# Swapping squat for leg press



## mat81 (Jul 13, 2013)

Got a bit of a problem, well not so much a problem more a slight issue

afew years ago I had a injury to the back of my neck and spine, the part where the bar sits when doin squats is a bit dodgy and it is starting to hurt, so I've been advices to skip the squats.

so was thinking of just swapping them for leg press, but is there any extra I can do to benefit me as I won't be squatting

cheers all


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## mat81 (Jul 13, 2013)

Off I go to you tube

Cheers mate


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## mat81 (Jul 13, 2013)

MessyFunk said:


> Holy grail of strength and conditioning for me http://www.exrx.net/Exercise.html


Spot on

Thanks again


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## skyfall (Aug 1, 2013)

I have astounding results with single leg, leg presses. Just be sure to keep your knee alignment and posture.


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## romper stomper (Sep 26, 2012)

You can use leg presses - hack squat machines to very good affect - and as stated front squats- bd lunges= db squats ect


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## Kazza61 (Jun 14, 2008)

I developed a similar issue so got myself a BodySolid squat machine. They're about £500 but I reckon it's been worth every penny. Big solid pads go over your houlders so no pressure on neck. Interestingly, because it pretty much holds you in allignment, no real pressure on back or knees either - all the stress gets thrown right in to the quads. Mine have really come on since I got it.


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## ianm2585 (Mar 14, 2010)

this is my plan for the next few weeks to drop squats for presses i have a ear problem which in turn leads to a balance problem nothing major but looks dodgy when you watch a playback of yourself squatting have made a hex bar at work so will see how that goes as well but a post in this thread highlighted single leg presses and these are certainly worth trying as i found i could focus harder doing single leg presses


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## A-BOMB (May 4, 2012)

Mat. said:


> Got a bit of a problem, well not so much a problem more a slight issue
> 
> afew years ago I had a injury to the back of my neck and spine, the part where the bar sits when doin squats is a bit dodgy and it is starting to hurt, so I've been advices to skip the squats.
> 
> ...


have the exact same issue (broken neck and back) i use a low bar position and im fine and now ive built my traps back up i can squat highbar too but i prefer low bar. as said there are many variations you can do i also do front squats which helps alot with my back as you have to keep the thorasic extension. i very rarely get any pain from my back now


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## AL_KILLIYA (Dec 2, 2011)

Bulgarian split squats are good aswell


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## Marshan (Aug 27, 2010)

Dorian Yates is quoted as saying in the 6 yrs he was Mr O he never squatted...Id say only a handful if any of the pros do...theyre not necessary IME. A well known member and respected competitor here is also known for not squatting due to a serious injury and has excellent legs on a par with anyones.


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## martin brown (Dec 31, 2008)

mixerD1 said:


> Dorian Yates is quoted as saying in the 6 yrs he was Mr O he never squatted...Id say only a handful if any of the pros do...theyre not necessary IME. A well known member and respected competitor here is also known for not squatting due to a serious injury and has excellent legs on a par with anyones.


What about the ten years before he became Mr O?

It's ok dropping big compounds AFTER you've built 30+ inch legs....


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## murphy2010 (Dec 17, 2010)

ive gone through periods when I couldn't do any form of squat due to injury and both these times I did leg press instead and both times I gained mass and strength so I don't see why not


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## Marshan (Aug 27, 2010)

martin brown said:


> What about the ten years before he became Mr O?
> 
> It's ok dropping big compounds AFTER you've built 30+ inch legs....


Aw jeez...I certainly don't want disagreeing with you Martin but, mine were 26 inches last year squatting over 200....haven't squatted F all in the last 18 months and theyre up to 27 inches now....and not sh1tty fat either...cut. And lets not even go into the volume of GH and insulin he was using.


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## Marshan (Aug 27, 2010)

murphy2010 said:


> ive gone through periods when I couldn't do any form of squat due to injury and both these times I did leg press instead and both times I gained mass and strength so I don't see why not


Same....destroyed my knee playing rugby last year...almost afraid to squat but still gaining on the press.


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## murphy2010 (Dec 17, 2010)

mixerD1 said:


> Same....destroyed my knee playing rugby last year...almost afraid to squat but still gaining on the press.


ouch, hope u recover soon 

for me it was dislocating my shoulder twice lol

but yeah a good heavy set of leg press leaves my legs in absolute agony much more so than squats


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## Marshan (Aug 27, 2010)

murphy2010 said:


> ouch, hope u recover soon
> 
> for me it was dislocating my shoulder twice lol
> 
> but yeah a good heavy set of leg press leaves my legs in absolute agony much more so than squats


Partial dislocation in the right...full multiple dislocations on the left. Theyre not too bad actually...lifting has helped them a huge amount...but the knee....game over. Ligaments all around it are pulled to bits. Gotta be very careful....pulled a ligament in it just from dong fecking lunges Saturday gone....lunges like!!!!


