Kai Greene's Killer Leg Workout
Lots of Sets, and Silent From Start to Finish
Part of the fun of following Kai Greene during a leg workout is you never know what’s next. Kai does a lot of sets— and despite two hours of a pre-workout workout, he was still going to do a lot of sets. His headphones are on, and he’s silent from start to finish.
Kai starts off with standing single-leg curls. He’s not going right into quads to get the heavy stuff out of the way? Nope. Kai pumps through about four sets with each leg, and you can see his enormous hamstring contract through his leggings.
Next up is a superset of stiff-leg deadlifts and lying leg curls. Kai is moving now, and so is the weight. Nothing crazy— but when you consider the pace and volume, it’s impressive. Here comes another superset: leg extensions with another lying leg curl (different machine and slightly different angle). You can see the fatigue in his face, but not in his movements.
Kai starts to clear a path for walking lunges, and he methodically does four sets— increasing the weight from just the bar to a 45-pound plate on each side. His steps are controlled, and you can actually see Kai flex and squeeze each different part of his leg. He puts the bar back in the rack, leaving the 45-pound plate on each side. It’s now been three and a half hours since Kai entered the gym, and he’s ready to squat.
Kai squats with perfect form, working up to 315 for 15 methodical and controlled reps. With that, the workout comes to a conclusion, and the typical leg presses are left out this time. Now it’s time to eat.
How did Kai find the energy to squat after three hours of training? His answer was simple: “If you think it’s going to be hard, then it will be.” It’s said that our most powerful asset is the mind, and Kai makes proof of that statement with each workout.
The Master of Mind-Muscle Connection
Kai’s movements are precise, contractions are hard and each rep is harmonious with the next. You can see things happening with muscles you never knew existed. Kai’s mind-muscle connection is extraordinary— it takes work, focus and understanding of the goal of each movement.
1. Lying Leg Curls
On each rep, Kai lifts his hips slightly as he contracts his hamstrings. This makes for a deeper squeeze in the hams and a much harder contraction. He adds in a momentary pause at the top and you can see his enormous hams fill with blood.
2. Standing Leg Curls (single leg)
Kai is all about visualization, and this move allows him to imagine he is standing onstage while squeezing his hamstrings in a rear double biceps or lat spread. Kai keeps his body completely still, and only moves the working hamstring— there is no hip movement or cheating to get the weight up.
3. Stiff-leg Deadlifts
Kai has a trick on this one: He stands pigeon-toed, and makes a conscious effort to keep turning his toes back in after each rep— give it a try and you’ll feel it on the first rep. You’ll also quickly understand why you don’t see Kai using a ton of weight.
4. Walking Lunges
For Kai, the challenge isn’t getting from one end to the other— the challenge is making his legs grow. With each step, he carefully plants his heel, and lunges down until his back knee touches the ground— and slowly pushes back up before taking the next step. It’s most effective to step, then lunge— rather than trying to lunge into each step and cut short the contraction.
5. Leg Extensions
High reps or heavy weight? Both! Kai will do as many sets as he needs to get connected with his quads, and each set is in the range of 20 reps. The amazing thing to see is how he keeps increasing the weight, and each set looks as smooth and natural as the last. As he gets to the bottom of the weight stack and failure comes before the 20th rep, Kai will pause for a few breaths and resume the set until he reaches the magic number.
6. Squats
Kai uses the connection he has with each muscle to make squats a complete leg exercise with a glute-hamstring focus— instead of a mass-builder for his quads. Each rep is deliberate and controlled as he squeezes his glutes and tightens his hamstrings all the way down and back up. Each rep of the squat is full of opportunities to contract a different part of the leg; if you can do this effectively, you can build big legs and not just big quads.
7. Leg Press
Feet are wide and high, so the quads are still working, but the hams are taking some of the load. Just like squats, Kai is controlling the weight through every inch of movement and never using momentum. While many guys use the leg press to load up the weight, for Kai it’s a finishing move to add some polish to his wheels.
Listen to Your Body
Kai is living, breathing and massive proof that there is only one rule: listen to your body. He does everything to the contrary of conventional training wisdom. First, there’s the long cardio session before weight training. When you’ve been training as long as Kai, you learn what your body likes best. He knows he has the mental strength to push through the workout after cardio, and he likes how it feels to hit the weight warmed-up from a long session on the StairMaster. The same goes for the ab session after cardio— that’s where it feels right, and he never skips it like he would at the end.
How about training calves and glutes before quads and hams (or anything before quads and hams)? Again, the answer was simple: “I work my body parts in the order of weakest to strongest.” The areas that need the most work get Kai’s attention when he has the most energy.
It all comes down to one basic premise: there is no one plan that works for everyone. Do what your body needs to grow best. When you can hear your body loud and clear, the path to growth is just a matter of sets and reps.
Basic Leg Workout
Kai’s workouts change all the time, and there are many varieties of his leg-training sessions. Here’s a more basic workout that he’s done a few times:
1. Lying Leg Curls: 4 sets x 15-20 reps
2. Standing One-leg Curls: 4 sets x 12-15 reps
3. Stiff-leg Deadlifts: 4 sets x 15-20 reps
4. Walking Lunges: 3 sets x approximately 40 yards
5. Leg Extensions: 4 sets x 20, 15, 12, 12 reps
6. Squats: 4 sets x 20, 15, 12, 12 reps
7. Leg Press: 4 sets x 15-20 reps
Lots of Sets, and Silent From Start to Finish
Part of the fun of following Kai Greene during a leg workout is you never know what’s next. Kai does a lot of sets— and despite two hours of a pre-workout workout, he was still going to do a lot of sets. His headphones are on, and he’s silent from start to finish.
