Leg press
. ere are at least four main ways of looking at the leg press:a. As one of the major multi-joint exercises in its own right, regardless of
whether or not you squat well.
b. As an alternative to the squat when a break from squatting is felt to be
needed.
c. As a squat substitute for people who have very poor leverages for the
barbell squat that make the squat only a marginally productive if not
dangerous movement. is group includes very tall people, and those
of more average height but with proportionately long legs and a short
torso. is group is also likely to be much more suited to the deadlift
than the squat, thus making the deadlift and leg press an excellent pair-
ing.
d. As a substitute for the squat when the latter can no longer be performed
due to lower-back and/or knee limitations.. e critical condition in all these cases is that the leg press is performed
safely and productively on a machine that suits you.. At least in some quarters, the leg press has acquired a stigma as being only
for wimps—for those who lack the guts to squat. In part this comes from
the “you must squat” camp. Any exercise selected as an alternative to the
squat, in the view of this camp, is deemed as heresy and a cop out from the
real work of squatting. I used to belong to this camp, and looked upon the
leg press with scorn.. With maturity and experience I have come to see the leg press in a fair light.
I am all for the squat and the leg press, so long as both can be done safely and
progressively. If you can squat safely and progressively, then so you should—
not necessarily in every training cycle, but certainly in most of them. Assum-
ing that you can squat and leg press with equal safety, the squat is definitively
the more productive of the two. But many people cannot squat and leg press
with equal safety.. I should not have had a blind devotion to the squat that deflected me from
serious pursuit of the leg press and variations of the deadlift. On hindsight, I
should have focused on a different pair of exercises from cycle to cycle—e.g.,
squat and stiff-legged deadlift, leg press and Trap Bar deadlift, and squat