Added On September 29, 2011
Leg Press Vs. Squat
What's Better For Scary Big Legs ?
by Rusi
The fight between the leg press and the squat will never end. Some people are scared from squats while others don't want to know that there are other hard leg exercises. I like to think of every exercise as a tool which can be useful in different situations depending on your goal. In our case the goal is: SCARY BIG LEGS. Let's start with squats and see what they can offer as far as leg mass.
Squats are probably the oldest and the most simple and "natural" leg exercise there is. The squat is the second most "natural" leg movement after walking. I hate the world "natural" because most people start to abuse it and don't actually understand what it means. Anyway I think that in this case it makes sense.
When you put a heavy barbell on your traps (don't ever low-bar squat if you want big quads) and squat deep your quads, hamstrings and glutes are responsible for transmitting power to the bar in order for you to return to your initial position. This makes the squat a very good leg exercise. However the power generated from your legs is transmitted to the bar through your trunk. Here most of the problems begin.
When you bend over during a squat you place more stress on your back. This does not mean that you shouldn't bend over during a back squat - it's impossible. You have to bend over because the bar should be right over the middle of your foot. Otherwise you will lose balance. If you have very long legs you will bend more. This will shift the stress to your glutes and lower back and your squatting abilities will be limited severely. That's why usually people who have long legs have hard time squatting and usually end up using too much hip and lower back strength in order to get the way up. This makes the squat ineffective when it comes to leg development because your glutes take over. That's why so many people complain that their rear is growing but the quadriceps and even the hamstrings do not grow much. Usually those people have very long femurs. If you are one of them don't get sad. I have the same proportion and I feel your pain. For us the squat is not very effective quad builder and this is where the leg press, hack squat and so join the game. On the hand people that have short femurs will benefit a lot more from squatting. Also they will be more upright during the movement and will use pure leg strength to lift the weight. Usually those are the shorter guys. For them the squat will be an extremely effective tool for building scary big legs.
Arnold and Franco Columbo are a perfect examples. Arnold is tall - 6'2. He has long legs and he bends over more during a squat. On the other hand his training partner Franco is short and stays more upright during squats.
The view angle is not perfect but you can see that Arnold is bend over much more than Franco despite the fact that he is squatting with a wooden board under his heels. The wooden board is essentially a substitute for Olympic shoes and allow his knees to flex a little more in order to shift more emphasis to the front leg. Also a wooden board allows you to be more upright. However if you use a wooden board that's too high you may end up placing too much stress on your knees. So, just use some weightlifting shoes - they have a special heel with essentially the same purpose.
All of this does not mean that if you have long legs you can't squat. You can and you should but at the same time don't be surprised if your legs don't grow as much as your hip muscles. This may make some of you a little sad but we can't have it all. So, what can you do? Leg press.
The leg press is a great leg exercise for people that can't squat effectively due to their body type or trunk injury. The leg press essentially removes the weak link which in this case is your back while placing the stress on your legs. That way your legs can go to complete failure unlike squats where your back and respiratory system will usually be the limiting factor.
Does the squat work more LEG muscles than the leg press? Not, really. If you go full range on the leg press your quadriceps, glutes and even hamstrings will be hit hard. Your leg stabilizers are not work that intensely but the same stays true for squats. Also in this case we are talking about mass so stabilizers are not the main issue. There are better exercises such as single leg squats that will hit the stabilizers much harder than both exercises anyway.
Conclusion: Give the leg press a try. It's legit exercise and I promise that if do it intensely enough you will cry like a little baby. I would even say that for some people it would be a much better leg mass builder than any kind of squat.
Remember that nothing is written in stone and each exercise can be useful if used correctly in the right context. There are no miracles and the squat does not always equal big legs just like the bench press does not always equal big chest. You have to find what works for you and in the meantime don't get cough into the bullshit spread by the self-proclaimed fitness gurus out their. They just want to sound tough and jump out of the page. It's the effort you put into the right direction that makes you go further not the exercise itself.
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