Is this a good exersise or not? All I see is people doing it with a fraction of the range of motion of a squat but still with two or three plates more than they would an actual squat.
Does it target a specific part of your legs? I would almost assume so, but doesn't it put a lot of stress on your knees? I've never done leg presses for real but I'm a bit stuck on my squat and was considering leg press for some weak point training and general hypertrophy training to maybe get my squat up a little bit.
Bumping for interest, why do my knees hurt when I do leg press?
Gavin Morgan
Because it puts way too much stress on the knees.
Dominic Bell
if you're stuck on the squat then the leg press isn't the answer. if your legs aren't big enough and you feel you need more leg hypertrophy training then I don't know wtf you're doing. most people complain about their legs growing too fast.
Jordan Butler
No idea. Its shit on your knees and hips but I enjoy moving 6 or 7 pl8s for 15 reps its good for hypertrophy I think.
Michael Green
>with two or three plates more than they would an actual squat. you can usually leg press around 2.5-3 times as much as you can squat below parallel.
when I'm doing heavy squats I often see guys with bruised egos go to the leg press and put on around the same weight I'm using.
Logan Parker
That's not really an answer. Other people do leg press with no knee pain at all. Is my form wrong or something?
Easton Gomez
You may be in an awkward position and not tracking your knees properly through the movement. The knees still bend like in a squat and you need a smooth path of force transfer or else you'll snap your knee up.
Jayden Phillips
in the leg press and the half squat you don't balance the forces around the knee because almost all the force comes from your hamstrings. it doesn't bother everyone's knees, but it's not a great situation for you knees to be in either.
Benjamin Wright
I do leg press with my toes pointed outward. Could this be why? Should I try them facing forward so my knees track better? Also should I try knee sleeves?
Jack Stewart
Yeah switching position could help. You need to figure out where your body is the strongest and most pain free and stick with it.
Elijah Stewart
how about you just don't do this useless exercise in the first place? especially since it bothers your knees.
Nathan Rogers
Stick to horizontal leg presses and avoid flexing beyond 90 degrees, also watch out if you knees go valgus during flexion
Avoid inclined leg press at first
Jeremiah Gutierrez
I switched to leg press because squats agitated my knees too. Should I go back to squats? I had pretty bad ankle and back mobility, and I felt like my knees were going to give out trying to get out of the hole in a squat. I know my form was shit, but now I'm scared to squat without knee pain.
Jonathan Bell
It is good only if you go all the way down
Anthony Cruz
you should learn how to squat since it's a much better exercise, and also healthier for your back and knees if done correctly. knees hurting during squats is most likely a form problem, unless you have actual knee problems.
John Mitchell
you should do both you moron
Daniel Myers
Funny how pretty much every serious bodybuilder favours leg press and hack squats over back squats
Really makes you think
Tyler Lopez
They're on gear and any muscle stimulant will grow muscles.
Blake Smith
>Believing Veeky Forums memes
Daniel Wood
Not the same poster here, but can you name someone natty with great legs who doesn't do any form of squats?
Noah Turner
Hodgetwins
Daniel Lee
Always get bad fucking headaches if I push it to hard and don't focus on breathing.
Jordan Torres
>Natty >Great legs
Pick one
Joseph Perez
He said natty.
Jose Wilson
you might have light tendonitis from squatting improperly. do you have knee pain when doing an airsquat the day after?
David Nelson
good for leg volume, and you can quickly superset them with calf presses.
I had a similar problem. My issue was that my femurs are long as fuck since I'm a tall motherfucker and my form was off. In my case it helped when I learned to break from the hips and did a deload, working my way back up with proper form and correctly engaging my hamstrings. I tried doing highbar at first and like you said it hurt my knees a lot, they always wobbled coming out of the hole and it was precarious.
Evan Bell
your legs are parallel? i do mine with toes outwards
Evan Foster
Australian bench press
David Bailey
This is the only way to do a proper leg press
John Allen
Did them 4 years. Now, senior. My naturopath(excellent and world class trainer) told me "no more". I have a slipped disc. Always, enjoyed them. I'm somewhat impervious to pain. Must be my MA and esoteric black arts practices.
Noah Gonzalez
I think leg press is good as an accessory. I do them right after squats, 3x15, but normally light weight. Heavy enough that I can feel the burn on the last few reps but light enough to where I'm not popping a hemroid while my migraine explodes my head.
Adam Green
flexibility, can you do a slav squat?
Easton Hill
Yes, they're fine. I was only able to do leg press at the apartment gym, moved out and got to golds gym and I started at 230 for reps at a dyel 160lbs 6ft. You just don't get back/core workout
Adrian Young
The leg press is used for the same reason ALL machines in the gym are used: they're easier. Easier, as in, they are used to perform "fixed movement." It's a lever. You can only move the weight one way.
With free weights, your body recruits all sorts of stabilizers in order to maintain balance. LOTS of adjacent muscle groups so that you can keep grip, stay upright, hold perfect form and generally not hurt yourself. Because of this, the burden of weight is spread across lots of different muscles. This has a pro and a con. Pro: your overall strength increases. Con: the weakest muscles bring down the efficiency of targeting a specific muscle and is literally the weakest link in the exercise which may cause less weight to be used or bear greater risk of injury.
With a machine, in this case a leg press machine, there is a fixed point. Balance doesn't really exist, you don't recruit as many stabilizers or put as much strain. Because of this, you can load a lot more weight at less risk but more importantly, you can target exactly the muscle group you want to grow and put more and more and more and more weight on when before you'd topple over or your back would give out or you just couldn't move the weight. Machines also have pros and cons. Pro: you can grow in size and strength a specific muscle without hurdles. Con: it teaches poor form, inflates the ego about what your body is functionally capable of and can lead to an imbalanced physique.
>Funny how pretty much every serious bodybuilder favours leg press They don't need their stabilizer groups to be big. In fact, they want them comparatively small (like broad shoulder compared to narrow waist). Machines are perfect for that. Arnold wanted ENORMOUS chest and biceps. Rather than ONLY bench, he liked using machines to make only those bigger. He felt his back was big enough, or his neck was big enough. Making them larger would actually be worse in his case, according to his ideals.
Jaxson Sanders
as a general rule dont let your knees go further out then youre toes are placed, so maybe start with your legs higher up on the platform youre pressing, also dont lock out
James Flores
>they're on gear >want to bodybuild >they choose subpar exercises because gear will still gain some muscle
