If Wesley Vissers intends to win the 2024 Mr. Olympia in two weeks, he’ll need a proportionate and full lower body. In his latest effort shared via YouTube on September 29, 2024, ‘The Dutch Oak’ walked through his top three exercises to effectively build the quadriceps.
“Quadriceps. Quads, the front of the leg, how do you maximize the size of the quads, the stimulus-to-fatigue ratio? So more stimulus but not getting as tired as possible from it, so the most growth for the most efficient movements.
How do you get those details in the quads that are so known for seeing them on stage in my own pictures and a lot of other champions on a bodybuilding stage how do you get those quad muscles to show all of them individually?”
Vissers is on a collision course with reigning five-time Classic Physique Olympia Chris Bumstead. While he finished in seventh place at the 2023 Mr. Olympia show, Vissers has undergone massive improvements since. He pulled off a dramatic upset against Ramon Queiroz at the 2024 Arnold Classic, setting the table for a showdown against ‘Cbum.’
Vissers didn’t rest on his laurels after the biggest win of his career. He got back on the saddle, cementing himself as an Arnold Classic UK champion shortly thereafter. With the shift in momentum, he will aim to do what no bodybuilder in five years has done and that’s to dethrone Bumstead. However, if he wants to realize such an ambitious goal, he’ll need legs that can stand against the best.
Wesley Vissers Shares His Top 3 Exercises to Grow the Quads 2 Weeks from Competing at 2024 Mr. Olympia
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His exercise selections can be found below:
- Leg extension
- Hack squat or any squat movement
- Leg press machine
Leg extension
Focusing on the stretch portion of the movement, Vissers says to adjust the pad over the legs to be as far back as possible.
“Put the pad that goes over your leg as far back as possible to create that stretch at the bottom,” explains Vissers. “You can see right away the tension on the quads because the stack is not hitting the bottom yet. So the moment you go up you go all the way up and you can see here already these muscles contracting.”
In addition, he advised lifters to hold the handles and extend their legs all the way up during each repetition, hence the name of the exercise.
“Maximize the stretch, hold on to these handles to sit firmly in the seat. Go all the way up and make sure you control the motion but don’t do this, don’t go all the way down and then here and then go down again.
No. No. No. This is a leg extension you want to go all the way up like this boom, Tom Platz-style. Make sure to contract the quads hard, again this is the only motion, the only movement where the tension is maximized with a straight leg.”
Given the degree of tension the knees are under, Vissers advocates for a proper warm-up before moving weight.
“It’s important to warm up with this movement because your knees are under a lot of tension. I like to do these at the beginning as exercise one, to warm up the knees.”
“You can do this movement without any pain at all. One more thing to prevent knee pain is to make sure your hip is aligned with the knee joint,” adds Vissers.
Hack squat or any squat movement
While he chose the hack squat as the second exercise he favors most, Vissers says any squatting movement will suffice.
“A squat movement. Now this is going to be a hack squat because it’s in my plan right now but it can be a free squat machine it can be a Smith machine squat, it can be a belt squat or a barbell squat, they are all pretty much the same but these following points are the most important to remember.”
Again, he emphasizes the need for a deep stretch while keeping most of the tension at the bottom.
“You should always go as deep as possible. The stretch here is now the most important,” adds Vissers. “Here, most of the tension will be at the bottom with your legs all the way digged down deep to the ground and that’s where you want to go.”
“The only way to target the quad sweep and all other quad muscles is to achieve full depth. The deeper you go, the deeper the stretch that will be experienced by each of the quad muscles including the side of the quad, the quad sweep.”
Leg press machine
Avoid lifting your butt during repetitions on the leg press machine because the tension from the quads will transfer to the glutes and lower back.
“You can go quite deep without the butt leaving the seat because you want to avoid the butt leaving the seat because then the tension from the quads will actually go to the glutes and the lower back. So what you want to do here is do this unilaterally with one leg.”
Vissers advocated for unilateral (one leg at a time) sets on the leg press to ensure maximum quad growth.
“You want to place your foot as low as possible on the platform without your heel leaving the platform that way your knee can experience as much flexion as possible for the maximum stretch on the quads.”
“These are only three movements that I personally like to do to make my quads grow as big as possible and the quality to be as high as possible. Why only three movements, for the upper body there’s more? Well, for the quads, they are a big muscle but if you train them in a lot of different ways you will actually not make progress in any of those movements.”
From sculpting golden era biceps to widening the lat muscles, Vissers is attacking his prep from all angles to present a physique that could give Bumstead a run for his money but the lower body has certainly been a focal point. He’s implemented a leg-dominant training split for the 2024 Mr. Olympia, which he hopes will be the winning ingredient needed to overthrow Bumstead.
Don’t miss Wesley Vissers’ attempt to make history as he sets his sights on becoming only the fourth man to hold Classic Physique Olympia gold. The 2024 Mr. Olympia competition will return to Las Vegas, Nevada from October 10-13.
RELATED: William Bonac Guides Wesley Vissers Through Heavy Leg Day Workout
Watch the full video from Wesley Vissers’ YouTube channel below:
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