Kai starts off with standing single-leg curls. He’s not going right into quads to get the heavy stuff out of the way? Nope. Kai pumps through about four sets with each leg, and you can see his enormous hamstring contract through his leggings.
Next up is a superset of stiff-leg deadlifts and lying leg curls. Kai is moving now, and so is the weight. Nothing crazy— but when you consider the pace and volume, it’s impressive. Here comes another superset: leg extensions with another lying leg curl (different machine and slightly different angle). You can see the fatigue in his face, but not in his movements.
Kai starts to clear a path for walking lunges, and he methodically does four sets— increasing the weight from just the bar to a 45-pound plate on each side. His steps are controlled, and you can actually see Kai flex and squeeze each different part of his leg. He puts the bar back in the rack, leaving the 45-pound plate on each side. It’s now been three and a half hours since Kai entered the gym, and he’s ready to squat.
Kai squats with perfect form, working up to 315 for 15 methodical and controlled reps. With that, the workout comes to a conclusion, and the typical leg presses are left out this time. Now it’s time to eat.
How did Kai find the energy to squat after three hours of training? His answer was simple: “If you think it’s going to be hard, then it will be.” It’s said that our most powerful asset is the mind, and Kai makes proof of that statement with each workout.
The Master of Mind-Muscle Connection
Kai’s movements are precise, contractions are hard and each rep is harmonious with the next. You can see things happening with muscles you never knew existed. Kai’s mind-muscle connection is extraordinary— it takes work, focus and understanding of the goal of each movement.
1. Lying Leg Curls
On each rep, Kai lifts his hips slightly as he contracts his hamstrings. This makes for a deeper squeeze in the hams and a much harder contraction. He adds in a momentary pause at the top and you can see his enormous hams fill with blood.
2. Standing Leg Curls (single leg)
Kai is all about visualization, and this move allows him to imagine he is standing onstage while squeezing his hamstrings in a rear double biceps or lat spread. Kai keeps his body completely still, and only moves the working hamstring— there is no hip movement or cheating to get the weight up.
3. Stiff-leg Deadlifts
Kai has a trick on this one: He stands pigeon-toed, and makes a conscious effort to keep turning his toes back in after each rep— give it a try and you’ll feel it on the first rep. You’ll also quickly understand why you don’t see Kai using a ton of weight.
4. Walking Lunges
For Kai, the challenge isn’t getting from one end to the other— the challenge is making his legs grow. With each step, he carefully plants his heel, and lunges down until his back knee touches the ground— and slowly pushes back up before taking the next step. It’s most effective to step, then lunge— rather than trying to lunge into each step and cut short the contraction.
5. Leg Extensions
High reps or heavy weight? Both! Kai will do as many sets as he needs to get connected with his quads, and each set is in the range of 20 reps. The amazing thing to see is how he keeps increasing the weight, and each set looks as smooth and natural as the last. As he gets to the bottom of the weight stack and failure comes before the 20th rep, Kai will pause for a few breaths and resume the set until he reaches the magic number.
6. Squats
Kai uses the connection he has with each muscle to make squats a complete leg exercise with a glute-hamstring focus— instead of a mass-builder for his quads. Each rep is deliberate and controlled as he squeezes his glutes and tightens his hamstrings all the way down and back up. Each rep of the squat is full of opportunities to contract a different part of the leg; if you can do this effectively, you can build big legs and not just big quads.
7. Leg Press
Feet are wide and high, so the quads are still working, but the hams are taking some of the load. Just like squats, Kai is controlling the weight through every inch of movement and never using momentum. While many guys use the leg press to load up the weight, for Kai it’s a finishing move to add some polish to his wheels.
Listen to Your Body
Kai is living, breathing and massive proof that there is only one rule: listen to your body. He does everything to the contrary of conventional training wisdom. First, there’s the long cardio session before weight training. When you’ve been training as long as Kai, you learn what your body likes best. He knows he has the mental strength to push through the workout after cardio, and he likes how it feels to hit the weight warmed-up from a long session on the StairMaster. The same goes for the ab session after cardio— that’s where it feels right, and he never skips it like he would at the end.
How about training calves and glutes before quads and hams (or anything before quads and hams)? Again, the answer was simple: “I work my body parts in the order of weakest to strongest.” The areas that need the most work get Kai’s attention when he has the most energy.
It all comes down to one basic premise: there is no one plan that works for everyone. Do what your body needs to grow best. When you can hear your body loud and clear, the path to growth is just a matter of sets and reps.
Basic Leg Workout
Kai’s workouts change all the time, and there are many varieties of his leg-training sessions. Here’s a more basic workout that he’s done a few times:
1. Lying Leg Curls: 4 sets x 15-20 reps
2. Standing One-leg Curls: 4 sets x 12-15 reps
3. Stiff-leg Deadlifts: 4 sets x 15-20 reps
4. Walking Lunges: 3 sets x approximately 40 yards
5. Leg Extensions: 4 sets x 20, 15, 12, 12 reps
6. Squats: 4 sets x 20, 15, 12, 12 reps
7. Leg Press: 4 sets x 15-20 reps