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## murphy2010 (Dec 17, 2010)

mixerD1 said:


> Partial dislocation in the right...full multiple dislocations on the left. Theyre not too bad actually...lifting has helped them a huge amount...but the knee....game over. Ligaments all around it are pulled to bits. Gotta be very careful....pulled a ligament in it just from dong fecking lunges Saturday gone....lunges like!!!!


ive had to cut a few leg sessions short from doing lunges where my knee's gone too far infront of my toes and hurt summit so I can imagine it been bad. but yeah my shoulders fine now too (bloody hope so) haven't had any pain or issues, can u get surgery or awt on the knee ligaments to tighten em?


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## Marshan (Aug 27, 2010)

murphy2010 said:


> ive had to cut a few leg sessions short from doing lunges where my knee's gone too far infront of my toes and hurt summit so I can imagine it been bad. but yeah my shoulders fine now too (bloody hope so) haven't had any pain or issues, can u get surgery or awt on the knee ligaments to tighten em?


I have no idea mate...Im afraid of all that TBH...itll probably go too far at some point and Ill have no choice but to get something done...not in any hurry to find out though. Don't know about NHS there...but by the time I get anything done over here, I could be in a fkin zimmerframe anyhow....


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## Smoog (Dec 29, 2012)

mixerD1 said:


> Dorian Yates is quoted as saying in the 6 yrs he was Mr O he never squatted...Id say only a handful if any of the pros do...theyre not necessary IME. A well known member and respected competitor here is also known for not squatting due to a serious injury and has excellent legs on a par with anyones.


Who's that?


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## Smoog (Dec 29, 2012)

Personally I don't think leg press is a good replacement for squats. The range of motion you can get comparing the two can differ a lot from person to person. Having a big chest cavity limits the range, and you have to throw on kg's of plates to compensate. I've seen this get to people's head and as a result their form suffers and they just look like knobs.

As other people have mentioned there are other variations of squatting that you can do, but also heavy dumbbell/barbell lunges are also effective


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## monkeybiker (Jul 21, 2010)

The bar shouldn't be touching your spine. You should be squeezing you upper back muscles together and the bar should sit on your trap muscles. Like a lot of what I see you probably have the bar sat too high.


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## Marshan (Aug 27, 2010)

Smoog said:


> Who's that?


I wont be mentioning his name but suffice to say he's very well known and highly respected here.

Ya, you,re right, I have a larger than average ribcage so I have to set the backrest on my press right back so my ribs don't get in the way of my knees.

Done properly there's no bio-mechanical difference between squats and legpress except that maintaining the angle of lower back by use of the spinal erectors is removed from the lift/press as the pelvis takess the weight and the lift doesn't require muscles from there up.

No-one but no-one here will agree with me on this but TBH I think legpressing is a far better measure of pure legstrength than squatting is.....it's not considered as glamorous though because there isn't the hero factor or egos involved.


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## solidcecil (Mar 8, 2012)

I do alot of leg pressing at the moment due to having some knee pain.

With leg press I can concentrate more on working the quads than with squat.


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## aman_21 (Jul 29, 2013)

dumbell sissy squats


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## martin brown (Dec 31, 2008)

mixerD1 said:


> I wont be mentioning his name but suffice to say he's very well known and highly respected here.
> 
> Ya, you,re right, I have a larger than average ribcage so I have to set the backrest on my press right back so my ribs don't get in the way of my knees.
> 
> ...


Mmm, don't be afraid to disagree with me  Although I cant agree about the hero factor - people always ask me what I leg press when they find out what I can squat, they usually take pride in telling me they press xxkg like I am about to be impressed... I tell them I don't use a leg press because I have had knee surgery so I only squat now, no machines for me.

You may well have seen good growth without squats. The problem lies in that you cannot measure the immeasurable- how much more could your legs have grown in the year if you HAD squatted as well.

The biomechanics of both may seem similar yet are very different. One is a closed chain full body exercise and one is an open chain fixed path exercise. This makes them very different. The spinal erectors as you mention often are worked hard during a leg press as most people lack the hip mobility to leg press properly and resort into hip flexion and therefore stressing the spine and erectors trying to bring the hips back into neutral when pressing the weight back up.

The massive benefit of a squat is that it does so much more than other leg exercises for overall development. You can usually tell the people that squat properly on stage as they have better overall leg development rather than simply quads and one of the hamstrings being developed (because these people often overlook the hip extension that the hamstrings are responsible for).

