Leg Press: How far to go down? (POLL)

[Dudd]

I was at the gym the other day doing leg presses, and one of the trainers came over while I was doing them and told me I was going too low and would hurt my knee. However, when I worked out for the past year with my team at school, we went past that, and we've got a guy overlooking the room who is jacked and seemed to know pretty much all there was to know about lifting. So, I'm taking it to you ATers. Which is right? All the way down, or stop at a 90 degree angle?

Animated gif of what I was first taught

 

[Yossarian]

Just past 90. Technically anything past 90 and you involve more glute than quad, but I like to make sure I get full quad action since it's hard to tell where exactly 90 is.

 

[Babbles]

I go right past 90, not really sure how far past, but it just 'feels' right. Seems like if you just go to 90 you really aren't getting as full as a work out as you should. However, going to deep could screw up your knees.

 

[CraigRT]

90 degrees, give or take a few degrees. don't go all the way back.. not good.

 

[Zebo]

Really depends on the wieght. If your just doing a high rep workout with low weight full going down all the way is great. Stretchs out the ligaments tendons and muscules.

If your straining and doing heavy wieght low reps 90 is right oir you will blow a knee.

I always do full contraction and extension on the legsled to warm up then move over to squats for heavy lifting.

 

[miniMUNCH]

A guy I use to know had a PhD in 'sports medicine', was ripped like a race horse on steriods, and worked as a professional training and conditioning consultant with the Raiders, Lakers, etc.

He told me these things:

1. If doing heavy weight (like 250lbs+ squat or 500lbs on a 45deg. leg sled) only go to about 90 degrees. On the leg sled, under no circumstances should your hips start to 'roll up'... i.e. your butt stays firmly planted on the seat.

2. When doing light weight for squats (which for my sets falls in the range 135-185lbs), do all the way down until your butt hits your ankles.

The great thing I noticed is with #1 and #2, you never ending up using the knee joint as a 'break' (as in car breaks). I have had previous knee injuries and excercising in this fashion doesn't bug my knees at all.

My knees used to really hurt when I would stop mid way no matter the weight I used.

Hope that made sense.

The guy also told tons of great nutritional guidelines which have really worked for me over the years.

 

[Angrymarshmello]

I try to go a little past 90 degrees

 

[StageLeft]

I'm thinking 90. I've tried both ways and the other way just feels bad. Because of my back I can no longer do leg press. the small of my back presses into the seat too hard no matter what, so i can only do squats

 

[yobarman]

weak, squats are where it's at.

 

[Angrymarshmello]

Originally posted by: yobarman
weak, squats are where it's at.

I don't recall him saying he only does leg presses for his quads

 

[yobarman]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH

Originally posted by: yobarman
weak, squats are where it's at.

I don't recall him saying he only does leg presses for his quads

haha ok back on topic.

I go past 90 degrees, not all the way down, but inbetween. I think my max is 675.

 

[slikmunks]

i go maybe a tiny bit past 90 degrees... leg presses are awesome... you can just stack on weight and just pound them... i did 19 plates once, 8 on each side, 3 on top... and then i stopped working out for a while ... and since i haven't done leg presses... wonder what i can do now... my quads are getting soft, gotta start squatting and pressing again!!

 

[slikmunks]

oh, and the crazy thing was... i had this trainer that i was working with, this girl... she put on another plate on top and did it... i was like WOW!!! :Q

 

[beer]

all the way down

the same with squats. BELOW PARALLEL. You actually put far more strain on your knees when you squat to parallel....becausse at that depth, the weight rests on your knees. Below parallel, your ass holds most of the load. And your ass is muscle, your knees are joints...which would you rather have the weight on?

 

[coolVariable]

Have no clue but just voted 90° because it sounds cool!
090° man!!!

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: yobarman

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH

Originally posted by: yobarman
weak, squats are where it's at.

I don't recall him saying he only does leg presses for his quads

haha ok back on topic.

I go past 90 degrees, not all the way down, but inbetween. I think my max is 675.

People that max on leg press make me laugh. As if it's some sort of real lift, it helps your legs the same way a smith press can help you bench. I've noticed that there is hardly any carryover from leg press to squat.

 

[yobarman]

Originally posted by: Elemental007

Originally posted by: yobarman

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH

Originally posted by: yobarman
weak, squats are where it's at.

I don't recall him saying he only does leg presses for his quads

haha ok back on topic.

