I love the sled leg press.
With a burning, intense passion!
No shame in my game, I love it and as I have progressed in terms of strength over the years I’ve found it to be an indispensable part of my leg training routines.
Now there are some among you, general the less hardcore or perhaps those nursing injuries, who sing the praises of the leg press over the back squat because it is easier on the knees…allegedly. On the other side of course you have the hardcore strength athletes who never met a machine they liked and think the leg press just takes away from your squat time. Well to be clear I’m not advocating ANYTHING over the back squat, which is the 2nd best exercise known to man, after the deadlift of course, but I am advocating for greater inclusion of the leg press to the hardcore lifters and perhaps a reevaluation of leg training for the squat-less.
My focus these days is strongman and will be for the foreseeable future, unfortunately my hips and surgically repaired left knee are less excited at the prospect of being the light-skinned Mark Felix. When I was younger I had my squat day every week like everyone does, and made my gains early on. Also like many young lifters I didn’t understand the necessity of stretching or the value of a proper warm-up. Now at the ripe old age of 33 my hips tell the story every morning after event training, heavy squats or virtually any deadlifts. My knees feel fine, great even, my ankles do okay but my hips don’t care much for me after lots of back squats. As such, I have to find alternative because I’d be killing my career early if I forced myself to squat through stiffness and pain every week. I don’t plan to squat AND deadlift every week, though some weeks I do, and the weeks when I don’t squat I do leg press.
My heaviest back squat to date is 585 for 1, and I know that I could get more but I never fit inside a rack well and the height never lines up good for me so I have a hard time going all out. Neverthless, I usually find myself working around 400-450 on my light days and pushing around 500 or so on my heavier days. I’m very happy with those numbers because I know my OMR would probably be about 600-650 if I had a monolift or squat rack that lined up with my unique height, however that is not to be right now. On the sled leg press, I’ve topped out around 1400 pounds for a set of 10 as my highest, but anyone that’s done proper reps on a leg press knows that weight is of little consequence and EVERYONE has a high leg press number.
A proper rep on the leg press would bring the leg into a 90 degree angle with your feet planted flat on the platform. The key to getting the most out of the exercise is being genuine with the quality of your rep, because most people do tiny half-reps and use their hip flexors to move the weight and even throw a little calf action on the end to finish it. The trick is to let the ankle be your guide as you lower the platform and if you “screw your heels in” to the sled your entire leg will be feeling the strain of the weight, and therefore you get the entirety of the weight being supported by your whole leg, not just tension on your lower back and hip flexors.
For strongman, I feel that incorporating the leg press helps when I dig in on a truck pull. Part of doing well in strongman is not being unaccustomed to feeling huge amounts of weight and in the gym you’d be hard pressed to fine 1,000 pounds on many other implements. Every muscle fiber in your leg will take the strain of the massive weight and if you allow yourself to take full reps you will instantly feel the pump in your quads and hams and on the heavier weights your glutes will also get recruited. I think that carry-over to the truck pull is noticeable and since you can’t event train all the time, I think it’s a great tool to use.
Is it a back squat? Heck no.
But it’s not supposed to be a back squat, it’s a leg press. The two lifts work with each other and if you are a strength athlete of any kind the traditional back squat is one movement that can never be taken away. The leg press can be used to provide whole leg tension for strength athletes that need to work the leg outside the squat rack, but need something heavier than a lunge. If you’re not an athlete you shouldn’t rely on just the leg press for your leg routine, if you can’t back squat do front squat, if you can’t front squat do hack squats, if you can’t do hack squats…well, then I guess you have to do leg presses but don’t forget the lunges!
I think sometimes people go into the gym with a bias for or against certain things and only in time do you realize that there’s a role for everything, and as your needs change, so should your routines.
Stay strong, be blessed!
With a burning, intense passion!
No shame in my game, I love it and as I have progressed in terms of strength over the years I’ve found it to be an indispensable part of my leg training routines.
 |
| My latest trip to the sled leg press, 1288lbs for 9 reps. |
My focus these days is strongman and will be for the foreseeable future, unfortunately my hips and surgically repaired left knee are less excited at the prospect of being the light-skinned Mark Felix. When I was younger I had my squat day every week like everyone does, and made my gains early on. Also like many young lifters I didn’t understand the necessity of stretching or the value of a proper warm-up. Now at the ripe old age of 33 my hips tell the story every morning after event training, heavy squats or virtually any deadlifts. My knees feel fine, great even, my ankles do okay but my hips don’t care much for me after lots of back squats. As such, I have to find alternative because I’d be killing my career early if I forced myself to squat through stiffness and pain every week. I don’t plan to squat AND deadlift every week, though some weeks I do, and the weeks when I don’t squat I do leg press.
My heaviest back squat to date is 585 for 1, and I know that I could get more but I never fit inside a rack well and the height never lines up good for me so I have a hard time going all out. Neverthless, I usually find myself working around 400-450 on my light days and pushing around 500 or so on my heavier days. I’m very happy with those numbers because I know my OMR would probably be about 600-650 if I had a monolift or squat rack that lined up with my unique height, however that is not to be right now. On the sled leg press, I’ve topped out around 1400 pounds for a set of 10 as my highest, but anyone that’s done proper reps on a leg press knows that weight is of little consequence and EVERYONE has a high leg press number.
A proper rep on the leg press would bring the leg into a 90 degree angle with your feet planted flat on the platform. The key to getting the most out of the exercise is being genuine with the quality of your rep, because most people do tiny half-reps and use their hip flexors to move the weight and even throw a little calf action on the end to finish it. The trick is to let the ankle be your guide as you lower the platform and if you “screw your heels in” to the sled your entire leg will be feeling the strain of the weight, and therefore you get the entirety of the weight being supported by your whole leg, not just tension on your lower back and hip flexors.
For strongman, I feel that incorporating the leg press helps when I dig in on a truck pull. Part of doing well in strongman is not being unaccustomed to feeling huge amounts of weight and in the gym you’d be hard pressed to fine 1,000 pounds on many other implements. Every muscle fiber in your leg will take the strain of the massive weight and if you allow yourself to take full reps you will instantly feel the pump in your quads and hams and on the heavier weights your glutes will also get recruited. I think that carry-over to the truck pull is noticeable and since you can’t event train all the time, I think it’s a great tool to use.
Is it a back squat? Heck no.
But it’s not supposed to be a back squat, it’s a leg press. The two lifts work with each other and if you are a strength athlete of any kind the traditional back squat is one movement that can never be taken away. The leg press can be used to provide whole leg tension for strength athletes that need to work the leg outside the squat rack, but need something heavier than a lunge. If you’re not an athlete you shouldn’t rely on just the leg press for your leg routine, if you can’t back squat do front squat, if you can’t front squat do hack squats, if you can’t do hack squats…well, then I guess you have to do leg presses but don’t forget the lunges!
I think sometimes people go into the gym with a bias for or against certain things and only in time do you realize that there’s a role for everything, and as your needs change, so should your routines.
Stay strong, be blessed!
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