In the early Mr. Olympia competitions, the lower body didn’t have to be as properly developed as the top half of one’s physique. But as the years went by and the sport evolved, more attention was paid to the how the legs looked, so the athletes had to train them longer and harder. This wasn’t only about the quads and calves, either — the hamstrings had to be on point if you wanted to be in the final callout.
Training hamstrings isn’t fun or sexy, and to be honest, it can also be very difficult at times. The hamstring muscles — the biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus — are used in just about everything from walking and running, deadlifting, and squatting. This creates a double-edged sword: on one hand, you’re already hitting your hamstrings with many of the compound movements that involve knee flexion or hip extension (which is a lot of them). On the other, it’s very hard to isolate this body part since it’s responsible for so much movement in our lower body.
Sure, you can hog the leg curl machine for the entirety of leg day, but the reality is that won’t take you very far at all. So once again, we decided to look to the best of the best for training advice.
These five Olympia champions planned and executed their hamstring training accordingly, and accumulated 33 Sandow trophies between them. So how did they make the hamstrings pop from the back and side? Their answers are below and you can put their words into actions for yourself thanks to the accompanying workout at the end.
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Edgar Artiga / M+F Magazine
Lee Haney: Stiff-Legged Deadlift
Lee Haney had to hold off bodybuilding legends like Rich Gaspari, Lee Labrada, and Mike Christian to be the most prolific champion of the 1980s. That meant every muscle he carried had to stand out, including the hamstrings. His go-to movement was the stiff-legged deadlift. Why this version specifically? The 8-time Mr. O explained his reasoning to Flex, saying “Although any kind of deadlifting will have an effect on your hamstrings, it’s stiff-leg deadlifts that hit them most directly.”
“Keep your hips and quads flat against the bench. Raise the weight slowly and with strict control — don’t yank it up quickly. Hamstrings respond best to continuous tension. I throw in a firm contraction at the top of the movement and really burn the muscle. I do 10 to 12 reps, with a couple of forced reps added at the end with help from my training partner.”
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M&F Magazine
Ronnie Coleman: Walking Lunge
We’ve all heard the stories of Ronnie Coleman squatting 800 solid-ass pounds, or deadlifting the same weight for reps. “The King” didn’t skimp out on his accessory moves either, and was known to lunge with an astonishing 365 pounds on his back in the MetroFlex Gym parking lot. He’d even do this in the pouring rain or 100-degree heat, too.
The hardcore walking lunges across the parking lot were a big reason why he had such big legs, which helped him stand in first place at the Olympia eight years in a row.
“Lunges, which focus more on the hamstrings and glutes than the quadriceps, are a good segue between quad work and ham work,” he told Flex.
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Chris Lund / M+F Magazine
Jay Cutler: Wide-Stance Leg Press
Jay Cutler’s stomp at the 2009 Olympia is one of the most famous and recognizable bodybuilding poses of all time — and while his quads may have stolen the show that day, the back of his legs weren’t too shabby either.
In a workout he did for Flex, he included wide stance leg presses among his exercises of choice. “The wide-stance leg presses are a great finisher, because they stretch out the muscles you just pumped. You get a full contraction at the bottom of each rep, letting the weight pull your butt and lower back off the pad.”
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Courtesy StepMill3
Phil Heath: StairMaster
“The Gift” hopes to leave Las Vegas this December with a record-tying 8th Olympia title. One secret to his phenomenal leg development is making his cardio work overtime, and his weapon of choice is the StairMaster. Flex found out how he used it to develop his lower body.
“The StairMaster is crucial for bringing in my ham lines. I tense my hams and glutes with every step.”
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Per Bernal
Olympia Hamstring Workout
Stiff-Legged Deadlift: Four sets; 15, 12, 10, 8 reps