I go past 90 degrees, not all the way down, but inbetween. I think my max is 675.

People that max on leg press make me laugh. As if it's some sort of real lift, it helps your legs the same way a smith press can help you bench. I've noticed that there is hardly any carryover from leg press to squat.

it wasn't a max, it's just the most i ever did. I could easily do more, prolly get up to 900lbs but i really don't like doing the leg press.

 

[Angrymarshmello]

Originally posted by: Elemental007

Originally posted by: yobarman

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH

Originally posted by: yobarman
weak, squats are where it's at.

I don't recall him saying he only does leg presses for his quads

haha ok back on topic.

I go past 90 degrees, not all the way down, but inbetween. I think my max is 675.

People that max on leg press make me laugh. As if it's some sort of real lift, it helps your legs the same way a smith press can help you bench. I've noticed that there is hardly any carryover from leg press to squat.

There is little carryover - assuming you're working at a 45 degree leg press machine, the actual weight you're throwing up is WEIGHT x sin (angle of machine). IE, on a 45 degree machine, it would be .7, so if you have 500lbs on total, it's really about 350.

 

[slikmunks]

Originally posted by: Elemental007

Originally posted by: yobarman

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH

Originally posted by: yobarman
weak, squats are where it's at.

I don't recall him saying he only does leg presses for his quads

haha ok back on topic.

I go past 90 degrees, not all the way down, but inbetween. I think my max is 675.

People that max on leg press make me laugh. As if it's some sort of real lift, it helps your legs the same way a smith press can help you bench. I've noticed that there is hardly any carryover from leg press to squat.

really now...? all the people i know who can leg press a lot can also squat a lot... when i was leg pressing my max, i was also squatting 3plates and a quarter... i mean, that might not be much to YOU, but i mean... it's kinda a lot to me...

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: slikmunks

Originally posted by: Elemental007

Originally posted by: yobarman

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH

Originally posted by: yobarman
weak, squats are where it's at.

I don't recall him saying he only does leg presses for his quads

haha ok back on topic.

I go past 90 degrees, not all the way down, but inbetween. I think my max is 675.

People that max on leg press make me laugh. As if it's some sort of real lift, it helps your legs the same way a smith press can help you bench. I've noticed that there is hardly any carryover from leg press to squat.

really now...? all the people i know who can leg press a lot can also squat a lot... when i was leg pressing my max, i was also squatting 3plates and a quarter... i mean, that might not be much to YOU, but i mean... it's kinda a lot to me...

That's still a lot. I'd question youir depth though. I can't do 365 without full wraps and a suit on. But that's going below parallel.

 

[LeStEr]

Originally posted by: Yield
90 degrees, give or take a few degrees. don't go all the way back.. not good.

 

[silverpig]

When I was doing my rowing training I would go just past 90 for sets of 12. I'd then do 150% of that weight, go down only 1/4 that distance for 500 reps in a row (really quick little ones).

 

[Doctorweir]

All the way down (180 degrees) will definitely kill your knee...
Just go down like 160 Degrees, so the weight is still hold by the muscle and not by your bones and squeezing your knee *outch*

 

[RegaPlanet]

I also vote for barely past 90 if that. Your muscle doesn't need that huge of a stretch(you can just stretch without weight)... the full contraction is the important part remember. It's not like going past 90 is going to lengthen your muscles more than not going past 90 would. Muscles dont lengthen period. Some people might see better results going all the way down but its really not worth it with the risk of injury... believe me I've had a serious back injury and a pec tear(due to improper form and warmup) both which accumulated to about 3-4yrs of down-time with training in my 8yrs of serious training.

 

[Spamela]

Originally posted by: Elemental007

Originally posted by: yobarman

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH

Originally posted by: yobarman
weak, squats are where it's at.

I don't recall him saying he only does leg presses for his quads

haha ok back on topic.

I go past 90 degrees, not all the way down, but inbetween. I think my max is 675.

People that max on leg press make me laugh. As if it's some sort of real lift, it helps your legs the same way a smith press can help you bench. I've noticed that there is hardly any carryover from leg press to squat.

i agree. leg press is just lame, unless you're rehabilitating an injury -or- don't have access to a squat rack & free weights. people in my gym will try to load up the leg press to impress everyone, then won't (can't) do anything but partials.

the key thing with the leg press, if you have to do it, is this: don't fully extend your legs (don't lock out your knees) or you're likely to injure them.