Jay Cutler's Quad-Stomp Leg Workout at 53: How He Still Trains His Legs

Jay Cutler’s legs did more than help him win four Mr. Olympia titles. They gave bodybuilding one of its most recognizable moments: the 2009 “quad stomp,” when Cutler returned after losing the title in 2008 and became the first man in Olympia history to reclaim the Sandow after being dethroned.

Now 53, Cutler is no longer training like a man trying to survive another Olympia prep. But a recent leg session with Hany Rambod showed that the structure behind those legendary quads is still very much alive: hamstrings first, controlled machine work, careful exercise order, and enough intensity to keep the legs full without turning every session into a recovery disaster.

This is the Jay Cutler leg workout he ran with Rambod, how each exercise fits together, why the hack squat still matters to his famous outer-quad sweep, and what normal lifters should copy from a four-time Mr. Olympia who is now training for longevity instead of another trophy.

The 2009 Quad Stomp Still Explains Jay Cutler’s Leg Training

Cutler’s 2009 comeback is still the reference point for his lower body because that was the year his quads looked almost absurdly detailed. He entered the Olympia after Dexter Jackson had beaten him in 2008, then returned heavier, sharper and with visibly improved leg separation.

The quad stomp became iconic because it put the difference on display instantly. Cutler drove one foot into the stage, locked the quad hard and showed deep striations through a body part that was already one of his strongest. The image became inseparable from his comeback.

What is more interesting from a training perspective is that the look was not built by one secret exercise. Cutler has repeatedly emphasized consistency, machine work, high-quality contractions and finding movements that load the legs hard without creating unnecessary joint problems.

That philosophy is even clearer now. At 53, he still trains seven days per week, but he has no interest in being destroyed by one leg session. The goal is stimulation, shape and maintenance—not proving he can still train exactly like he did in 2009.

1. Seated Leg Curl: Start With the Hamstrings

Cutler opened the workout with seated leg curls, which immediately tells you something about his priorities. He has long preferred to train the backside of the leg first because his quads are naturally dominant.

That can make sense for a lifter whose quads take over almost every lower-body exercise. Pre-fatiguing the hamstrings gives them dedicated work before squats, extensions and other quad-heavy movements start stealing the session.

The seated leg curl also trains the hamstrings in a lengthened hip position, which makes it a very useful hypertrophy exercise. You do not need to turn it into a max-effort movement. Controlled reps, a full stretch and a hard squeeze are enough.

For a Jay-style setup, think in the 8–15 rep range, keep the hips pinned to the seat and resist the urge to bounce the stack. The point is to make the hamstrings work before the rest of the leg session gets complicated.

2. Kneeling Single-Leg Curl: Fix Side-to-Side Differences

Next came a kneeling single-leg curl. Cutler has talked about using leg training to address asymmetry, and unilateral hamstring work is one of the easiest places to do that.

Single-leg curls make it obvious when one side is weaker, less coordinated or simply less able to contract through the same range. A bilateral machine can hide those differences because the stronger side quietly contributes more.

There is no need to make the weaker leg perform a heroic amount of extra work. Start with the weaker side, establish a clean rep count and match it with the stronger side. Over time, the gap often narrows simply because both legs are finally being forced to work independently.

This is one of the most transferable pieces of Cutler’s routine. You do not need elite genetics to benefit from unilateral hamstring work.

3. Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift: Load the Hamstrings Without Chasing a Deadlift PR

The dumbbell Romanian deadlift finished the hamstring-focused part of the session. Compared with a conventional deadlift, the RDL keeps the emphasis on the hip hinge and the lengthened hamstrings instead of turning the set into a total-body strength test.

Dumbbells also make it easier to keep the load sensible. At 53, Cutler does not need the systemic fatigue of an enormous barbell hinge just to maintain his hamstrings and glutes.

Push the hips back, keep a slight bend in the knees and stop the descent when the pelvis can no longer keep moving backward without the spine compensating. The dumbbells should stay close to the legs rather than drifting forward.

The important thing is tension, not how close the weights get to the floor. A shorter range with loaded hamstrings is better than forcing extra depth through a rounded back.

