After reading the above article. I’m seeing a lot of value in the leg press for conventional deadlifters. Does anyone have any sucess stories with it?
Yes…Ive had great success in the past year experimenting with leg press for both my deadlift and squat…Steve Goggins recommended it to me and I leg press weekly on my sq dl assistant day for between 6-15 reps…rb
Andy Bolton uses Heavy Leg Presses quite frequently. He’s got a pretty good deadlift.
Personally, I’ve never gotten much benefit out of strengthening my Quads to improve my Deadlift. I’ve done Leg Presses, Heavy Barbell Reverse Lunges, and Deep Front Squats in the past to improve my drive off the floor. But, at least for me, strengthening my hips and hamstrings has always been a better use of my time.
If you can find a good leg press machine that lets you comfortably get a good Range of Motion, then it makes sense to use it. But some Leg Press Machines don’t let you do more than half of what you can do on others.
I’ve used leg press in the past to achieve better leg drive at the start of the lift…well below the knees is where my sticking point is and past knees I can always finish the lift.
I think leg press might work well for weak legged back pullers such as myself, especially when regular squats have stopped working. But it’s no secret exercise “add 40 pounds to your deadlift in 6 weeks”… cause there are many other factors to consider as well…but it worked for me as a small part of the whole program.
I usually did 2-5 sets of 8-20 reps working up to what ever was heavy for me…sometimes doing regular pyramids and sometimes 20 reps using rest pause and poundage that you can only do 10 reps straight. I also used different stances varying from very narrow with legs high on the plate to very wide and legs relatively low.
The leg press was one of the things that screwed my back, and it’s hard to deadlift with a screwed back.
[quote]undeadlift wrote:
The leg press was one of the things that screwed my back, and it’s hard to deadlift with a screwed back.[/quote]
If you bring your knees to your chest in the leg, your back will round and all the weight of the leg press sled will go to your rounded back. So Partial ROM leg presses are probably safer than full ROM leg presses for your spine.
But then, the shorter your ROM on leg press, the more shear force your knee experiences.
So, if Quad Strength is an issue for your Deadlift, then maybe Unilateral Exercises like Step-ups and Lunges along with Front Squats and Low-Box Safety Squat Bar Squats are the best solution.
[quote]FightingScott wrote:
Andy Bolton uses Heavy Leg Presses quite frequently. He’s got a pretty good deadlift.
[/quote]
any more information on this?
Great thread. I’ll see if I can find room for them in my next training cycle.
[quote]actionjeff wrote:
FightingScott wrote:
Andy Bolton uses Heavy Leg Presses quite frequently. He’s got a pretty good deadlift.
any more information on this? [/quote]
There was a thread about it before. Muscle and Fitness did an article about him. The link to the article is in the thread. Here you go: