Alina Popa dishes her back-to-basics quad philosophy.

May 17, 2011

FLEXONLINE.COM

So far, Romania’s Alina Popa is the biggest bodybuilding surprise of 2011. After a distant eighth in her only other pro show, she rocketed into third place at March’s Ms. International behind legends Iris Kyle and Yaxeni Oriquen, setting herself up as a posedown probable for this year’s Ms. Olympia. Popa told us how she got the wheels that propelled her rapidly through the pro ranks--to the top three and, perhaps, next time, even higher.

POPA ON QUADS

* “I like the basics best, and in the off-season I go as low as six reps on squats.”

* “Four months before a contest, I begins my conditioning workouts, emphasizing supersets and 10-15 reps per set.”

* “I always change and adjust the speed and/or weight from one workout to another or I try the same exercise on a different machine to hit my quads from different angles.”

* “I train hamstrings in a separate workout from quads.”