Ryan Terry’s 6 Best Leg Exercises: What Lifters Can Learn From His Picks
UPLIFT IRON CLUBRyan Terry is best known for the polished V-taper and stage-ready proportions that made him a three-time Men’s Physique Olympia champion, but his lower-body training is a useful reminder that Men’s Physique athletes do not simply ignore their legs. In a recent breakdown of his favorite lower-body movements, Terry picked six exercises that cover the hamstrings, quads and calves without relying on novelty for novelty’s sake.
The list is interesting because it is almost aggressively practical: single-leg hamstring curls, single-leg extensions, lying hamstring curls, leg press, bilateral leg extensions and seated calf raises. There is no complicated “secret” exercise. The value is in how Terry uses familiar machines, the order he puts them in and the execution cues that keep tension on the target muscle.
For ordinary lifters, that matters more than copying a champion’s exact sets or loads. A world-class bodybuilder’s recovery, experience and weekly volume are not a template for everyone. But exercise selection and technique principles can still be useful. Terry’s choices show a repeatable pattern: prepare each side independently, isolate hard, move into a stable compound machine, then finish with more targeted work.
1. Single-Leg Hamstring Curl: Start by Finding the Muscle
Terry’s first pick is a single-leg hamstring curl, and the logic is less about chasing a personal record than establishing a strong contraction before heavier work. Starting unilaterally gives each hamstring its own turn. That can make it easier to notice whether one side has less control, a shorter comfortable range or a tendency to rush the eccentric.
His approach begins relatively light, using the early reps almost like a feeler set. The priority is squeezing the hamstring through the shortening phase and controlling the return instead of letting the stack pull the leg back down. Once the movement feels locked in, heavier working sets make more sense because the lifter has already established the path and target sensation.
For most gym-goers, this is a better lesson than copying an exact weight. A curl is an isolation exercise; if increasing the load turns it into hip movement and momentum, the extra plates are not buying much useful tension. Keep the pelvis stable, let the knee flex fully within a pain-free range and resist the eccentric. If one leg is clearly weaker, match the stronger side to the weaker side’s clean reps instead of rewarding the imbalance.
2. Single-Leg Extension: Control Beats Kicking the Stack
The second movement flips to the front of the thigh. Terry uses single-leg extensions with deliberate tempo and a stable torso, even pulling himself firmly into the seat so the quadriceps do the work rather than the whole body rocking through the rep.
That cue is useful because leg extensions are easy to turn into a contest against the machine. If the hips slide, the torso throws backward and the stack crashes between reps, the lifter may still move more weight but the set becomes much harder to standardize. Terry’s version is about making every rep look like the same rep.
Single-leg extensions also create a simple left-right audit. You may discover that one quad reaches terminal extension more cleanly, one knee prefers a slightly different pad position or one side loses control earlier. None of that means the exercise must be “corrective” in a clinical sense, but it gives you feedback that bilateral work can hide.
Use a load that allows a smooth lift, a brief squeeze near the top and a controlled lowering phase. The knee should feel challenged, not irritated. Adjust the seat and roller so the machine lines up comfortably with your joint, and avoid forcing a range that produces sharp pain just because somebody else locks out differently.
3. Lying Hamstring Curl: Keep the Hips Planted
Terry returns to hamstrings with a bilateral lying curl. The key cue here is keeping the hips driven into the pad instead of letting them rise as fatigue builds. Once the hips peel up aggressively, the body starts changing position to finish the rep and the hamstrings lose some of the clean isolation the machine is designed to provide.
This does not mean your pelvis must be frozen with zero movement. Bodies move under load. The point is to avoid deliberately turning the final third of every set into a back-extension pattern. Think about pulling the heels toward the glutes while keeping the front of the hips heavy on the bench.
The combination of single-leg curls first and bilateral curls later also makes programming sense. Unilateral work gives Terry a chance to focus on each side, then the lying curl lets both hamstrings work together with more total loading. That is a useful sequence for lifters who want both control and a hard working set without spending half the session on one machine.
4. Leg Press: The Heavy Staple in the Middle
After three isolation-focused movements, Terry’s fourth selection is the leg press. This is the closest thing in his six-exercise list to a big lower-body mass builder: a stable platform where the quads, glutes and hamstrings can all contribute while the back is supported.
The leg press is also where foot position matters most. A higher placement generally allows more hip involvement, while a somewhat lower comfortable position can increase knee flexion and quad demand. That does not mean there is one magic “quad” or “hamstring” footprint. Your femur length, ankle mobility, machine angle and hip anatomy all change what feels stable.
The useful rule is to choose a stance that lets you descend under control without the pelvis rolling dramatically off the pad or the knees collapsing inward. Depth is valuable when you own it. Going an extra two inches by curling the lower back off the seat is not automatically more productive.
Terry’s placement of the press after isolation work also changes the goal. He is not approaching it as a fresh powerlifting movement where the only objective is maximum load. The quads and hamstrings are already switched on and somewhat fatigued, so controlled working sets can be brutally effective without turning the sled into an ego display.
5. Bilateral Leg Extension: Finish the Quads Together
Terry returns to the leg extension later in the session, this time using both legs together. At first that may look redundant, but the training effect is different after the leg press. Earlier unilateral extensions establish control and give each quad individual work; later bilateral extensions let both sides grind through a focused finishing movement when the larger compound work is complete.
This is also a good example of why exercise lists should not be judged only by whether every movement is unique. Hypertrophy programming often repeats a movement pattern at a different point in the fatigue curve. The question is whether the second exposure has a job. Here it does: accumulate targeted quad work in a stable position without asking the hips, back and cardiovascular system to do much more.
Keep the reps smooth and avoid bouncing out of the bottom. If you use intensity techniques such as partials or drop sets, earn them after full-range reps rather than replacing controlled reps with chaos from the start. Terry’s overall message is consistent: tension and execution first, then effort.
6. Seated Calf Raise: Slow Down the Smallest Movement
The final choice is the seated calf raise, and Terry’s emphasis is almost the opposite of what you see during rushed calf work: slow reps, a full stretch, a hard contraction and a brief pause. Calves are especially easy to train with bouncing because the ankle’s elastic structures can help recycle energy from rep to rep.
Slowing the eccentric and pausing at the bottom removes some of that rebound. A deliberate squeeze at the top then makes the shortened position part of the rep instead of simply passing through it. The seated position puts the knee in flexion, which changes the relative contribution of the calf muscles and makes it a useful complement to straight-leg calf work elsewhere in the week.
Do not confuse “full stretch” with forcing the ankle past a comfortable range under heavy load. Use the machine’s platform to get a clear stretch you can control, then drive through the ball of the foot without rolling onto the outside edge. If calves are a priority, consistent high-quality weekly volume will matter more than one marathon finisher after you have already mentally checked out.
Taken together, Terry’s six selections form a straightforward lower-body session: unilateral hamstrings, unilateral quads, bilateral hamstrings, a heavy stable press, bilateral quad isolation and calves. The sequence gives every major area attention without needing exotic equipment.
The UIC take: the best lesson from Ryan Terry’s list is not that these six machines are mandatory. It is that advanced bodybuilding often looks simple from the outside because execution is doing the heavy lifting. Use unilateral work to expose differences, keep isolation movements strict, choose a stable compound you can progress, and make every rep reproducible. That is a much better route to bigger legs than constantly replacing solid exercises with whatever happens to look new on social media.
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