Bodybuilding judges are looking for a variety of factors to score an athlete in a pro show, including muscle mass, symmetry, balance, conditioning, muscle quality, and muscle separation. Every bodybuilder strives for a perfect score and uses distinctive training approaches best suited to them to achieve that.
Some bodybuilders train their legs once a week, while others prioritize the muscle group with higher frequency training multiple times per week. The 2013 Women’s Physique Olympia champion, Dana Linn Bailey, belongs to the latter camp.
Bailey is one of the most popular female professional bodybuilders in the IFBB Pro League, though she hasn’t competed in a pro show since the 2015 Arnold Classic. Bailey has not officially retired, giving her fans hope for an eventual comeback. On July 4, 2023, Bailey shared her glute and hamstring-biased leg workout that utilizes supersets to maximize hypertrophy. Check out the video below, courtesy of her YouTube channel:
[Related: Brett Wilkin’s 3 Go-To Exercises for Adding Mass to His Hamstrings]
Dana Linn Baliey Glute and Hamstring Workout
Bailey prioritized supersets in her posterior chain-focused leg workout:
Nordics Curls and Romanian Deadliftss
Bailey opened with Nordic curl and Romanian deadlift superset. She performed the Nordic curls on the floor by securing her lower legs under a barbell with weight plates on each end.
Bailey performed Romanian Deadlifts with that barbell. The smaller plates allowed her to move through an extended range of motion — larger weight plates would hit the floor sooner than smaller plates, resulting in less range of motion — resulting in greater glute and hamstring engagement. She maintained a high training intensity via minimum rest between sets.
Deficit Sumo Deadlifts
Bailey uses deficit sumo deadlifts to bias the adductors, vastus medialis, glutes, and hamstrings. “By elevating yourself, you get a better range of motion,” explained Bailey as she stepped onto a stack of 45-pound bumper plates.
Bailey paused for a second when the barbell reached her knees on the concentric. A 2011 study in the Journal of Physiology showed that increasing the time under tension can lead to greater muscle fiber stimulation, boosting hypertrophy. (1)
[Related: Chris Bumstead Shares His 10 Staple Exercises for Hypertrophy]
One-and-a-Half Rep Dumbbell Sumo Deadlifts
After getting into a wider-than-shoulder-width stance, Bailey grabbed a dumbbell with both hands by interlacing her fingers around the handle. She initiated by lifting the dumbbell off the floor and reversing after reaching knee level. She performed a deadlift with a full range of motion to complete the one-and-a-half reps.
I love sumo [deadlifts] on hamstring and glute day [to] hit the inner thighs [and] targets that outer glute area.
Bailey maintained her torso at a 45-degree angle with the floor to bias her hamstrings and glutes. Staying upright leads to greater quad engagement as there is less hip flexion.
Banded Hyperextensions
Using a resistance band to keep constant tension on her hamstrings and glute, Bailey tied one end around the bottom of the hyperextension bench and the other around her shoulders. To maintain consistent tension and reduce the involvement of her lower back, Bailey arched her back and kept her head below her hips at the top of the movement. She performed 10-12 reps on each set before finishing with a drop set to failure.
Hip Thrust & Banded Abduction
Bailey performed hip thrusts on a machine with a loop resistance band around the bottom of her upper legs. The resistance band demands external rotation while performing the hip thrust, resulting in greater glute engagement. After completing 10-12 reps, Bailey did partials in the top half of the movement.
Bailey followed that by positioning her body in a straight line with her feet placed hip-width apart. She performed hip abductions by spreading her knees as wide as possible and pausing at the top to maximize abductor stimulation.
High Box Step-Ups
Bailey recommended using a box of sufficient height so that the knee of the working leg is above the hip when the other foot is grounded. “The higher you go, [the more you’ll] call on those hamstring and glutes,” explained Bailey. She grabbed a dumbbell in one hand and held onto a squat rack pole for balance with the other while performing this exercise.
References
- Burd NA, Andrews RJ, West DW, Little JP, Cochran AJ, Hector AJ, Cashaback JG, Gibala MJ, Potvin JR, Baker SK, Phillips SM. Muscle time under tension during resistance exercise stimulates differential muscle protein sub-fractional synthetic responses in men. J Physiol. 2012 Jan 15;590(2):351-62. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2011.221200. Epub 2011 Nov 21. PMID: 22106173; PMCID: PMC3285070.
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