Squats V's Leg press

LouLou1

Just wondering are squats with a barbell more effective then a leg press. I know the leg press is an isolation exercise, but for results in you legs and glutes would it be the same. Having problems with my form of late while doing Squats, so wondering if the leg press will achieve the same results???

dave80

LouLou1 wrote: »

Just wondering are squats with a barbell more effective then a leg press. I know the leg press is an isolation exercise, but for results in you legs and glutes would it be the same. Having problems with my form of late while doing Squats, so wondering if the leg press will achieve the same results???

Squats are superior to leg presses but why not do both, try placing your feet higher up on the leg press to work more glutes and hamstrings!

EileenG

Squats are the best one if you are only doing one exercise. It's a compound move which burns more calories and uses more muscles than leg press. More to the point, it teaches you how to lift heavy weights safely and with good balance.

But leg press can be a great exercise for hitting lagging muscles or doing one leg exercises. Do both.

Boston

No, a squat would be better. The actions are completely different, in my opinion, as well. Also a leg press restricts the natural movement of your legs which isn't a good thing.

Roper

The leg press isn't evil or anything but you won't get the same benefit from using it over the squat. If you are using it, you should view it as an assistance exercise to the squat. and even at that there are far better ways of working the quads for squatting than leg pressing.

If you're having form problems with the squat, then fix them, don't quit on it it's doing way more than just working your legs. Another problem with the press is the lack of uniformity in the machines. There's literally hundreds of types out there so while one might be good and suit you, the next gym you go to might have a different set up. I've used 3 different leg press machines in the last 2 years and each one felt different to the others.

billyhead

Folks,

Just reading this thread now and i have incorporated squats into my workout routine the last couple of weeks. The only problem is that I can only Squat about 25kg on each side of the barbell for 10 12 reps. I am only new to weightlifing and was wondering would you think this is too lightweight.

Boston

No, infact thats heavy for starting, are you going to full depth? Depth is more important then weight. You can't compare what you can do on a leg press to a squat. I was doing 160 kg leg presses when I started out but could only manage 60kg squats. That should tell you something about the benefit of the squat.

BossArky

What other exercises are we talking about here for quad development?

Lunges? Split Squats? I tend to feel them more in the butt and hamstrings rather than quads.

I was thinking the other night that I need to do more than just Squat / Deadlift / Sprinting for my legs. Any ideas?

Esse85

BossArky wrote: »

What other exercises are we talking about here for quad development?

Lunges? Split Squats? I tend to feel them more in the butt and hamstrings rather than quads.

I was thinking the other night that I need to do more than just Squat / Deadlift / Sprinting for my legs. Any ideas?

Calf raises, leg curl.

BossArky

Calf Raises will work my calfs. Leg Curl will work the hamstrings.

I was talking about quads.

Roper

BossArky wrote: »

What other exercises are we talking about here for quad development?

Lunges? Split Squats? I tend to feel them more in the butt and hamstrings rather than quads.

I was thinking the other night that I need to do more than just Squat / Deadlift / Sprinting for my legs. Any ideas?

Lunges with a small inward turn of the foot are great for stability in the squat. Leg curls will give you big quads but not necessarily the stability required in the quads to squat properly.

For a quick demo of why not to do them to assist with the squat, lower yourself slowly into the squat position and try to "feel" where your quads are most engaged. (I bet it will be just before you go parallel) Then take a note of the angle between your calf and hamstring, and your quads and torso. If you can go and find a leg curl machine that can accurately mimic those same angles then use it, but you won't. The quads don't work alone so working them alone will not aid your squat in most cases.

Reyman

Roper wrote: »

Lunges with a small inward turn of the foot are great for stability in the squat. Leg curls will give you big quads but not necessarily the stability required in the quads to squat properly.

.

Leg Curls - Pure Hamstring movement, I'd have thought?

