Mike “The Unhealthy Ass” Sommerfeld is on a mission to defend his Arnold Males’s Traditional Physique title and is taking a no-nonsense method to outperforming the likes of Wesley Vissers and a debuting Sam Sulek. As an instance this, the large German used a latest Instagram put up to share certainly one of his go-to leg days for whole domination, and you’ll strive it too.
Sommerfeld introduced the entire package deal to the stage throughout the 2025 Arnold Classic, impressing the judges together with his muscle mass, definition, symmetry, and conditioning, however with a stacked area forward of him in March, the massive man shares that one of many exercises he’s cast follows a back-to-basics method. Apparently, The Unhealthy Ass’s leg day is about high quality over amount and requires simply 4 workouts in whole. “Two for hams, and two for quads,” he defined.
Mike Sommerfeld’s 4-Train Leg Day Exercise Forward of the 2026 Arnold Traditional
Warmup
Hamstrings
Quads
Mike Sommerfeld’s Leg Day Technique Defined
Becoming a member of the likes of different bodybuilding nice, Martin Fitzwater, Sommerfeld shared that he begins leg exercises with adductors to heat up his higher legs and get the blood circulation stimulated. “I all the time begin with adductors to heat up my hips and get me going,” defined Sommerfeld. “Particularly mentally, and bodily, to raise heavier weights for the upcoming workouts.” He famous that whereas on the machine, he pushes his again to the pad so far as potential, to extend each the stretch and the contraction whereas executing his reps.
Homing in on his hamstrings, Sommerfeld’s first train is the seated leg curl. “The rationale for that’s, you get a tremendous pre-stretch place by simply sitting down (and getting arrange) on the machine” stated the man-mountain. Subsequent up is the deadlift. “Why? As a result of we already contracted hamstrings fairly laborious, and they’re pumped as hell,” confirmed Sommerfeld. “Now we will stretch the s**t out of our hamstrings.”
Transferring on to quads, the 2025 Arnold Males’s Traditional Physique champion shared that his new favourite quad train is the hack squat (additionally known as the hack press). “The rationale for that’s, it feels a lot extra pure to my knees.” Sommerfeld defined that he feels nearly zero strain or ache on his knees with this squat variation. “And I can go actually deep into the stretch, and I can focus totally on my means up, to contract my quads as laborious as potential.” The Unhealthy Ass additionally shared that he likes to make use of rest-pause units on the hack squat, performing his reps in the direction of failure, taking a brief break, after which going once more to in the direction of failure. “So, after hitting 10 to 12 reps, I prefer to pause for a couple of seconds, after which go once more for 3 to 4 extra reps.”
Final however not least for his legs, Sommerfeld rounds out his exercise with the belt squat. “The rationale for that’s, it’s truly a lot smarter to make use of a belt squat as a result of it hundreds your hips, not your shoulders,” coached the champ. “In common (again) squats you may have all of the load in your shoulders, and your physique must stabilize all of it the way in which. That creates plenty of fatigue and we wanna practice legs not our full physique. That is why I selected the belt squat, a tremendous piece of kit. You’ll be able to maintain your self and stabilize your self (on the platform). You’ll be able to go actually deep, wait a second within the stretched place, after which go up once more, and squeeze it out.”
When it comes to units and rep, Sommerfeld defined that he does “a number of, a number of, units,” however for us mere mortals, 2 to three units of 8 to 12 reps will convey mass constructing outcomes. By specializing in the standard of his stretch and contractions and isolating his quads and hamstrings reasonably than fatiguing the remainder of his physique, Mike Sommerfeld may current his greatest physique but come March.
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