Bodybuilding judges look for a variety of factors to score athletes at professional shows, including muscle mass, symmetry, balance, conditioning, muscle quality and muscle separation. Every bodybuilder strives for a perfect score and uses a unique training approach that works best for him to achieve it.
Some bodybuilders train their legs once a week, while others prioritize muscle groups and do high-intensity workouts multiple times a week. 2013 Women’s Physique Olympia Champion Dana Lynn Bailey belongs to the latter camp.
Bailey is one of the most popular female professional bodybuilders in the IFBB Pro League, but hasn’t competed in a pro show since the 2015 Arnold Classic. She said Bailey has not officially retired, giving her fans hope for her eventual return. 4 July 2023, Bailey shared a glutes- and hamstring-biased leg workout that utilizes supersets to maximize muscle hypertrophy. Check out the video below, courtesy of her from her YouTube channel.
[Related: Brett Wilkin’s 3 Go-To Exercises for Adding Mass to His Hamstrings]
Dana Lynn Bailey glute and hamstring workout
Bailey prioritized supersets with a leg workout that focused on the posterior chain.
nordic curl and romanian deadlift
Bailey opened with a superset of Nordic curls and Romanian deadlifts. She pinned her lower legs under a barbell with weight plates on her ends and performed Nordic curls on her floor.
Bailey used the barbell to perform the Romanian Deadlift. Her smaller plate allowed her to increase her range of motion. A larger weight plate hits the floor sooner than a smaller plate, resulting in less range of motion and, as a result, more work on your glutes and hamstrings. She took minimal breaks between sets to maintain her high training intensity.
deficit sumo deadlift
Bailey uses the Defix Sumo Deadlift to bias the adductors, vastus medialis, glutes, and hamstrings. “Elevating your body gives you a better range of motion,” explained Bailey as he stepped into a stack of 45-pound bumper plates.
Bailey paused as the barbell reached his concentric knees. A 2011 study found that journal of physiology It has been shown that longer periods of tension may stimulate muscle fibers and promote hypertrophy. (1)
[Related: Chris Bumstead Shares His 10 Staple Exercises for Hypertrophy]
1.5 rep dumbbell sumo deadlift
After taking a wider-than-shoulder-width stance, Bailey grabbed the dumbbell with both hands, fingers wrapped around the handles. She lifted the dumbbells off her floor and started by inverting once she reached knee height. She performed the deadlift with full range of motion and completed one and a half.
i love sumo [deadlifts] Hamstring and Glute Day [to] hit the inner thigh [and] Target the outer buttock area.
Bailey kept his torso at a 45-degree angle to the floor to bias his hamstrings and glutes. Maintaining an upright posture reduces hip flexion and improves quadriceps engagement.
hyper extension with band
Bailey used a resistance band to maintain constant tension in her hamstrings and glutes, wrapping one end around the bottom of a hyperextension bench and the other around her shoulders. To maintain consistent tension and reduce hip involvement, Bailey arched his back at the top of the move and kept his head below his hips. She performed 10-12 repetitions in each set and ended with a failed drop set.
hip thrust and band abduction
Ms. Bailey performed hip thrusts on a machine with a loop resistance band attached around the bottom of her upper leg. Resistance bands require external rotation when performing hip thrusts, resulting in greater glute work. After completing 10-12 repetitions, Bailey did a partial exercise on the upper half of the movement.
Bailey followed, feet hip-width apart and body in line. She performed hip abduction by spreading her knees as wide as possible and stopping at the top to maximize stimulation of the abductor muscles.
high box step up
Bailey recommended using a box high enough so that the knee of the working leg is above the hip when the other foot is on the ground. “The higher you go, [the more you’ll] It works your hamstrings and glutes,” Bailey explained. She performed this exercise with a dumbbell in her one hand and a squat rack pole in her other hand for balance.
References
- Byrd NA, Andrews RJ, West DW, Little JP, Cochran AJ, Hector AJ, Kashabak JG, Zibala MJ, Potvin JR, Baker SK, Phillips SM. Time under muscle tension during resistance exercise stimulates different muscle protein subfraction synthetic responses in men. J physiology. 2012 Jan 15;590(2):351-62. Doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2011.221200. Epub 2011 11 21. PMID: 22106173; PMCID: PMC3285070.
