Squat vs Leg Press

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(Fausto @ Jul. 20 2006,15:40)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Pointless speaking much here.

Dan...put some of your good ol'research to settle this one out!

Squats rule! But yeah, the leg press has its place specially if your back is injured, otherwise it is no substitute, maybe as an add on yeah!</div>
I don't buy that one is better than the other, both have their advantages and disadvantages, it comes down to what you are trying to accomplish. If you are trying to increase performance in the squat then obviously you must squat to do it.

They are both safe (if done correctly), they are both Closed Chain, so I say, whatever trips your trigger.

Williardson came up with a formula to id squat RM when coming from Leg press (The following prediction equations were devised: (a) novice group squat mass = leg press mass (0.210) + 36.244 kg, (b) advanced group squat mass = leg press mass (0.310) + 19.438 kg, and &copy; subject pool squat mass = leg press mass (0.354) + 2.235 kg) never tried to see if it correlated to anything or not.

Aaron probably knows though.
 
Yeah, to compare absolute load of leg press vs squat accurately is difficult. With the squat the resistance is your upper body plus the bar and weight plates. With the leg press you are lifting the foot panel/weight hooks and whatever weight plates are added. But then you have to calculate the angle - at 45 degrees, no matter how well oiled the machine is, there must be some friction resistance? But perhaps it would be so minimal that it would be insignificant. Of course, there are also leg press machines where you lie on your back and push the weight straight up, and still others where your whole body moves backwards instead of the foot panel going forward or up. But sticking with good ol' 45 degree leg press vs squat well, how the hell do you calculate what you weigh from the waist up? Try to 'half lay' on the scales? lol

If you compare your various RMs on both exercises you will seem short changed load-wise with the squat. (even if you go really deep with the leg press)
 
I'd think that when pushing 400 or 900 lbs in a press, a one or two pound friction resistance would be negligible.
In a study done (I can't remember who) on gym injuries, the squat was one of the biggies, I'd guess because there's so much room for error in form. Upright barbell raises was another bad one. (rotator cuffs)
 
One of the things that probably reduces the load you can use in the squat as compared to the leg press is lower back strength. If your lower back is not strong enough then once that starts to tire you will start to lean forward when you come out of the hole, which in turn will put even more stress on your lowerback. So before your legs are fully tired you will have to stop the set. Because of this I feel I can probably work my quads harder with leg presses but I don't feel I am working as hard overall as when I squat.

I think if I could only choose one leg exercise it would have to be squats, Olympic style, as it just feels like a more natural movement/orientation to be using with a heavy load.
 
I'm gonna stick with leg press until I read something that convinces me my legs will see better growth with sqauts at  ~same loads.

Lets not forget that leg press is also a killer of an exercise in the hurt department. Doing animalistic sets to failure and beyond in my pre-HST (ie. pre enlightenment) days on leg press on 'leg day' were frightening. My partner used to take great delight in calling me a pussy and making me do 'one more rep' over and over. As far as he was concerned, my set wasn't finished until my lips turned blue.
wow.gif
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I don't know if it's true or not, but I'd read that squats are supposedly the best AB exersize! Odd, huh? </div>

The best abs exercise ? i would not say that, but they are a VERY GOOD abs exercise !!! in my opinion there is no need to doing extra abs workouts when you are doing a solid whole body hst-programm with many compounds.
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the last few months, i haven't had the chance to make heavy squats. so i did leg press. :-(

The leg developement is good to with the leg press, but squats are giving you a better leg developement, i feel so. and the stabilisator muscles are indicated too when you are making squats. and the strength developement is better with squats.

So when a person can do both exercises, i say definetelly he should make squats and kick the leg presses away.

there is a good aphorism:
&quot;strength is coming from your legs&quot;

and to extra mention:
there is something with extra hormone distribution when you are making heavy squats! i think because of this many people say that squats are a important exercise for the whole body developement.
 
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