Quote:
Originally Posted by Sim
bluegreyhound leg press still uses alot of hip muscles as well as quads...mixed with ham curls and deadlft variations its wicked...last night hit the rim with my wrist from 2 foot after 2 sessions of what i just described..highest ever
its way easier i think because theres no upper body involvement..so u isolate ur legs and pelvis more..so u can work at a higher intensity
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I know that you can work the leg muscles with leg pressing. I just want to emphasise how much easier it is than squatting even if you just consider the hip and leg muscles alone. There are various reasons why this is so, but I think you know them. To give you an example of how much easier they are, before my injury, I maxed out with 3 reps of 140kg, just over 300lbs. I used to warm down after squatting with a couple sets of 10-15 of 300-350lbs in the leg press. Squatting is a better foundation for olympic lifts if you want to use them as a training tool. Squatting has better carryover to faster sprinting speed/acceleration too. If you want to get more technical, you may wish to consider the pros and cons of closed kinetic chain v open kinetic chain exercises.
One thing the leg press is useful for is working the quads to exhaustion in a relatively safe environment. Bodybuilders like using the leg press and smith machine in this respect due to the way they train and the volumes they use. One thing I want to point out is that you can injury yourself in a leg press machine - keep you but down on the set and back set into the pad. Lastly, not all leg press machines are equal. Some designs are better than others. I prefer the inclined one where you chuck on real weights/plates.
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Height 5'7 Reach approx 7'0
BW @ 23 Jul 08: 145lbs (>13%bf)
Re-training start: Jul 08 (post injury+3 mths rehab)
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