Look at Tom Platz's legs for a good example of what a fully developed leg should be like in bodybuilding


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## Marshan (Aug 27, 2010)

martin brown said:


> Mmm, don't be afraid to disagree with me  Although I cant agree about the hero factor - people always ask me what I leg press when they find out what I can squat, they usually take pride in telling me they press xxkg like I am about to be impressed... I tell them I don't use a leg press because I have had knee surgery so I only squat now, no machines for me.
> 
> You may well have seen good growth without squats. The problem lies in that you cannot measure the immeasurable- how much more could your legs have grown in the year if you HAD squatted as well.
> 
> ...


Tom Platz...a great example. There's never been anyone like him since IMO. I honestly don't think I could grow anymore with squats..from a BB perspective and without doubting yourself Martin (and certainly not inferring youre an ego or hero, but Im sure you know what I mean)...Im further than I ever expected I could be just pressing alone and believe that all the different muscles I can hit on a squat I can hit on the press just as well. I never rep less than 30 a set or under 200ks....and press a set of 500k (properly, **for 10 not 30) every now and again just to see if I can. Im 5 foot 8, down to 13 and a half stone, run 2-3 mils of prop+tren a week and my quads are 27 inches cut and striated.  Working to bring up my vastus medialis at the moment and believe it or not light DB lunges have done more for them in the last few weeks than months of heavy extensions or all the squats I've done. Having said all this Martin...when it comes to legs, I'm lazier than most and can/do get away with murder. I cycled a lot when I was a nipper and teenager and to be honest my legs are only marginally bigger then when I was 14 with all the cycling I used to do. I see fellas with good legs in the gym and pity them the amount of work they have/had to do whereas me...truth be told...I've done relatively little. Although the first time I ever sat into a legpress I pushed 260k and first ever squat set was 100k for 8. It must just be genetics and the early start for me.


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## C.Hill (Nov 21, 2010)

mixerD1 said:


> I wont be mentioning his name but suffice to say he's very well known and highly respected here. .


 @Pscarb? Why the mystery?lol


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## Marshan (Aug 27, 2010)

C.Hill said:


> @Pscarb? Why the mystery?lol


Just didn't want to be calling in his name purely for the sake of it. You knew who I was on about so I wasn't exactly wrong dude.


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## DB (Oct 31, 2003)

Squats and leg press aren't comparable IMO,

How often do u hear of guys doing 400kg leg press but having match sticks for legs? Too easy to use shocking form on a leg press, I get nothing from it..

20 rep squats for hypertrophy are phenomenal, take the ego out, drop the weight, hit a decent tempo and get good depth, if you can't reach depth, do some mobility work. Check your psoas, rec fem, adductors, calves. A little bit of rehab will open you up and give you FAR more growth!

OP- I would do front squat and walking lunges


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## martin brown (Dec 31, 2008)

mixerD1 said:


> Tom Platz...a great example. There's never been anyone like him since IMO. I honestly don't think I could grow anymore with squats..from a BB perspective and without doubting yourself Martin (and certainly not inferring youre an ego or hero, but Im sure you know what I mean)...Im further than I ever expected I could be just pressing alone and believe that all the different muscles I can hit on a squat I can hit on the press just as well. I never rep less than 30 a set or under 200ks....and press a set of 500k (properly, **for 10 not 30) every now and again just to see if I can. Im 5 foot 8, down to 13 and a half stone, run 2-3 mils of prop+tren a week and my quads are 27 inches cut and striated. Working to bring up my vastus medialis at the moment and believe it or not light DB lunges have done more for them in the last few weeks than months of heavy extensions or all the squats I've done. Having said all this Martin...when it comes to legs, I'm lazier than most and can/do get away with murder. I cycled a lot when I was a nipper and teenager and to be honest my legs are only marginally bigger then when I was 14 with all the cycling I used to do. I see fellas with good legs in the gym and pity them the amount of work they have/had to do whereas me...truth be told...I've done relatively little. Although the first time I ever sat into a legpress I pushed 260k and first ever squat set was 100k for 8. It must just be genetics and the early start for me.


Isn't it a little naïve to say you don't see how you could grow more from squatting? Like I said I simply disagree that you can hit the same muscles to the same extent.

IMO the whole purpose of things like leg press machines, hack squats etc etc are simply to provide another variation of the squat. Why rule out the best exercise and opt only for it's machine based alternatives IF squatting is still an option? I think you'd have to be pretty retarded to rule squats out completely.

Simply knowing one person who does ok without squats does not change the fact that they should be included where possible - or the fact that the inclusion of free squat variations would make an improvement. This is far more important to a beginner though rather than an already competing bodybuilder who has decent legs.

Those who don't have genetically big legs have to work for them - and leg presses in most cases don't produce the results of well executed squats.

