Leg press

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The leg press is a weight training exercise in which the individual pushes a weight away from them using their legs. The term leg press also refers to the apparatus used to perform this exercise. The leg press can be used to evaluate an athlete's overall lower body strength.

Using the diagonal sled-type leg press machine.

There are two main types of leg press:

The diagonal or vertical 'sled' type leg press. Cast iron weight disks (plates) are attached directly to the sled, which is mounted on rails. The user sits below the sled and pushes it upward with their feet. These machines normally include adjustable safety brackets that prevent the user from being trapped under the weight. A common mistake is to allow the sled to move all the way down, which may strain the knees and lower back. It should be lowered only until the knees are bent at a right angle (90 degrees).
The 'cable' type leg press, or 'seated leg press', commonly found on multigyms. The user sits upright and pushes forward with their feet onto a plate that is attached to the weight stack by means of a long steel cable.

1 Muscle groups
2 Magnitude of Leg Press Lifts
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Muscle groups

The leg press works the following muscle groups:

Varying the angle between the sled and the backrest and/or the position of the feet on the plate puts more emphasis on one or the other muscle group.

Being a compound exercise, the leg press is unquestionably more effective than isolation exercises like the leg extension or the leg curl. It is in turn less effective than the squat, which works the muscles of the lower back as well. Due to the safety concerns associated with the squat, however, the leg press is often used as the primary lower body exercise.

[edit] Magnitude of Leg Press Lifts

Since the leg press stabilizes the lifter while he presses with his legs, it is possible for strength trainers to press very heavy weights (compared to the weight used for other exercises). Bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman is featured in videos wherein he leg presses 2250 pounds (1020 kg). To compare, the world record for the squat is 1220 pounds (553.4 kg), according to Monster Muscle Online.

Oftentimes, the amount of weight that is used for a 'leg press' may seem to be artificially high. For example, television host Pat Robertson claims to have leg pressed 2,000 pounds (around 900 kg) and a later statement also claimed that his doctor was capable of a 2,700 pound (1225 kg) leg press. An AskMen.com article states that it is not uncommon for men to leg press over 1000 pounds, with some men going over 3000 pounds (1363 kg) using a limited-range of motion. However, a true leg press requires the full range of motion. Typically a person cannot do much more than double the weight of their standard 1-repetition, full-range leg-press when attempting limited-range strength straining (i.e., if they can do 500 pounds full-range they could do no more than 1,000 pounds for limited range training).