Bodybuilding legend Dorian Yates has aged like fine wine and continues to offer fans insightful workout advice in retirement. On January 29, 2025, he advocated for higher rep ranges when attacking leg training, revealing his approach to building the quads, hamstrings, and calves.
Dorian Yates captured the hearts of fans around the world with one of the most impressive Olympia dynasties the sport has seen. He used his massive back along with granite conditioning levels to not only dominate his opponents but cement his status as an all-time great.
Yates has long been a proponent of failure-based training. He adopted this system after working alongside Mike Mentzer, who learned the ins and outs of training courtesy of Nautilus founder Arthur Jones. Time is money for Yates, so he always aimed to bring the utmost intensity to his training sessions. Even today at 62 years old, Yates has maintained a built and athletic physique, inspiring countless individuals to follow in his footsteps.
Dorian Yates Breaks Down Why He Prefers Higher Volume Leg Training: “Up to 15, I think Is Ideal For Your Legs”
In a recent Instagram post, Yates laid out his approach to leg training, underlining the importance of achieving high volume.
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“You might notice if you’re doing upper body you’re doing some reps and all of a sudden, it fails, yeah? Because it’s very fast twitch. So it’s explosive, explosive, explosive, and then it fails.
But on legs, it’s like you squeeze one more out, you can squeeze one more out, there’s a bit more endurance in the legs so that’s why I work in a higher range.”
He prefers rep ranges around 15 for legs but noted that hamstring training is more explosive, requiring only eight reps with heavier weight. As for the calves, ‘The Shadow’ advocated for 10-12 reps.
“Up to 15, I think is ideal for your legs. Hamstrings you can go heavier with lower reps because they are explosive, eight reps on there. Calves, yeah 10-12,” shared Dorian Yates.
“With upper body you usually come to a fairly sudden stop when approaching failure. But with legs, you can squeeze another, and another, and another.
Those who have ever trained legs with me know all about the ‘two more reps’…😉”
Although Yates has long stepped away from the stage, his strength and power haven’t gone anywhere. He recently shocked fans with work on the pec deck machine by lifting the entire weight stack for reps with ease. He explained that he doesn’t practice traditional pressing movements anymore due to shoulder injuries.
Having successfully bounced back from a total right hip replacement surgery, Yates continues to offer his followers content packed with value. Feel free to give his rep ranges a try the next time you hit leg day!
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