P.S. Don't confuse my powerlifting with a lack of bodybuilding knowledge or experience - I trained for years with one of the top Nabba Class 2 winners before I turned to powerlifting


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## fatmat (Apr 20, 2008)

This post has given me some great tips, thank you to the original poster and all the folk who replied!


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## 3752 (Jan 7, 2005)

Smoog said:


> *Personally I don't think leg press is a good replacement for squats.* The range of motion you can get comparing the two can differ a lot from person to person. Having a big chest cavity limits the range, and you have to throw on kg's of plates to compensate. I've seen this get to people's head and as a result their form suffers and they just look like knobs.
> 
> As other people have mentioned there are other variations of squatting that you can do, but also heavy dumbbell/barbell lunges are also effective


disagree.......

squatting is a great exercise without doubt but then so is the leg press the key is form, i have seen some stupid form on squats whilst the individual brags about weight blah blah yet have mediocre quads/hams.....and i have seen the same on leg press.....

where as i agree Squats are very good for leg development i disagree that leg press cannot be the same, before my paralysis i both back and front squatted and did leg press ad i was strong in all 3 and my legs where good......since my injury i have been unable to squat until recently (last week doing my heaviest free weight squat (box squat with safety bar) of 185kg for 8.

for the time after i recovered until recently i have had to do leg press and my legs certainly have not suffered, i suppose you could say they might have been bigger if i squatted but then so may yours if you just did leg press  all i know is through variation in weight and volume on the leg press (max being 640kg for 8 on a lever leg press) my legs are of a decent size and bigger than the majority of guys i know who claim Squats are the king........

i don't proclaim one exercise is better than the other just that in my opinion and experience neither is greater than the other either


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## andyhuggins (Nov 21, 2008)

Pscarb said:


> disagree.......
> 
> squatting is a great exercise without doubt but then so is the leg press the key is form, i have seen some stupid form on squats whilst the individual brags about weight blah blah yet have mediocre quads/hams.....and i have seen the same on leg press.....
> 
> ...


 Great post Paul.


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## Smoog (Dec 29, 2012)

Pscarb said:


> disagree.......
> 
> squatting is a great exercise without doubt but then so is the leg press the key is form, i have seen some stupid form on squats whilst the individual brags about weight blah blah yet have mediocre quads/hams.....and i have seen the same on leg press.....
> 
> ...


I think my argument comes from the hatred of ego trips that exist in my gym. I had genuinely forgotten some of the awful squats I've seen there too. :laugh:


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## 3752 (Jan 7, 2005)

Smoog said:


> I think my argument comes from the hatred of ego trips that exist in my gym. I had genuinely forgotten some of the awful squats I've seen there too. :laugh:


there are ego trips on all lifts, one thing i have learnt over the years is that it is about the movement and the connection you make when doing it rather than the weight you are lifting, this does not mean i do not push to beat my log book every week but i do not do it for the sake of just moving the weight.......

i know plenty who can lift x amount for a few reps on both squats and leg press but fail big time when the there form is corrected and they are asked to use a decent rep range.....


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## invisiblekid (Jun 18, 2006)

Pscarb said:


> disagree.......
> 
> squatting is a great exercise without doubt but then so is the leg press the key is form, i have seen some stupid form on squats whilst the individual brags about weight blah blah yet have mediocre quads/hams.....and i have seen the same on leg press.....
> 
> ...


Paul, would you mind going in to a little more detail about what has changed that now allows you to squat? I've read about your accident and have used your posts about training without squats to great effect.

I miss squatting very much and my legs did suffer. After a discectomy 18 months ago I was told squatting was a huge no no , and quite frankly I'm terrified to attempt it again.


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## Marshan (Aug 27, 2010)

martin brown said:


> Isn't it a little naïve to say you don't see how you could grow more from squatting? Like I said I simply disagree that you can hit the same muscles to the same extent.
> 
> IMO the whole purpose of things like leg press machines, hack squats etc etc are simply to provide another variation of the squat. Why rule out the best exercise and opt only for it's machine based alternatives IF squatting is still an option? I think you'd have to be pretty retarded to rule squats out completely.
> 
> ...


Not at all Martin, I know full well you know your stuff dude..and because of that I'm very reluctant to disagree with you. Honestly..I'm lifting on and off for over 20 years, and done strength, fitness, a little bit of powerlifting but mostly bodybuilding and know what works for me at this stage. Everybody's different so I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.


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## Marshan (Aug 27, 2010)

Pscarb said:


> disagree.......
> 
> squatting is a great exercise without doubt but then so is the leg press the key is form, i have seen some stupid form on squats whilst the individual brags about weight blah blah yet have mediocre quads/hams.....and i have seen the same on leg press.....
> 
> ...


Respect Paul. 185 for 8....fair play dude!!!


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