Leg presses over squats?

[Muscleman562lb]

I do leg presses over squats . Will I benifit almost the same. I may not have much stabilizing muscle growth but will it work!?

I feel uncomfortable doing squats at the gym. Mostly because I feel my form is bad and never used a squat box ...hehe

I decided to practice when I can at a friends house so he can critic me ..

Also I haven't been doing dead lifts my excuse is the same as why I don't do squats .

Some advice would be great thanks!

Another quick question I have.
If someone only focused on his upper body and did not workout his lower half - legs. Would he not grow as big as someone who does?

[sharpieblet]

First of all, learn how to do proper squats.they should be part of any basic foundation routine. Doing them wrong is no excuse to give up on them.

I personally began doing leg press before squats a month ago to beef up my quads better this bulk, but after 4 sets of leg press in the 10-12 range, I still follow with a 5, 5, 3, 1 progression of heavy high bar narrow stance squats.

Both exercises should be utilized.both have their place in building strong legs. And it's hard to high bar squat heavy ass weight and not have decent leg development.

[bmontgomery87]

learn how to squat

leg press is great for assistance but you should be squatting. its a full body movement

[SuicideGripMe]

Squats are a better movement. Can you build a great set of wheels without them, most definitely. Will it take longer and be more difficult, possibly.

If back squats are that intimidating, you can do a mix of front squats, leg pressing, hack squats, RDL's, and good mornings to get a similar effect on your CNS and musculature.



Let the rants begin from the idiot "lifters" on this site who have legs the size of my 10 year old cousins...

[InsanelyFit]

If your form is bad, get someone to teach you or hire a personal trainer.

Squats >>> leg press. End of story. I don't care if you do 300kgs on a leg press, if you cannot squat, who the hell cares.


Ohhh by the way, meow meow meow.

[Muscleman562lb]

Thanks the all the advice . I will use it all.

[texicus]

ill just leave this here

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/mus...-big-legs.html

[GavriloPrincip]

...

This whole macho bullethead idea that one MUST squat is simply asinine. It’s a tool, a good tool but just a tool. IF I said you had to run to get into shape, you’d think me mad. If I said you had to ride a bike, you’d think me stupid. It’d be like saying that you MUST eat apples. Or some other random food. As if they held the secret of life and death. It’s idiotic.

Yet people seem intent on making exactly that argument. I’d suggest you read The Importance of Context and try to get your head out of your ass.

[DerekEt]

Do Both. End of story, the only thing "asinine" is limiting yourself to one or the other. These two are foundation exercises that every single serious bodybuilder does.

/thread

[Jfern689]

Squats > Leg Press

I couldn't squat properly at the beginning so what I did is I started Squatting with dumbbells instead and made the transition to Barbell.

[mtownballer20]

Lower the weight on squats and get your form down. Ask someone to watch you squat or record yourself.

[k9pit]

Squats >>> leg press. End of story. I don't care if you do 300kgs on a leg press, if you cannot squat, who the hell cares.

Unless development is your main goal.

I agree that squats *can* be a better movement for total leg development moreso than leg press but outside of the gym who the hell cares how you got the muscles...

Girls at the beach aren't saying....."you're hot, but what do you squat?" "oh you did leg press, hacks, and RDLs, sorry I don't go for your type"

[jb4476]

I do leg presses over squats . Will I benifit almost the same. I may not have much stabilizing muscle growth but will it work!?

I feel uncomfortable doing squats at the gym. Mostly because I feel my form is bad and never used a squat box ...hehe

I decided to practice when I can at a friends house so he can critic me ..

Also I haven't been doing dead lifts my excuse is the same as why I don't do squats .

Some advice would be great thanks!

Another quick question I have.
If someone only focused on his upper body and did not workout his lower half - legs. Would he not grow as big as someone who does?

A what?

[HoneyBadger300]

Lower the weight on squats and get your form down. Ask someone to watch you squat or record yourself.

I recorded myself and compared it to proper squat form videos. It really helped me out in the beginning!

[TLe041]

If you're uncomfortable with doing BB squats in the cage then just do dumbbell squats. By the time you reach the heaviest DBs (around 80-90 lb for most gyms) you can start experimenting with BBs again.

[PhysiqueKing]

I'd definitely squat. I'd even go as far as to say you'd get more out of body weight squats than you would leg press.

[nevergain]

Does your gym have any personal trainers or even employees with any certs? At my old gym, every person that worked there was a certified PT and most were studying or already had kineseology degrees. I would ask one of them to watch for a minute and see what you are doing wrong.

As far as getting big legs, im sure you can just leg press, but you lose so much functional strength. As your squat gets stronger so does your core allowing you to hold 3, 4, or 500 lbs on your shoulders. You may be able to leg press a ton, but if the rest of your body isn't used to holding up the weight, it wont do you much good in any other application.

[sharpieblet]

Does your gym have any personal trainers or even employees with any certs? At my old gym, every person that worked there was a certified PT and most were studying or already had kineseology degrees. I would ask one of them to watch for a minute and see what you are doing wrong.

As far as getting big legs, im sure you can just leg press, but you lose so much functional strength. As your squat gets stronger so does your core allowing you to hold 3, 4, or 500 lbs on your shoulders. You may be able to leg press a ton, but if the rest of your body isn't used to holding up the weight, it wont do you much good in any other application.

Oh no he didn't

[benjobb]

Depends on your goals, since if you're a bodybuilder, you can and will build good quads with the leg press. Squats have all the stabilizing effects and whole body workout that I'm sure you've heard of to no end so I won't go too much into that, but I feel that they're a good component of any workout routine. They make sure that you keep your flexibility and balance while you're getting bigger so that you won't be a stiff that can't run or jump as well as your leg strength should let you.

[Retardo-pex]

I do leg presses over squats . Will I benifit almost the same. I may not have much stabilizing muscle growth but will it work!?

I feel uncomfortable doing squats at the gym. Mostly because I feel my form is bad and never used a squat box ...hehe

I decided to practice when I can at a friends house so he can critic me ..

Also I haven't been doing dead lifts my excuse is the same as why I don't do squats .

Some advice would be great thanks!

Another quick question I have.
If someone only focused on his upper body and did not workout his lower half - legs. Would he not grow as big as someone who does?

I bet your bench press and curl form isn't perfect but you still do those :P

You don't have to squat but I can't honestly say you will see the same ebnefits from leg pressing as squatting. Stabilizer is a term that is thrown around a lot but these are super hidden secret muscles, all muscles work as stabilizers in one lift or another. I'm sure there are plenty of people who never squat and still have great lookign legs but in a newer lifter I would be willing to bet that squats will give you more bang for your buck in terms of hypertrophy and strength then a leg press will.

[Fbomb1990]

You need to learn your squats dude... and utilize both workouts. press is extremely important in order to build your legs and squats are important for your entire body. I've said it before in these forums and I'll say it again, if you don't have good squat form LEARN BY SQUATTING ONLY THE BAR! this is the only way you're going to get the right feeling and form and build up from there.

[yodasbrain]

learn how to squat

leg press is great for assistance but you should be squatting. its a full body movement

This is what I like to do.

[4Dimension]

Do both my friend. Learn to squat and deadlift properly from a qualified coach/trainer. And then use the leg press as well, especially for higher rep ranges and/or techniques like drop sets. All three exercises will help you build a solid foundation for your physique.