel or what it would do when I got to a particular exercise.”

During the workout Jay keeps almost everything in the 8-12 rep range. He doesn’t use super high reps for legs like a lot of other bodybuilders. He says that is a great way to burn yourself out early in the workout.

Jay Cutler likes to use at least 20-30 sets for legs so he has to be careful and pace himself.

“I like to keep the weights very heavy and do lower reps.

When you train with as much volume as me you can’t do as many repetitions because you’ll just burn yourself out. You have to have one or the other.

You’re either going to do less weight, more repetitions and less sets or heavier weight, fewer repetitions and more sets.”

Now let’s look at a super high volume where Jay Cutler decides to do some heavy squats. Check it out:

Jay Cutler Leg Workout #2

Exercise #1: Machine leg extension, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #2: Back squats, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #3: 45 degree leg press, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #4: Alternating DB lunges, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #5: Machine hack squats, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #6: Machine leg extensions, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #7: Seated leg curls, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #8: Lying leg curl, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #9: 45 degree leg press, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #10: Stiff-legged deadlift, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #11: Kneeling leg curl, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #12: Hip adduction machine, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #13: 45 degree back extension, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps

Here is the training video:

Jay Cutler performs 13 sets for his quads and hamstrings. Talk about a high-volume workout!

On this day Jay decides to pre-exhaust his legs with leg extensions before moving onto heavy back squats. Jay does this so he feels his quads more and doesn’t have to use as much weight for his heavy squats.

Jay Cutler actually has a unique way he performs leg extensions: he doesn’t lock the weight out in the top position. Jay says that he can feel his quads working better this way. Check it out:

“It might not look like I’m moving the weight a lot with the extensions.

Remember, I’m really just trying to contract the muscle so I might not do a full extension on it, that way I don’t take the tension off the muscle because sometimes when you straighten out the muscle, you take that tension off it.”

After his quad exercises Jay moves onto his high-volume hamstrings routine. He performs 6 exercises for hamstrings plus an exercise for his adductors for good measure.

This kind of routine would send most bodybuilders straight to the hospital but it worked like magic for Jay Cutler.

Here is another high-volume leg workout where Jay used leg extensions to pre-exhaust his quads. Check it out:

Jay Cutler Leg Workout #3

Exercise #1: Machine leg extension, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #2: 45 degree leg press, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #3: Machine hack squat, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #4: Alternating barbell lunge, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #5: Smith machine front squat, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #6: Machine leg extension, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #7: Seated leg curl, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #8: Lying leg curl, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #9: Romanian deadlift, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #10: Kneeling leg curl, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps

Here is the training video:

For this workout Jay performs 6 exercises for his quads and 4 exercises for his hamstrings. He performs almost every leg exercise you can think of using very heavy weights and a ridiculous amount of sets and reps.

Now let’s look at how Jay Cutler trains his legs now that he is retired from competitive bodybuilding. Check it out:

Jay Cutler Leg Workout #4

Exercise #1: Seated leg curl, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #2: Lying leg curl, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #3: Vertical leg press, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #4: Walking alternating barbell lunge, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #5: Machine leg extension, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #6: Smith machine front squat,3-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Exercise #7: Horizontal leg press, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps

Here is the training video:

Jay Cutler still trains hard but he is no longer trying to be 300 pounds shredded on the Mr. Olympia stage. Instead he is trying to get in good workouts while enjoying life and maintaining a solid physique.

Since retiring from bodybuilding Jay has experimented with some different exercises for his leg workouts. He now likes to start his leg workouts with a hamstrings exercise like the seated leg curl. Check it out:

“I always start with the seated leg curl.

Why? I don’t know, I just always seem to have a great workout when I start with this exercise.

It gets everything fired and then I go from there.”

The rest of the workout is Jay sticking with his high-volume training style. He performs 7 total exercises for his quads and hamstrings.

Conclusion | The Jay Cutler Leg Workout!

Jay Cutler trains his legs using high-volume bodybuilding style workouts. He trains his quads and hamstrings using about 4-6 exercises and he always trains in the 8-12 rep range.

If you respond well to high-volume workouts and have superior recovery ability then the Jay Cutler arm workout is worth trying.

If you enjoyed this content then make sure you check out my article “The Jay Cutler Training Program!”

“I had a goal to be the best since day one.”

Thank you for reading and I wish you the best of luck on your strength training journey!

Latest Net Worth Profiles