As a seven-time Figure Olympia champion, Cydney Gillon knows how to get a good workout in. In a recent YouTube video, Gillon walks fans through her leg day workout routine focused on supersets.
“Hey, y’all. It’s me again. We’re back. It’s Monday. You know what day it is. We are going to start the week off strong with leg day. I’m gonna walk you through what I’m doing, how I move, and why I choose the exercises that I choose.”
Cydney Gillon, a trailblazer in the world of bodybuilding, has carved out a distinguished career characterized by unparalleled dedication and a relentless pursuit of excellence. Gillon rose to prominence in the Figure Olympia division where she has refused to relinquish her title since her first win in 2017. From that moment, she has remained a dominant champion.
Cydney Gillon Smashes A Leg Day Workout
Cydney Gillon’s journey to the upper echelons of the sport has been marked by countless hours of rigorous training, meticulous attention to nutrition, and unwavering discipline. Beyond her accomplishments on stage, Gillon shares her advice and tips with fans on her YouTube channel. In one of her recent videos, Cydney Gillon walked fans through what her typical leg day looked like.
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Cydney Gillon’s Leg Day Workout
- Superset: Alternating Leg Extensions & Alternating Jump Lunges
- Pendulum Squats
- Superset: Seated Ham Curl and Leg Press
- Superset: Stiff-Legged Deadlifts and Plate Romanian Deadlifts
Superset: Alternating Leg Extensions and Alternating Jump Lunges
In her first superset, Cydney Gillon talks about Plyometrics which is a form of rapid exercise.
“Set up my timer, what I do is, every blue moon especially if I’m in a rush, I’ll throw my plyos in, just the one. Stay in touch my athletic background. It’s good for keeping the muscle full and bubbly using fast-twitch muscles without adding any weight.”
“Most people can’t do plyos and most adults don’t even jump anymore so keeping that type of connection with that movement works really well for my body. Now I won’t do too much plyo because it’ll start blowing my legs up, more like my track days which I had to run down so it’s finding the happy medium.”
“It also gets your heart rate up as you can tell. Mine right now, after almost a minute, is at 154 so it is close to my HIIT type heart rate. Which for me, high-intensity is 165 and up.”
After finishing another superset of alternating leg extensions and alternating jump lunges, she shares her heart rate as well as explains how focusing on her breathing helps her recover.
“So now you see that I just finished, 175. I recover quickly so that’s how fast my heart rate is recovering. Every breath drop that heart rate back down. That’s the key to my style of training is maintaining your breathing pattern.”
“When it comes to my leg extensions, I am going to keep adding the weight. Every set. I won’t do less than 15 for the alternating lunges. Now the key thing too is like I knew I was going to alternate the leg instead of doing one single leg so I make sure to match that with the other unilateral movement I am doing to make sure each leg is getting the same amount of rest” Gillon said.
For the last set, Gillon explains how much weight she increases gradually.
“Last set, best set. So each time if you are wondering how far to take it up, I take mine up 10 pounds every set. Still focus on keeping the same amount of tension and the same pace. I also do a cleansing breath so I can drop my heart rate before I start going.”
Pendulum Squat
Moving into the next exercise, Cydney Gillon explains how she decides what squat machine to use each week and what she looks for when using the machine.
“Pretty much what I do since we have so many machines, every week I’m like alright what squat version have I not done recently? Which leg press haven’t I done recently? Different things like that just so I’m really utilizing the most out of the gym.
“I love this one (Pendulum Squat) because it is really easy on the knees, like you can get weight on there if you need it but it’s nice and smooth on the knees so I always look for what’s going to keep adding to my longevity and going to be making sure that things aren’t hurting my joints as I go” Gillon explained.
She opted for a wider grip during this exercise.
“So I need to go up a little bit on this machine so I do a little bit of a wider step on this one because I’ve already done my leg extensions which was more outside for me for moris and laterallis. When you do the plyo jump is more full leg than anything but I lean forward so it kinda is more quad. This one, since it’s already had more blood in it I can do a wider grip and still it in the outside, so I am making sure we are touch each leg. Make sure you’re kind of switching it up sometimes so you’re utilizing muscles you don’t normally use and getting those stronger too.”
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On her last set of pendulum squats, Gillon shares more insight on her leg day breakdown.
“Last set, and we’ll move over to hamstrings. I do, I’m only allowed to train legs once a week, so I do three quad focused exercises, three hamstring focused exercises, and that’s it for the week. Hang it up. If you notice too, I never sit down. I may lean, usually I don’t even do that, but I was always taught when I was first learning lift that you don’t sit down.”
Superset: Seated Ham Curl and Leg Press
Before starting her seated ham curls, Cydney Gillon reveals she has never used that machine before and takes viewers through how she approaches a new machine.
“So I’ve never used this one so that’s when being in the gym a long is really helpful because you can kinda figure out how a machine works based on how the body works because sometimes the picture isn’t always super helpful but whenever I use a new machine I take that weight all the way down, figure it out first before I start.”
Moving into the leg press, she explains how to place her feet to put the weight on her hamstrings.
“These are going to be the hamy focused ones. That is why my feet are up so high. I do a slight turn out for sumo. Just I’m really getting into the abductors so theres a little room for me, depending on how in tune you are with your feet, you’ll be able to activate even more hamstrings.”
Superset: Stiff-Legged Deadlifts and Plate Romanian Deadlifts
Going into her last superset, Cydney Gillon emphasizes an adequate stretch.
“We are going to horizontal stiff-legs so I like to this machine to just switch it up from doing machine or doing dumbbells, doing barbell it’s nice good little stretch just change it up. Sam concept though, so you notice all my workouts tend to be very, very similar just different exercise movements but targeting the same thing, same style.”
Before her final superset, Gillon reveals that it will take more time in the gym if you are looking to build muscle.
“If your goal is to be building, you’re probably going to be in the gym a little bit longer especially if you’re doing straight sets and like a minute and a half to three minutes between sets you’re going to be in the gym a little bit longer.”
Cydney Gillon wraps up her leg day with some cardio to ensure she gets the maximum pump.
“I do HIIT all year round. That works for me. I also do like say it is a leg day, I’ll do leg day HITT. Most people like to switch off and do something else they didn’t already work but I kinda like to tap the muscle out.”
Cydney Gillon often reaches out to fans through social media to share her tips like seven ways natural bodybuilders can prepare for contests, as well as how to target the midsection effectively. She has even shared motivational and mental health advice such as focusing on self-love.
As a dominant force in Olympia history, Cydney Gillon shares insights gleaned from her trial-and-error journey. Gillon emphasizes the importance of clean eating, quality sleep, intense training, and smart supplementation when looking to enhance the body. Her approach blends science with intuition, guiding aspiring athletes toward peak performance.
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