Does anyone else think that the leg press is a superior quad builder compared to conventional barbell squats?

[marisela]

@awak3nedm1nd I have shit hip flexibility, so I always hated squats even though I trained enough to do a solid amount.

 

[svavaosk]

@marisela My hips suck ass too. I'm newer to lifting but noticing that squats in particular cause hip pain. I'm wondering if you have any suggestion for a squat replacement. I otherwise do full body workouts comprised of compound movements, so if one of my lifts becomes a hack squat or something but causes less pain that would be awesome

 

[marisela]

@svavaosk I basically just break it out into individual muscle groups. Not as good as far as functional weight training, but it works just fine for bodybuilding. I hit leg press, leg curls, leg extensions, and barbell hip thrusts every leg day along with calves and whatever random other exercises I'm feeling that day. I've found single-leg leg press is good for getting a little deeper than regular leg press, as well.

Might not be optimal, but it works for me.

 

[savedbygrace06]

@elcurious It’s not as much height as it is femur length to torso length ratio. Here is a great article about that: https://1upnutrition.com/blogs/training/how-femur-length-can-affect-squatting-mechanics

I am one of those people. I’m 6’3” and my femur length is disproportionately longer than my torso length. Basically, I have shit body mechanics when it comes to squatting, so I’ve always preferred leg press but I did find a solution by purchasing a pair of significantly heel lifted shoes. Those bad boys made a night and day change with my squatting. They made squatting much more comfortable, and I could feel the pump in my quads.

 

[elcurious]

@savedbygrace06 Excellent article!

 

[dawn16]

@savedbygrace06 This is true. I'm 6'4" but a natural squatter due to short legs relative to my torso.

Probably relatedly, I don't like leg press at all for quad isolation. It feels like all glutes/hams to me, even when I try to put my feet at the bottom of the plate. Hack squat all the way for a machine quad exercise.

 

[queenie4o]

@elcurious Jhups I 100% agree, I NEVER do squats because they just don’t feel good with my proportions at 6’5 and I got great legs just from only using machines

 

[amandabroken]

@jinxy The squat is good for building a foundation of strength that can carry over to various sports and exercises, the leg press decimates the quads since it's a lot more isolate
/thread?

 

[maurits]

@amandabroken I would hardly say it’s ‘a lot more of an isolation’.

With varying foot positioning, you can certainly hit multiple.

 

[reciproc8]

@maurits I mean, it certainly isolated your legs, with your main muscles being the quads.

A good, heavy, low bar squat like his powerlifting buddies are doing is a hip-driven back exercise. It not only targets the quads but also massively (compared to leg press) the whole posterior chain, glutes, leg stabilizers, core, spinal erectors, lats, traps, forearms… you name it.

 

[tenderloin]

@maurits Yeah, leg press is not considered a compound movement, she's isolation. It's great for getting in extra leg volume for hypertrophy without the added nervous system fatigue from heavy back squats (large compound movements always stress the ns more). But if you're looking for overall strength gains in addition to aesthetics you simply can't replace squats with a leg press.

 

[dawn16]

@tenderloin Leg press is the definition of compound movement. Theres no way you could possibly turn a leg press into an isolation movement. Hits the hips and quads just like a squat

 

[dougthebicycle]

@jinxy Also a lot of movement away is the fact that bodybuilding takes time and as you age and do these exercises for long periods of time you risk more injury. The more stable of an environment for an exercise the better ability to isolate and avoid injury.

 

[leena2016]

@jinxy Whether leg press is a better quad builder than squats comes down to body mechanics primarily. If you have short femurs and great ankle mobility, (& sufficient hip mobility), you can squat deep & induce tremendous tension on the quads & glutes respectively. Now lets say you have that - why leg press at all? Three reasons.

1) Injury related reasons, (i.e lower back, history of previous injury), self explanatory really.

2) Leg press better allows you to hit your quads in a higher rep range without cardio being a limiting factor, which has value.

3) Leg press is factually less systemically fatiguing. If 7 sets of quad work close to failure twice a week is damn near optimal for you but trying to do that all with squats crushes your CNS & ruins the rest of your workout, the leg press is the perfect complementary lift.

So, if you're not injured, can squat for high reps without gassing out & can hit your ideal quad volume with just squats, then you don't need to leg press at all. But if one of these variables doesn't make the cut, that's absolutely sufficient reason to leg press. And if your body mechanics aren't well suited for squats in the first place, then unless you have strength goals in the squat, I'd call that sufficient reason to not squat at all & to do other lifts, such as leg press.

 

[dawn16]

@jinxy Try high bar or SSB (even better) squats with a very narrow stance and toes turned out about 30-45 degrees. You must go completely ass to grass and make every effort to keep your position upright - look up a bit. Your descent should be three seconds; you must pause for one in the hole, and explode up.

This is the only squat I have found that utterly and specifically destroys my quads and is not limited by low back fatigue. The loads will lower thanks to all of the modifications but your legs will be jello.

I use these in a doggcrapp 2-way split as one of my quad movements which means I have a target rep range of 5-8 and a second set of 20+, both to fail.

 

[qpmomma13]

@jinxy yes, absolutely. as other commenters have mentioned, squats are good for hitting virtually all of the muscles in your upper legs whereas leg press isolated the quadriceps more.

going to hijack a little here, what do y’all recommend for quad exercises for someone who has a home gym and no access to machines like leg press, leg extension, etc.? i have a squat rack, barbell, dumbbells, bands, etc. but no machines.

 

[stevedaniel]

@qpmomma13 Bulgarian Split Squat is my favorite if you have a bench or something to put your back leg onto.

 

[cfa]

@qpmomma13 I find front squats and Bulgarian split squats to hit the quads pretty well in a home gym.