Front squats - Almost pure Quad movement

Back squats (Deep) - Glutes & Hamstrings movement - but with some Back and Quad involvement

Esse85

BossArky wrote: »

Calf Raises will work my calfs. Leg Curl will work the hamstrings.

I was talking about quads.

If your doing squats and leg press correctly then there's no need for lunges and other variations.

Roper

Reyman wrote: »

Leg Curls - Pure Hamstring movement, I'd have thought?

I think we're crossing wires, I thought that post meant the quad curl machine thingy, the name of which evades me right now.

Front squats - Almost pure Quad movement

No they're not. They're more quad focussed than back squats but feeling a movement in a muscle is not the same as just using that muscle on its own.

Back squats (Deep) - Glutes & Hamstrings movement - but with some Back and Quad involvement

The quads are involved in both parts of the lift as well as having a stabilising function throughout the lift.

To be honest I wouldn't have mentioned the quads in terms of the squat only someone else did!

brianthebard

BossArky wrote: »

What other exercises are we talking about here for quad development?

Lunges? Split Squats? I tend to feel them more in the butt and hamstrings rather than quads.

I was thinking the other night that I need to do more than just Squat / Deadlift / Sprinting for my legs. Any ideas?

Have you tried front squats or moving your feet closer together when squatting?

colmconn

billyhead wrote: »

Folks,

Just reading this thread now and i have incorporated squats into my workout routine the last couple of weeks. The only problem is that I can only Squat about 25kg on each side of the barbell for 10 12 reps. I am only new to weightlifing and was wondering would you think this is too lightweight.

presumably the bar is a standard 20 kg olympic bar? so that's 55kg total.
everybody starts somewhere, don't get hung up on the weight, so long as you're performing the movement properly you'll derive benefit from the exercise. Keep at it and you'll be putting more weight on the bar in no time.

BossArky

Sure, my squats and deads are working fine for strength purposes. However imo my legs don't exactly look that great. I was thinking about how to beef them up for asthethic value :pac:

Roper wrote: »

Lunges with a small inward turn of the foot are great for stability in the squat.

Cool, I shall try this out tomorrow morning.

Roper wrote: »

I think we're crossing wires, I thought that post meant the quad curl machine thingy, the name of which evades me right now.

I think we mean leg extension for quads and leg curl for hams.

brianthebard wrote: »

Have you tried front squats or moving your feet closer together when squatting?

When I bring my feet closer together I definetly feel it more in my quads. However, I'm wary of doing this as I think my dominant right side takes more of the weight like this. Keeping a wider stance forces both to work on similar-ish loads (I think).

I'll try some front squats and how they feel.

colmconn wrote: »

presumably the bar is a standard 20 kg olympic bar? so that's 55kg total

I think he said 25kg per side, plus the oly bar --> 70kg in total.

brianthebard

Do you think you have an imbalance if one leg takes more weight? I've never noticed this personally. Maybe back the weight down a little, bring in the feet, get deep/atg and see how it feels? Just going on limited personal experience.

Hanley

I spent the last 5 or 6 weeks focusing on quad work in lieu of a specific deadlift day and I they've grown as a result.

I basically just added in lunges, bulgarian split squats and one legged leg presses. The lunges started to hurt my knees after a few weeks, but that's probably because I was doing them wrong. I only felt the BSS's in my quads when I did the top range of the movement, so I stopped going deep on them. Low step ups would be another great exercise to try I think.

Front squats are awesome, but there's no way they're a pure quad move. There's MORE quad than in a back squat, but it you're sticking it deep in the hole, your entire leg's gonna get hit. Not to mention your lower back and especially upper back.

To be honest tho, my legs are nowhere near as big as they should be, I never do lunges, leg presses, extenstions etc etc I've always been relatively strong and big in my legs, but if I made a serious effort to train them for size I reckon they could be pretty good. I might have to think about it.

kevpants

Hanley wrote: »

The lunges started to hurt my knees after a few weeks, but that's probably because I was doing them wrong.

