Eight Lower Body Training Secrets of ‘The X-Man’

1. 1. Toney never bought into ‘the tall man’s curse.’

Aside from Gunter and maybe Paul Dillett, I can’t think of any pro bodybuilder over 6’ who has managed to build legs that are just as thick and impressive as his upper body. It’s generally a lot easier for the guys with less distance to travel in exercises like the squat to develop that level of thickness that conjures up images of tree trunks. Toney is also in rare company in that he has also developed hamstrings that are proportionate to his quads. That’s not too common in general, and it’s almost unheard of for a tall guy. A big part of why he was able to build his legs into the outstanding specimens you see today was because Freeman never let the negative stereotypes about tall men and leg training get to him. “People were always telling me I would never be able to get huge in general at my height, and especially when it came to legs,” he said. “I didn’t listen.”

1. 2. He went deep from day one on squats.

If there’s one thing that quad-monsters like Platz, Branch, and Ronnie have in common, it’s that they did their squats all the way down to the basement— none of that bitch-ass half-rep crap we all see in the gym whenever most guys use anything over 135 pounds. That’s because when he was just a 160-pound newbie over 20 years ago trying to navigate his way around the gym, he was lucky enough to meet an iron veteran named Glenn Koone. Koone had the type of enormous legs Toney coveted and secretly dreamed of having, so he simply had to ask Koone how he built them. Not only did Glenn tell him, he went one better than that by showing him. “Glenn put just 25 pounds on each side of the bar and demonstrated perfect form for me,” Toney explains. “He kept his torso straight up and down and descended until his hamstrings literally touched his calves.” Until Freeman could duplicate that form, he was not allowed to add any more weight to the bar. Eventually he was able to squat 725 pounds for three deep reps in this style, a feat few bodybuilders alive can lay claim to.

1. 3. Toney has all the right accessories.

Every time the X-Man trains legs, he has two key accessories with him: his Nike Jordan boxing shoes, and his custom Cardillo leather belt with “Freeman” in huge letters on the back. The shoes are high-tops with flat, thin soles, similar to wrestling shoes or the Otomix workout shoes that every bodybuilder and his grandmother wore back in the 90s (along with Hot Skins tights, T. Micheal tops, and mullets). Many of you have discovered on your own that this type of shoe is a much better choice on leg day than sneakers with air-filled soles or boots with a heel. “Arnold and the other guys from the Pumping Iron era used to squat barefoot,” Toney reminds us. “The more you can feel the floor during squats, the better.” As for the belt, it does help support his lower back, but the boost it provides is mainly a mental one. “I just feel more safe and secure with my belt cinched up, so I have the confidence to train heavier and harder.”

4. He gets more out of leg extensions than most guys do.

To most bodybuilders, leg extensions aren’t much more than a warm-up before they get to the ‘real workout.’ They don’t put a whole lot of thought or effort into them. Toney has come up with a way to do his extensions that makes them a very productive exercise in their own right. Freeman will do half the reps in the standard position, sitting straight up, with his toes pointed up to the ceiling. Halfway through the set, he adjusts the seat so he can lay back more and shift his hips forward, and does the exercise with his toes pointed straight ahead. This targets the upper thighs where they tie into the hip, an area that really stands out if you have detail in the region (think Cormier at his best). “That’s an old-school thing the guys in Arnold’s day used to do,” Toney informs us. “They would actually almost lay all the way back.” He’s also been known to point his toes in or out to focus more specifically on either the vastus medialis (teardrop) or the vastus lateralis (what gives a thigh ‘outer sweep’).

5. His legs were once stick-like.

When Toney first started training, his legs measured a measly 23 inches. On a guy of average or below-average height, that’s really not so bad. On a dude that’s 6’2”, those are some real chicken legs. In the years that followed, he was able to add over 10 inches in circumference to those once wimpy wheels. “I’ve had them at 34 when I was in rebound mode right after a show, and they were rubbing together.” It’s fairly obvious that Toney doesn’t need any more raw size on his wheels, so his goals now are based on refinement. “I want more detail overall, and better separation between the quads and hams from the side especially,” he says.

6. Toney doesn’t favor quads over hams.

The main reason that it’s rare to see bodybuilders with hams that match their quads is because just about everyone trains quads first in the workout. It’s primarily ego that drives this practice. They want to do squats and leg presses earlier in the workout when they’re fresh, so that maximum weights can be used. Inevitably, the hamstrings suffer from being worked later, and lag further and further behind the quads as time goes by. Toney alternates between two leg workouts (see SIDEBAR): one that’s quad-dominant, and another that puts more emphasis on the hamstrings. This ensures that the hams aren’t neglected and have the opportunity to grow at the same rate as the quads. Because like Lee Haney was fond of saying, “If you don’t have good hamstrings, you only have half a leg.”

7. He doesn’t use high reps.

Though we often talk about the legs being composed of a far higher percentage of slow-twitch muscle fibers than the upper body, that’s really not a good reason to train them with very high reps. Toney has been doing most of his sets for legs in the 10-12 rep range for many years, and doesn’t feel that sets of 50-100 are of much value to bodybuilders seeking exceptional lower body development. “You need to think about recovery, and it’s hard to beat your legs up with all those reps on a regular basis and think they can repair and grow over and over again with those demands put on them. Besides which, unless you’re talking drop sets or giant sets, the weight would have to be so light that you wouldn’t be able to stimulate growth.” As for giant sets, which are gaining popularity lately to Milos Sarecv and the flock of foreign pros he trains, Toney feels those are not ideal when you train legs twice a week as he does.

8. He doesn’t squat ridiculously heavy anymore.

As I said earlier, Toney used to slap on seven plates and some change on each side of the bar for squats. Those days are long gone. At 42, he is a lot more wary of potential injuries that could drastically cut away at the few remaining years he has left in the pros, so these days he gets more out of less. In fact, you may be shocked to learn that Toney rarely uses more than 315 pounds on squats for sets of 15. Occasionally he will go up to 405, but not too often. “The biggest mistake bodybuilders make that keeps them from having the leg development they want is being afraid of squats,” he explains. “But that’s because they think you have to go super-duper heavy, and you don’t. I think it’s all about going slowly and getting all the way down, and keeping the legs under constant tension. Most bodybuilders wouldn’t need more than 225 pounds if they did their squats correctly.”

Leg Workout #1: quadriceps dominant

Leg extensions                          5 x 30, 20, 20, 15, 15

Lying leg curls                           5 x 10-12

Squats                                      6-8 sets of 10-12

Hack squat or leg presses         4 sets of 10-12

Walking lunges                          4 trips around the gym

Leg Workout #2: hamstrings dominant

Deadlifts                                               5 x 8-10

Lying leg curls                           4 x 10-12

Leg extensions                          4 x 10-12

Seated or db leg curls               4 x 10-12

Smith machine ‘step-backs’       4 x 10-12 each leg

Glute-ham machine                    4 x 10-12*

Cable kickback for glutes          4 x 12-15 each leg*

*Optional, energy permitting 

Training Split*

Day one: Legs (Quads and some hams)

Day two: Chest and some biceps

Day three: Backs and some triceps

Day four: Shoulders and traps

Day five: Hamstrings and deadlifts

Day six: Arms

*Toney usually trains thirteen days in a row on this rotation, then takes one day off before resuming.