CrossFit Champion Tries Our Hardest Bodybuilding Workout (ft. Mat Fraser)
In a Nutshell
Mat Fraser completed a brutal leg day featuring stiff-leg deadlifts, high-rep myo-rep belt squats, Smith machine squats, and partials with isometric holds. The workout isolated quads and hamstrings through controlled tempos, deep pauses, and minimal rest to maximize stimulus without axial loading. Fraser’s standout pain tolerance and mental framing of discomfort as temporary were the biggest takeaways.
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Dr. Mike trains legs with Matt Fraser, multi-time CrossFit world champion, in Vermont. The goal is to push Fraser to his physical and psychological limits through intense leg training. Fraser states he is excited to train differently after years of specific CrossFit preparation and expects to be walking peg-legged the next day.
The first exercise uses a sledgehammer placed back on the wall before performing three sets of stiff-legged deadlifts for 8-12 repetitions. Key cues include expanded chest, hips back, and knees back to target the hamstrings. Perform the movement with a nice and slow descent while keeping the chest up and maintaining control.
Fraser notes that RDLs and stiff-leg deadlifts were always used as accessory work after Olympic weightlifting training with much smaller sets and never pushed to failure, especially on technical movements. He describes himself as a quad-dominant weightlifter whose posterior chain was weak, which carried over into CrossFit.
Dr. Mike emphasizes milking out the painful stretch at the bottom. Fraser completes all three sets with excellent technique that improves each set. He reports feeling his hamstrings working intensely and slowing down near failure.
The next exercise is belt squats performed as a myo-rep set. The protocol requires going all the way down under control, pausing deep, coming up almost to lockout but not quite, then slowly descending and pausing again. Rest periods of 5-10 seconds are taken between mini-sets while remaining belted in, with reps accumulated until reaching a high total.
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