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Finally, I found a great leg excercise

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spikespiegal

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I'm in the later half of my 30's, and over the years have found the hardest thing to work at are my legs. In my 20's I used to run 6-8miles several days a week, and that worked great and got my BMI down to absurdly low levels. However, I'm long past any type of impact excercise. Those of you my age or older and can still run need to be thankful the genetic fairy blessed you with extra cartilage in your knees and hips.

Anyways...after I stopped running I found my legs obviously got soft even with occasional resistance training. Upper body is easy for me. A couple barbells and some push up brackets and I'm sold from the waist up. But, if I don't work my legs then I'd rapidly fall out of shape given these are the dominant muscle group in terms of size. Over the years I've tried pretty much everything in terms of home excercise:

- Leg Curls / bench (rubber bands or weights: Too muscle specific, so if you don't work nearby muscles like hammies or glutes then it's very imbalanced and has limited returns. Brutal on ligaments and tendons.

- Hard Biking: Decent cardio, but season dependant. Works legs a lot like leg curls, unless you are cranking hard. Too muscle specific, but good for cardio.

- Full squat with weights: Works a great range of leg muscles. Can be hard on back. Awkward. Easy to screw up, stand wrong and tweak something that hurts for days.

- Leg press: Brutal on back until (duh) I realized you can do them on leg at a time. Results bewtween full squats and leg curls.

- Rowing machine: Boring.

So...My ex-GF got me one of those sliding benches that I believe Chuck Norris sells. Weider has a cheaper version. I think I used it once after she got it, and found it kind of retarded - my cats got more use out of it since then. Then, about a month ago I got bored, dusted it off, and started doing one legged presses with it. Whoa....using one leg at a time, this thing burns, and gets a burn off a large group of muscles fast! When one leg is burnt switch to the other and then rotate back - obvious. Has a fairly natural range of motion. There's some hammies in there, some calves and glutes as well. Been using this thing this way for about a month and was surprised how quickly it built my legs up, and did so without having to do a filler to balance the muscles out. After I got stronger I just adjusted it up a few degrees. I use the pulleys and crap to hang rugs to dry 🙂 It's funny but at best I've always had runners legs. Dropped a few pound already and thighs really starting to build. Upper quads feel like bricks, and I've never been able to get at those unless I'm doing hard running. Cats are giving me funny looks because it's supposed to be for sleeping on.

So, I guess some of this TV junk actually works...if you figure out a better way to use it. 🙂
 
It's not clear what your goals are with your leg workouts - strength, endurance, size, overall fitness? Even though rowing, running, biking, squatting and leg curls all exercise your legs, their training effects are vastly different, so it seems odd to me to compare them. Anyways, it's good that you found a leg exercise you like, though I'd bet your results (at least strength & mass wise) would be vastly better with squatting if you took the time to learn proper form...
 
Originally posted by: Megatomic
Got a link or a product name for the gizmo you are using?
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Total Gym

Biking isn't season-dependent as a $140 trainer will turn your bike into a very competent stationary one.

That said, yes what you're describing is great. I do all of my leg work now in a one-legged fashion, either one-legged squats or lunges. I feel it's better from a balance perspective and mentally it's easier to push one leg to failure than both at the same time. Your movement is similar to the hack squat at the gym which I sometimes do one leg at a time, too.

 
I can't work my legs one at at time. I'd rather double up and save time, and squat heavier weight. Just personal preference. Squats and Deadlifts have exploded my legs. If only I could get that up top...
 
Free form one legged squats also builds balance and coordination. That would be an even better exercise. That said, heavy squats as well as this machine can help build up the requisite strength.
 
Seems like you need to work on your squat form if it is awkward or painful. I've had people use 1,000 excuses as to why squats suck or they can't do them and then we go to the gym... that's where I teach them good form and 'lo and behold - no pain or awkwardness.
 
Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
the only exercise thats ever come close to squats for me are weighted lunges and reverse lunges. absolutely killer.
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How does this really differ from a front lunge? When I do mine I do one leg at a time, weighting as much as possible the active leg.

 
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