Classic Physique king Chris Bumstead tackled an off-season leg workout in his private gym, labeled the Bum Lifting Club.
Chris Bumstead is one of the most popular active professional bodybuilders in the world. The Canadian has risen to become the most dominant champion in the IFBB Pro League’s Classic Physique division, winning the Classic Physique Olympia title five consecutive times – from 2019 to 2023.
The path was not easy as Bumsead had to push through several difficult situations like lingering injuries, ailments, and coaching changes, among others. However, none of these issues or other top contenders have been able to stop the 29-year-old’s unbeaten run.
Chris Bumstead is in the twilight of his career and intends to retire after a few more Olympia wins. However, he has not taken his foot off the gas and continues to work hard to stay on top of the division.
He is in the middle of his 2024 off-season and has been following a 3800-calorie bulking diet. Recently, Bumstead shared his current leg workout and explained the finer details behind his method of training.
Chris Bumstead goes through a heavy leg workout
Chris Bumstead’s off-season leg workout consisted of the following exercises:
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- Lying Single Leg Curls
- Pendulum Squats
- Leg Press
- Back Hyperextensions
- Seated Leg Curls
- Standing Calf Raises
- Seated Calf Raises
Lying Single Leg Curls
Besides stimulating the hamstrings, leg curl is a great exercise to warm up the knee joint which plays a crucial role in most of the compound lower body movements. Bumstead started this training session with lying single leg curls.
“The thing I have been trying to do is a lot of unilateral stuff. One side of my body is always stronger than the other. So I try to start with the weakest side of my body and that kind of sets the tone.”
To avoid strength imbalance in the weaker side vs. the stronger side, CBum limits the number of reps on the stronger side.
“If I can get eight reps on the weaker side and can get 12 reps on the stronger side, I’m only going to do nine or 10.”
According to him, this gives the weaker side a chance to catch up in terms of strength and muscle gain.
Pendulum Squats
Bumstead took to this compound exercise next and pushed through a few sets. He then explained the key to leg development:
“If you want big legs, you want your hamstrings to touch your calves. More knee flexion, more gains.”
To enable this, CBum does a quarter rep at the bottom before every full rep. He believes that when you go deeper with squats, any issues that you may have with ankle, knee, or hip mobility automatically start to disappear. Therefore in Bumstead’s books, deeper squats equal to deeper quarter reps and controlled tempo on each rep.
After finishing the pendulum squats, CBum went back to lying single leg curls and did a few sets.
Leg Press
Bumstead aimed to achieve the peak range of motion during this next compound movement. He used relatively lighter weights and performed a few sets.
“We’re going to push it really deep. Trying to get a stretch in my glutes and my quads, do what we do.”
The Canadian bodybuilder performed the reps utilizing a full range of motion where his knees touched the chest at the end of the eccentric phase and his legs were fully extended at the end of the concentric phase.
“If you’re trying to grow your glutes. That’s it right there. On my second-last rep there, my glutes started cramping coz I’m just letting them relax and stretch them as much as possible before I can actually push the weight.”
Speaking about the variations and number of sets performed, CBum said:
“Two sets – deep and wide, full crazy stupid stretch and then close-grip low to high foot placement, focus on the quad – two more sets.”
Back Hyperextensions
The reigning Classic Physique Olympia champion next took to this bodyweight exercise to work the lower back and glutes, executing some solid sets of the movement.
Seated Leg Curls
Chris Bumstead went back to work the hamstrings next and performed seated leg curls on the machine.
Calf Raises
Bumstead’s heavy leg day concluded after putting in the calf work. The Canadian bodybuilder performed standing and seated leg curls on the machine next. Following this, he covered some distance pushing and pulling the sled outdoors, and wrapped up the training session.
Bumstead, who is soon to become a father, admitted that he is finding it increasingly difficult to eat huge amounts of food this off-season. As a result, he is planning to take time off when his partner Courtney is expected to deliver the baby. Bumstead feels that reducing the caloric intake for a while could help his digestive system get some rest.
Watch the full workout video below, courtesy of Chris Bumstead’s personal YouTube channel:
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