4. Leg Extension: Direct Quad Work Before the Heavy Machines

Once the hamstrings were done, Cutler moved to leg extensions. This is where the session transitions from posterior-chain work to the quad-focused portion.

Leg extensions let him train knee extension directly before loading the quads with hack squats and belt squats. That can create a large quad stimulus without requiring maximal loads on the bigger movements later.

Cutler has also said that his workouts are much more repetitive now. He likes the same order and the same machines because the goal is not novelty. The routine has to feel good, deliver a predictable pump and let him recover.

For hypertrophy, that is an underrated lesson. Exercise variation is useful when something stalls or hurts, but changing the entire routine every week makes progression harder to track. If an exercise feels good and keeps producing tension where you want it, repetition is not laziness—it is data.

5. Hack Squat: The Exercise Cutler Still Credits for His Outer Quad Sweep

The hack squat is the centerpiece of the workout because Cutler still credits it as one of the most important exercises behind the outer sweep and detail that made his quads famous.

A hack squat gives the lifter a stable torso and a fixed machine path, which means the legs can be pushed hard without spending as much effort stabilizing a barbell. That is one reason bodybuilders love it: the setup makes it easier to take the quads close to failure without turning every rep into a balance problem.

Rambod pushed Cutler to give more on the machine, while Cutler deliberately kept the effort controlled because he did not want the kind of soreness that would compromise the rest of his training week.

That sounds almost anti-hardcore, but it is smart. Training to stimulate is different from training to prove something. Cutler has decades of muscle built already. At this stage, a brutally sore quad is not automatically a better quad.

For normal lifters chasing size, the hack squat can be pushed harder than Cutler needs to push it now. But the same rule applies: use a stance that feels stable, descend as far as your hips and knees comfortably allow, and progress the machine without turning the bottom into a bounce.

6. Belt Squat: Heavy Leg Loading With Less Spinal Demand

Cutler followed the hack squat with a belt squat. Because the load is attached around the hips rather than resting on the shoulders, the belt squat can train the legs hard while reducing axial loading on the spine.

That makes it useful late in a session, when the quads are already fatigued and adding a barbell to the back may create more systemic fatigue than local muscle stimulus.

Rambod also pointed out that Cutler modifies his stance around an old foot injury. That is an important detail. Good bodybuilding is not about forcing textbook symmetry when your injury history says otherwise. It is about finding a position that keeps the target muscle loaded without continually irritating the same problem.

If you use a belt squat, think of it as another squat pattern—not a magical joint-proof replacement. Control the descent, keep the knees tracking in a comfortable line and use a stance that lets you load the legs without pain.

7. Hip Abduction Machine: Finish the Glutes With Controlled Reps

The final movement was hip abduction. Rambod showed Cutler how changing torso angle could slightly change where he felt the glutes working, but the broader purpose was simple: finish the hips with a controlled isolation movement after the major leg work was complete.

Hip abduction trains the glute medius and other muscles responsible for moving the thigh away from the midline and helping stabilize the pelvis. It is not a replacement for squats, hinges or lunges, but it fills a gap that those movements do not always train directly.

Use it like an accessory. Higher reps, controlled returns and a hard contraction make more sense than trying to turn the machine into an ego lift.

The Full Jay Cutler Leg Workout

The exact sets and reps were not the point of the session. The sequence was. Cutler warmed up the hamstrings, moved into direct quad work, used two stable squat patterns and finished with glute isolation.

For most lifters, three or four hard work sets on every exercise would be excessive. A more realistic version might use 2–3 work sets per movement, with most sets stopping one to three reps short of failure and only selected machine sets pushed closer.

What Lifters Should Copy From Jay Cutler at 53

The best lesson from Cutler’s current training is not that everyone needs seven leg exercises. It is that a great program changes with the athlete.

Young Jay Cutler needed to build enough leg mass to beat Ronnie Coleman and later reclaim the Olympia. Jay Cutler at 53 needs to keep muscle, train without aggravating old injuries and recover quickly enough to keep showing up.

That changes the rules. He is comfortable repeating the same machines. He does not need to chase soreness. He modifies setup around an old foot injury. He still trains hard, but the workout serves the body he has now rather than the body he had in 2009.

That is a much better model for long-term bodybuilding than pretending every phase of training should look identical forever.

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