I have to say I was flabergasted when you mentioned your lunging difficulties. Couldn't see how someone could squat what you do and have never touched on them. Insane!

Hanley

kevpants wrote: »

I have to say I was flabergasted when you mentioned your lunging difficulties. Couldn't see how someone could squat what you do and have never touched on them. Insane!

The fact I never did them, or the fact I sucked at them??

Lik I should NOT be struggling with frickin 60kg on my back. My shoulders, elbows and arms fell apart trying to do them....

Mikel

Hanley wrote: »

The fact I never did them, or the fact I sucked at them??
Lik I should NOT be struggling with frickin 60kg on my back. My shoulders, elbows and arms fell apart trying to do them....

That's interesting... do you mean similar to the way with the OHS that once you squat down your shoulders seem to lose all strength.
I wonder are these things a coordination issue rather than strength alone

kevpants

Hanley wrote: »

The fact I never did them, or the fact I sucked at them??

Lik I should NOT be struggling with frickin 60kg on my back. My shoulders, elbows and arms fell apart trying to do them....

That you'd never done them and subsequently that they were giving you difficulty. It's weird that certain movements can be so hard for certain people but not seem to affect their overall strength.

What I mean is your legs are obviously powerful, probably your strongpoint I think I remember you saying, and then you've never lunged and struggle getting them right.

BossArky

I tried out a few of the suggestions this morning.


Front Squat 30kg --> Felt it more in the quads and could get a bit more below parallel than normal. The main pain came from where the bar was resting though.

Barbell Lunge 30kg --> Probably felt these in the quads more than anything

Bodyweight Lunge with slight inturn of front foot --> Again felt this a bit in the quads. Not sure if it was anything to do with the slight inturn or just because I was wrecked by that stage.

Leg Press --> broken

Barbell Calf Raises 90kg --> definetly worth doing these with weight as opposed to the bodyweight version. COuld really feel the burn.


Thanks for the ideas all!

BossArky

Roper wrote: »

Lunges with a small inward turn of the foot are great for stability in the squat.

Why does the inward turn help with squat stability? When squatting I thought it was best to have a slight outward turn of the toes.

brianthebard wrote: »

Do you think you have an imbalance if one leg takes more weight?

Maybe I'm just imaginging it. My right leg used to be stronger a year or so ago.

Roper

BossArky wrote: »

Why does the inward turn help with squat stability? When squatting I thought it was best to have a slight outward turn of the toes.

Suck em and see. One of the functions of the quads are to stabilise and to keep the knees tracking over the toes. The turn helps that.

Hanley

Mikel wrote: »

That's interesting... do you mean similar to the way with the OHS that once you squat down your shoulders seem to lose all strength.
I wonder are these things a coordination issue rather than strength alone

I tend to take quite a narrow grip on the bar when I'm squatting/lunging and as a result my arms, shoulders and elbows just go "dead" really quickly. Pins and needles, lots of pain etc...

brianthebard

I know its only personal experience, but I could have my hands inside the rings and not have my arms go dead. Are you putting them even closer or is it something else that might be causing that dead feeling? Just curious cause it seems a bit odd.

Hanley

brianthebard wrote: »

I know its only personal experience, but I could have my hands inside the rings and not have my arms go dead. Are you putting them even closer or is it something else that might be causing that dead feeling? Just curious cause it seems a bit odd.

It depends on bar position where I grip. My "competition" is about 2-3 inches inside the rings. That puts my hands pretty much against my shoulders. Trying to keep your elbows down under the bar from there is REALLY rought. This is the grip; http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y143/Jameshanley/20080726_2311.jpg

My "training" grip is pinky's on the rings, or just inside. I've started to train with the bar lower down on my back so I've had to adjust my grip out ever so slightly to get it in the right position.

It's only when I got to high reps that the pins and needles start. I guess it happens because I've become so adept at locking my upper back and elbows into position under a squat that it puts a lot of strain around there as a result, and I just can't tolerate it for more than 30-45 seconds!!