YAWT: Replacing squats

[Sukhoi]

My right ankle has limited range of motion and I can only go down about half as far as I should on squats. Does a leg press do most of what a squat does, or should I be doing something else? I assume doing a half-assed squat won't help me too much.

Hmm I guess I can kinda do squats if I put my feet a tiny bit infront of me so I don't have to bend my ankle as much to get my thighs horizontal. Is that bad?

 

[leftyman]

sounds like your attempting lamaze

 

[kinev]

I've been told that nothing truly replaces squats. You can try doing them on a smith machine, but they're not as effective as free weight squats.

 

[T3C]

Originally posted by: leftyman
sounds like your attempting lamaze

That is what I thought

 

[desy]

Step squats?
Half the weight , one leg at a time step up on a step and back down.

 

[raptor13]

If you can properly do leg press, you can properly do squats, you pussy!

Seriously, though, that's true. Furthermore, your ankles shouldn't be bending all that much on squats anyway. Squats done properly require you to stick your ass WAY out. The idea is to keep all of the weight on your heels and off your toes. By doing that, your torso stays pretty much vertical (and you are keeping your back arch-arch-arched, right?), your ass goes across the room to the far wall, and your legs from your ankles to your knees stay pretty straight. Knees bend, your thighs go parallel to the floor, and you go back up.

You should get a good stretch in your hamstrings when you're doing them properly. Squats should be working much more than just your quads.

EDIT: I should also mention that there is no true replacement for squats. No other leg excercise works the secondary muscles like squats do. Everything in your legs, your abs, and your back gets a thorough thrashing with squats. That's just not the case with other exercises.

GO DEEP OR GO HOME!!!

 

[Sukhoi]

Alrightly, good stuff, thanks.

 

[gigapet]

I assume you are not a pro or semi pro athlete so squats are not necessary. Leg press is fine.