Half Leg Press or Full Leg Press?





Q: Following on from your superb Hypertrophy Training for the Ectomorph (HTE) programme, I've also purchased and read with great interest, your Strength and Physique Volume 1 & 2 books; Neo-Classical Bodybuilding and The Articles. They supplement High Tension Exercises for Muscular Growth well and I can see how your vast knowledge has grown over time.

Following your advice regarding front squats for better quadriceps development, when leg pressing I have now changed my feet positioning from the middle of the plate to as low down on the plate as possible, feet about 20cm apart, pressing more through the ball of my foot as opposed to my heel.

It has definitely hit my quadriceps a lot more, the next day I felt a soreness in the muscles closer to my knees that I hadn't felt before and I've been leg pressing for years. Naturally, I couldn't press as much weight, but within weeks, I could see that my quadriceps were bigger. 

As a result, I've a few questions:

(a) I've only ever leg pressed half way i.e. till my legs are at 90 degrees, having read for years that squatting/pressing lower can be detrimental to your knees. As long as my form/technique is correct and I have no underlying knee issues, is this true or false? Should I be leg pressing the full range?

(b) I've also always read that once you're squatting past 90 degrees, the weight shifts from your quadriceps to your glutes and hips. I think, though I could be incorrect, that you may allude to this in one of your books or online. If so, does this also apply to leg pressing? Given I prefer the neo classical bodybuilding look i.e. Steve Reeves, I don't want bigger glutes or hips.

(c) Leg press machines seem to allow a more 'leaning forward' front squat which arguably wouldn't be possible when squatting with a barbell. If this is true, do you think full range or half range leg pressing keeps more of the weight tension on the quadriceps than squatting?

Best regards and thanks!

Kalwant

Leeds, England


My Answer: Hey Kal, thank you for purchasing all of my books.  The short answer to your questions is that full range leg presses are better than half presses for quadriceps development.  Full range leg presses are not detrimental to your knees, provided that you ease into that full range of motion.  In other words, don't go into full range with heavy weight right off the bat.  Extend your range of motion over time until you achieve full range without any knee pain.

Now does leg pressing past 90 degrees work the glutes and hamstrings?  Yes, but the vastus medialis does work at the bottom range of motion.  If you only did half leg presses, then you would not fully activate the vastus medialis oblique.  Since you are performing leg presses on the balls of your feet near the bottom edge of the plate, the glutes and hamstrings are minimally worked.  They would not overdevelop and destroy your neo-classical bodybuilding look.

Hope that clarifies!

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