I’ve been doing a lot of leg presses recently (Cybex machine, as a change of pace for squat, also no rack) and I saw that Kelly Baggett was saying don’t do them, they hurt your back and don’t help much. Is that a widespread view? I notice Ian King has them in his routines from time to time. I haven’t noticed any trouble so far, but I want to avoid it rather than avoid having it again (trouble, that is), if in fact leg presses are bad news.
Thanks.
IMHO squats and deads should be the cornerstone exercises for the lower body. Yet the legpress can be used wisely esp after the above lifts have been used alot. The leg press can be a great tool for hypertrophy of the quads if done right. Charles Staley eluded to this in his recent interview with T-mag. Also to not hurt your back, don’t let the pelvis round at the bottom of the lift.
When used as a supplemental hypertrophy exercise and not exclusively there’s not a whole lot wrong with using the leg press from time to time. The problem is most who use the leg press do so because they don’t like to squat and can feed their egos by really loading up the weight. It’s also an exercise that is rarely performed correctly. I either see people using short 1/4 reps with monstrous amounts of weight or doing full range reps but banging the weight off the bottom, rounding the pelvis, and using about every muscle group except for the quads. In my opinion if you do them the focus should be on slow controlled constant tension reps with higher reps. Afterall, if using them to replace a squat the validity of this argument is that often in the squat the back will give out before the quads so the leg press done correctly can expose the quads to longer levels of tension. The leg press is responsible for more back injuries than squats and it also raises the blood pressure a lot more so make sure you breathe correctly. I have seen quite a few people get really bad headaches or a feeling of a needle being stuck into their neck, head area from this acute blood pressure increase on the exercise.
Thanks.
Not to disagree with Kelly here, but I feel that there’s a little more to be added. For any trainer on any exercise, you should go on how you personally feel. If leg presses don’t bother you, then it’s probably okay (for you)to do them. If they hurt your lower back or you feel like your head’s going to explode from the valsalva pressure, then you should lay off. Ultimately, you have to make the decision for your body.
There are also some good reasons for some people to use the leg press preferentially over squats. If you’re not interested in functional strength but only want hypertrophy, then Poliquin (for example) recommends leg presses in a lot of his routines. If you’re a tall guy, TC has pointed out the benefits of leg presses over squats (again, for hypertrophy purposes). So I think that there are some people in some situations who may have very good reasons for choosing the LP.
That said, Kelly’s points regarding exercise execution are spot on. Don’t round your back. Get a decent range of motion. Don’t bounce at the bottom. Keep tension on your quads. All excellent points.
As long as we are talking about the use of proper form then there is nothing wrong with leg presses. This complete B.S. that has been expelled about there being something wrong with leg presses is ridiculous as is the argument against the smith machine. Not that leg presses are any better than squats but once again nothing wrong with leg presses. You can make your legs grow very well with leg presses.