Ronnie Coleman has cemented his place in bodybuilding history as one of the greatest with his eight-time Mr. Olympia-winning physique. In a recent YouTube video shared on October 3, 2024, hypertrophy coach Joe Bennett broke down Coleman’s legendary leg training routine that contributed to his success on the Olympia stage.
‘The King’ has easily become bodybuilding royalty due to his incredible achievements throughout his career. The immaculate conditioning and insane muscle definition Coleman displayed during the 1990s and early 2000s helped him to dominate the stage against competitors like Jay Cutler and Flex Wheeler.
Coleman earned a reputation within the sport for his intense training style that resulted in his astounding 800-pound deadlift personal record as well as reaching 2,300 pounds on the leg press. These feats have left the former World’s Strongest Man and Arnold Strongman Classic champion, Mitchell Hooper, believing Coleman would have been named World’s Strongest Man in his prime.
Hypertrophy Coach Critiques Ronnie Coleman’s Leg Day Training
Coleman’s legacy has also caught the attention of hypertrophy coach Joe Bennett, who recently broke down Ronnie Coleman’s leg day workout routine and shared his thoughts as well as critiques, which you can find below.
“I think overall his training was amazing. There’s just so much awesome stuff about his training,” explains Joe Bennett.
Ronnie Coleman’s Leg Exercises
- Front Squats
- Hack Squats
- Parking Lot Lunges
- Lying Leg Curls
- Seated Leg Curls
Front squat
Front squats were the bread and butter of Coleman’s leg day routine. Bennett explained that ‘The King’ performed them in a way to maximize quad growth.
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“If you have a back squat you’re going to have more horizontal of a spine, more closed hips, and all of that stuff is going be further, hips and erectors further from the bar path. That being said, this is still actually a lot of hips. There’s more hips working here than quads but just in general, comparing the two, this is more quad-dominant.”
“If you’re looking for overall lower body development this is why free weight squats kind of have an advantage depending on how you want to look at the word advantage as far as they involve more things.”
Hack squats
He offered pointers on foot placement during sets of hack squats and said to keep them a little higher.
“You don’t have to have your feet directly below a bar basically like you do with free weight, he can take his feet up a little higher and get his hips in a position he really couldn’t from a bounce standpoint from a squat and then he can really nail this angle here.
This is about as close as someone with as much tissue as Ronnie Coleman could possibly get.”
Parking Lot Lunges
Next, he analyzed Coleman’s use of lunges, emphasizing their merit.
“This is one of those things that’s just awesome because it’s probably again 140 degrees in Texas and he’s just walking around in the parking lot,” said Bennett. “I think walking lunges have a lot of merit.”
“Now, if it were someone else, I don’t know what kind of mobility Ronnie has, I don’t know what his tissue really allows but for the average person he’s still getting around 90 [degrees] here, and still getting 90 around the hip. He’s still kind of going to mid-range for both hip and knee.”
Since Coleman boasted unprecedented size, Bennett believes you might be able to get a better range of motion while executing lunges.
“If you got more range of motion and like I said I have no idea what that much tissue feels like on the lower body so you might literally with all of his body weight and that be pushing in there and he can’t really get it much deeper but if you at home don’t have this muscle muscle, and if you’re watching I know you don’t, go deeper.”
Lying Leg Curls
He was critical of the excess pelvis and thigh movement on display while Coleman performed lying leg curls.
“Overall, if we’re nitpicking here is there may be a little more motion through the pelvis and thigh than ideal. It’s honestly not bad. There’s some people where they have this huge angle.”
Seated Leg Curls
To wrap up the demonstration, Bennett examined Coleman’s use of the seated leg curl machine, urging lifters to keep the thigh pad tight so it doesn’t move during exercise.
“You want that thigh pad smashed so tight that it’s not moving up and down at all.”
Joe Bennett isn’t the only individual in the fitness industry to have taken notice of Coleman’s insane workouts. Exercise scientist Dr. Mike Israetel has also critiqued Coleman’s training techniques, while admiring his sheer strength and drive as an athlete.
“Just to handle 225 like that means you are nonsensically strong. You don’t just do that two plates on a side [row].”
“One of the things that Ronnie did incredibly well is he pushed his sets hard. Was it always amazing technique? No. But it was a stable technique Ronnie was used to. Was he really trying? Yes.”
It is abundantly clear that Ronnie Coleman was in a league of his own, and to this day, no one has surpassed his ability as a bodybuilder. He has left a lasting impression on the fitness industry, inspiring new athletes to push to the best of their ability — and then some. Will you be giving ‘The King’s’ leg exercises a try? Let us know in the comments!
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