. By taking the lower back out of the exercise, assuming you use good form, the
leg press enables you to work your thighs and glutes to the limit without
having your lower back come into the picture other than as a stabilizer. is
is great for people who have lower backs that fail before their legs do when
squatting. With some machines, because of the control over pressing depth
and foot placement, knee stress can be lessened substantially in the leg press
relative to the squat, thus enabling people with knee limitations to get heavy
work for their thighs and glutes.. Do not see the leg press as a cop out from squatting, or as a last resort exer-
cise only for if you get injured and cannot squat. See it as a fine exercise in
its own right. Do not wait until you get an injury that restricts or prevents
squatting and deadlifting before exploiting the leg press. Pay your dues
on it at any time and you will find it can pack muscle on your thighs. Not
only that, but it may help increase your potential in the squat and deadlift
because of its assistance value for those two great movements.. But to repeat a very important point, in a straight comparison, and assum-
ing that you can perform both exercises safely and intensively, the squat is a
superior exercise to the leg press—no question about it. e Trap Bar dead-
lift is also superior to the leg press. But if you truly cannot squat or Trap
Bar deadlift well, despite having pursued all possible form modifications, the
comparisons are irrelevant.The metabolic effect
. Benefits from the squat and deadlift do not come merely from the localized
muscular work, as important as that is. ere is a metabolic effect that helps
increase the body’s overall growth potential. is effect is produced by only
a very select few exercises, among which is the leg press, though its metabolic
effect is less than that from the squat and Trap Bar deadlift if the latter two
exercises can be done safely and intensively.. Here is how Jan Dellinger explained the metabolic effect in his article on the
leg press in issue :
e effect on the cardiorespiratory system is an indicator of the value of an
exercise. In my case, I noted that heavy, all-out sets of leg presses (especially
those for reps of –) got me significantly more breathless and rubber legged
than squats under the same conditions. Of course, deadlifts for high reps was
the ultimate self-torture with a barbell.