More weight is used on the leg press but in reality the force required to push the weight is not as high as the same weight on the squat. You have to times the weight used by the angle between the ground and the leg press i.e sin45 to find the real weight.
Ive also heard that a bodyweight squat is effectively pushing 75% of your own body weight (unsure, correct me if I’m wrong) and does not happen when you leg press.
i found leg presses to be extremly efficient as a secong leg exercise after squats. since my body is normally to tired to other types of squats or lunges afterwards
[quote]Bauer97 wrote:
Can anybody give me a direct link to the “Why Lurch Won’t Grow” article in the archives? I can find references to it but not the actual article…[/quote]
not sure when they did it, but “Thank You!” for putting this piece back up:
I do both.I usually switch 'em on and off.I’ll do a few weeks of squats,then do some leg presses.
I’m a pretty tall guy,so the leg press does work quite well.However,I make sure to switch it up so I can get the best of both worlds.
I’m barely 5’7" Squats rule…
[quote]sharetrader wrote:
wrastlerboy wrote:
i have a question along the same lines as this thread. i’m a wrestler in high school, and i have a reacurring shoulder ingury, and believe it or not, i’ve popped it out of socket squating; so with a partialy dislocated shoulder, i had to finish squating 275. so after that little episode, i decided to start squating using the machine with the hooks that looks like a squat rack (sorry, i don’t know name). now this machine basicaly puts you on a line to squat, so does that take away the work of the stabalizer muscles and everything else?
-wrastlerboy
Yes. Get away from it immediately! If you are concerned about exacerbating a shoulder problem while squatting, you can (1) build up your shoulders to make them more stable, concentrating on the external rotators, and/or (2) use a device such as Dave Draper’s Topsquat.[/quote]
I was going to suggest the topsquat also, I have one and highly recommend it. If you get one, get the padded version.
Tall guys can do parallel-grip deads/squats if they can’t sit back properly.
Absolutely no need for leg presses.
i wouldn’t necessarily say that squats are better than leg press for quadricep hypertrophy. muscle strain is muscle strain, your quads don’t know whether or not it’s coming from leg press or squats. of course squats give you much more hypertrophy across the body, but for quads, i’m not too sure.
that being said, i don’t use machines for anything except calves.
For me, after squatting for months, putting a bar across my shoulders depresses my CNS. My eyelids droop and I get immediately exhausted. My workouts creep from under one hour to almost two. And it effects my routines a day or two afterwards.
The legpress is a great way to chill out on the squats. I don’t tax my spinal cord, allowing it to recover from months of stress. I still train my legs. It’s a good alternate. But I still go back to squats. Squats are essential.
[quote]kroby wrote:
For me, after squatting for months, putting a bar across my shoulders depresses my CNS. My eyelids droop and I get immediately exhausted. My workouts creep from under one hour to almost two. And it effects my routines a day or two afterwards.
The legpress is a great way to chill out on the squats. I don’t tax my spinal cord, allowing it to recover from months of stress. I still train my legs. It’s a good alternate. But I still go back to squats. Squats are essential.[/quote]
yup.
leg press is definitely a great way to add extra volume to hypertrophy the quads without the same degree of CNS burnout as squats.
[quote]chirag wrote:
Doughnuts better than a beef steak?[/quote]
Welcome back cabillero! What’s your weight now? I hope 160ish?
[quote]wrastlerboy wrote:
using the machine with the hooks that looks like a squat rack (sorry, i don’t know name).
-wrastlerboy[/quote]
You get T-Man bonus points for NOT knowing the name of this machine. But if you’re interested in finding out, it’s here.
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=998614
|/ 3Toes
I’ve said it before, but anybody who thinks there is any place at all for machine training in a serious lifting program simply hasn’t been exposed to the full range of options that are available with free weights.
I can think of dozens of ways to squat without machines. Some of them involve the posterior chain, others the anterior chain. Some heavily utilize trunk extension, others de-emphasize it completely. Static, dynamic, unilateral, bilateral, strength parameters, hypertrophy parameters, the list goes on and on.
[quote]Nominal Prospect wrote:
I’ve said it before, but anybody who thinks there is any place at all for machine training in a serious lifting program simply hasn’t been exposed to the full range of options that are available with free weights.
[/quote]
Depends what you mean by “serious”. The idea that you are in some way taking it easy by using a machine in conjunction with free weight exercises seems a little extreme to me. I can see justification in saying that one should preferrably use free weights, but the use of machines as well seems reasonable to me.
[quote]Nominal Prospect wrote:
I’ve said it before, but anybody who thinks there is any place at all for machine training in a serious lifting program simply hasn’t been exposed to the full range of options that are available with free weights.
[/quote]
Bullllllsssshhhiiittttt…
I guess Ronnie Coleman’s and all other bodybuilder’s routines arent serious or anything like that. They use machines if you didn’t know.
I think leg presses have a place in leg training. They problem I see is that everyone see’s the leg press v. squat issue as an either or proposition. I propose that it is not.
[quote]rainjack wrote:
I think leg presses have a place in leg training. They problem I see is that everyone see’s the leg press v. squat issue as an either or proposition. I propose that it is not. [/quote]
Well put. People get too caught up in belonging to one camp or another, whether it’s in rep schemes, volume, exercise selection, or whatever.
Ok this interests me a lot because I’m 6’8". Basically what I’m gathering from the above discussion is that I should just keep squatting and suffering my low squat numbers and MAYBE throw in some leg presses to hit the Quad hypertrophy. My two main lower body exercises are Squat and Deadlift as it is, but would leg press be better on Deadlifting days or does it not matter?
[quote]PGA200X wrote:
Bullllllsssshhhiiittttt…
I guess Ronnie Coleman’s and all other bodybuilder’s routines arent serious or anything like that. They use machines if you didn’t know.[/quote]
Pro bodybuilders simply throw heavy weights around with atrocious form. Watch any of their vids, they have no real clue on how to train. If you don’t know shit about lifting but you train like an animal and you have the genetics for it, you’ll grow. This is how meatheads bulk up.
[quote]DukeBoSox wrote:
would leg press be better on Deadlifting days or does it not matter?[/quote]
It does matter, and parallel-grip squats would be better on deadlifting days. Hold DB’s at your sides, use a cable DL station if your gym has one, or ideally, a trap bar. Also, at 6’8, you’re gonna fuck up your back doing conventional deads. As it is, nobody can keep a back arch on a heavy DL. At your height, every poundage you use is going to turn the movement into an SLDL, also known as the rounded back dead.
It’s not about machines vs. free weights, it’s about an inferior exercise vs. a superior one. Yeah, you can say that leg pressing is “different” from BB squats. Namely, it’s inferior. Whatever differences exist that aren’t inferior, they can be replicated with a different weight movement. There’s nothing a machine can do that can’t be replicated with free weights.
You’re much better off using bodyweight-only moves than machines.
nominal really needs to get corrected/schooled on some of his statements, and i really don’t feel like typing out a lot of shit right now.
please, somebody come in here and correct him. if not, i’ll do it tomorrow.