The leg press loads the quads and glutes heavily while a seat and backrest do the stabilising, so it is the usual way to train legs hard without a bar on your back. It is also the most forgiving heavy leg movement to take to failure, because racking it is a flick of the handles.
How to do it
- Feet mid-platform, shoulder width. Lower until your knees reach about 90°.
- Keep your lower back flat on the pad for the whole set.
Common mistakes
- Going so deep the pelvis tucks under, which loads the lumbar spine instead of the legs.
- Locking the knees hard at the top.
What it trains
- Quads
- extend the knees against the platform — the prime mover at any foot position
- Glutes
- extend the hips, and take more of it the higher your feet sit and the deeper you go
- Hamstrings
- assist at the hip, though far less than in a squat or a hinge
- Calves
- stabilise against the platform; they do not move the weight unless you are doing calf presses
Variations and alternatives
Common questions
Is the leg press as good as squats?
For building quads, it is genuinely competitive and lets most people handle more load with less fatigue. For everything the squat asks of your trunk and balance, no. If you only do one, squat; if you do both, the press is the one to push hard on.
Why can I leg press so much more than I squat?
Because the machine supports your torso, the range is shorter, and the sled is on rails at an angle — the number on a leg press is not a bodyweight-comparable figure and does not translate to a squat. Track it as its own exercise and only compare it with itself.
How far down should the platform come?
Until your knees reach roughly 90°, or as deep as you can go before your lower back starts lifting off the pad. That rounding at the bottom is the one genuine risk on this machine, and it is what stopping short is worth doing to avoid.
In StackUp. Logged as weight and reps per set, and your heaviest working set decides whether the weight goes up next time. Get the app.
Legs
