Bringing Back The Leg Press
Bringing Back The Leg Press:
Hey, I’ll admit it. I was always a proponent of getting rid of the leg press for powerlifting for years. But some things have happened as of late that have me changing my mind.
Fact #1: Before I really started competing again in powerlifting in 1995, I had leg pressed nearly every week for 12 straight years. No doubt years of hard pressing built a solid foundation for me.
Fact #2: Lifters who include band training in their squat workouts often times need a way to include heavy weights in their training without putting the bar on their back. For most people this involves reverse hypers, glute ham raises and belt squats or front squats. The leg press can fit in this category as well.
Fact #3: When Steve Goggins was asked how he took his squat from 1032 to the first 1102 in history, his response was an increase in leg pressing in both weight and reps.
Fact #4: Andy Bolton and I had a conversation after his record breaking 1114 done at the WPO Finals in Atlanta. Andy told me after every contest he does leg presses for nearly a month. His “off season” training often includes leg presses.
In the 1980’s, I had never seen a reverse hyper, glute-ham machine, nor a belt squat machine. Powerlifters that wanted more volume work after their squats were done, simply did front squats, hack squats, overhead squats or leg presses. The records set in the 80’s seem to be nearly the same as now if you exclude the gear factor. Of course, with better gear, comes higher performances.
Let’s put powerlifters into two categories: beginner and professional. Beginning powerlifters can train with such little volume at first and still make gains. For most beginning lifters, having a bar on their back is quite painful and uncomfortable. Leg pressing can alleviate the fear and pain factor, help keep volume higher and help muscles mature in the quads, hips, glutes and hamstrings. Those muscles listed are vital muscles to train for a beginner. And here’s the other thing, how many beginners have access to reverse hypers, glute ham machines and belt squat machines? How many beginners can front squat or box squat properly? Leg presses will build strength, increase volume all the while technique is being perfected in all versions of squatting and the confidence factor of a beginner is heightened when having a loaded bar on their back.
How can a professional put the leg press to use? First, if he/she is training with bands, then accessory exercises must involve hamstring work, glute work and some hip and quad work. Most lifters get this accessory work with the hypers and glute hams. The rest of the lifters must find an exercise to work those muscles without that equipment. The leg press is one of the best substitutes. Second, as a professional raises their squat, the weight over time will gradually begin to hinder bench press progress due to shoulder and arm pain and sometimes, overall CNS shutdown. So, the solution is to get the bar off your back while still training the muscles of the squat that are important. Leg presses can help do that. Finally, superior squat strength at some point probably requires volume training so high, that most humans could not take the amount of pounding from a squat bar that would be required to do the endless amounts of squatting with heavy weights that would be needed to maintain or improve strength. This is one of the reasons that glute hams and reverse hypers are so effective. They allow you to train the muscles of the squat and deadlift, keep volume up, but reduce the bar time on your back. Leg presses can do the very same thing.
Experienced lifters may also find that off season training is a good time to switch exercises and keep working the muscles of the hips, glutes and legs while resting their upper body from the stress of heavy squatting.
What type of lifter may best benefit from leg presses? No doubt the beginner will benefit the most. All beginners need muscle maturity and need muscle training in the areas that require strength in the squat and deadlift. Leg presses will do that for a beginner. The caution here is that for a beginner you will see some carryover from a leg press strength to squat strength, but as the lifter progresses and gets stronger, that carryover transfer begins to decline. This is why most experienced lifters drop the leg press. One of the reasons it has little carryover is because most experienced lifters are using reverse hypers, glute ham raises, belt squats or lunges in their routines and training those muscles effectively. The muscle base of strength has been built and throwing more plates on the leg press, for some lifters becomes meaningless. Again, I ask the question though, how many lifters have access to those two pieces of equipment? Because if they don’t have access to them, I’ll bet they’re leg pressing to compensate. And even if they do have them, pressing can still be done as a substitute or main accessory to train those muscles.
The other most benefited lifter would be the narrow stance squatter. Most leg presses are built with a push plate that will allow your stance to go slightly wider than shoulder width, hence, providing a perfect strength groove to train in the leg press to improve your squat groove strength. No doubt, wide stance squatters would benefit more from leg presses if the push plate was wider and a lifter could move their feet out to more closely resemble their stance. If you have your own gym, I’m sure you can find someone to fix your push plate for you.
Another category of lifters that will benefit from leg pressing are injured lifters. In 1997, I tore both hamstrings and both calves at the same time. I couldn’t deadlift for 6 months and it was 2 months before I could do partial squats. I did leg presses for months, starting with partial reps and working to deeper and full reps as the muscles healed and the strength came back. Lifter’s who have spinal pain from deadlifting or heavy squatting can incorporate the leg press to help reduce pain.
Older lifters who can barely make it through a squat workout due to pain or fatigue, can use the leg press to continue training those important muscles and keep their volume high without having to end the workout.
I’m not suggesting the leg press is the absolute cure to a better squat. I’m simply saying it has lost its place in past years. The leg press has its place in training and I still feel it’s a must for a beginner. For more experienced lifters, I think at times of your training cycle over a year’s time, you should have some leg pressing in your training for recuperation, volume work, injury prevention or healing and also for something as simple as variety.
Good lifters don’t get good by skipping the work. Leg pressing is hard work. Yet, it’s hard work done at an angle rather than standing up. There are plenty of good lifters to support leg pressing, even with the recent trend of skipping leg presses. Just ask Andy Bolton, Steve Goggins and Ed Coan if they think pressing is important. I would surely listen to three of the world’s best squatters. Oh, by the way, did I mention, they are also three of the world’s best deadlifters? Think about it.
