If you begin your health journey, you often set targets for your self like construct some biceps, blast your chest… however what about your legs?
Your legs are roughly 1/2 of your physique and you may’t actually look freakish with simply vast shoulders when you’re strolling round on a pair of twigs. That’s why in order for you a easy technique to construct some highly effective legs, it is best to think about the seated leg press.
On this weblog submit, I’m going to attempt to make you a believer on this widespread train. Be sure you learn all the best way to the tip since you’re about to find some killer advantages of this train, the first and secondary muscle tissues labored, really useful machines in your residence fitness center, and much more.
What’s the Seated Leg Press Good For?
The leg press is superb at constructing a number of the most essential muscle tissues in your legs together with your glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings. These muscle tissues are answerable for fundamental decrease physique actions like operating, squatting, and leaping. Plus a well-developed decrease physique balances out a cumbersome higher physique on guys, and places just a little extra junk within the trunk on ladies.
One other factor the leg press is sweet for is permitting you to construct decrease physique muscle tissues with out having to depend on barbell squats. I do know this would possibly irritate all the fellows that preach that squats are the “king of workouts”, however squats require a sure stage of technical experience simply to do them safely. Most individuals don’t care about being good at barbell squats simply to allow them to develop their leg muscle tissues. They only wish to “do the factor” that can assist them construct leg muscle tissues with the smallest threat of harm.
With regards to the leg press, there’s no studying curve. You actually load weights onto the machine, sit down, unlock the load, and begin urgent.
Seated Leg Press Muscular tissues Labored
Your quadriceps are the first muscle tissues labored by this train, adopted by your hamstrings. Moreover, your calves and glutes are wanted as stabilizers through the motion and they also obtain secondary stimulation.
The quadriceps femoris is a muscle group on the entrance of your thigh and contains the vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, vastus intermedius, and the rectus femoris. This huge muscle group is answerable for extending the knee and aids in operating, squatting, and leaping.
Your hamstrings are situated proper under your butt on the again of your legs and flex of your knee. In addition they support in the identical bodily actions that require assist out of your quadriceps.
Regardless of the seated leg press being a quite simple motion, it does an excellent job of working these essential decrease physique muscle tissues.
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8 Seated Leg Press Train Advantages
I’ve already shared a number of explanation why the leg press is a stable train for leg improvement, however I’m going to proceed making an attempt to brainwash you. Listed below are 8 actual seated leg press advantages that you just in all probability didn’t know.
1. They’re a Killer Heat-Up on Leg Days
The seated leg press can work your quads, glutes, calves, and toes. So, utilizing this machine as a warm-up will get you prepared for different essential decrease physique actions like lunges and squats. The totally different variations on the leg press additionally enable you warm-up totally different muscle tissues to organize you in your working units.
2. They Can Assist You Break By Plateaus
The seated leg press may also assist break plateaus in your different actions. Sooner or later, you’ll almost certainly plateau along with your squat development, however the seated leg press will assist you to stretch your muscle tissues and work your joints for depth, serving to you get previous your squat plateaus.
Additionally, experimenting with the variations of the seated leg press would possibly be capable of assist along with your explosivity, rep ranges, and momentum with different workouts.
3. They Construct Superior Quad Energy
The facility it is advisable to carry the leg press machine largely comes out of your quads. The seated leg press truly engages your quads throughout each part: the push-off and lifting part, the management part, and even when bringing the load again down.
Through the management part and weight return, your quadriceps act as secondary stabilizers, which suggests the quads are nonetheless engaged. Robust quadriceps are essential as a result of they contribute to your potential to carry up your physique weight, sit down, and rise up. Plus, outlined quads look rattling good.
4. They Additionally Strengthen the Glutes & Construct Robust Hamstrings
Your glutes are the primary group of muscle tissues situated in your butt, and the leg press is a decrease physique train which makes use of these muscle tissues as stabilizers.
If you do the leg press accurately, the motion will absolutely interact your glutes throughout each the extension/carry part and the management/ holding part. Doing excessive reps with low weight will assist with endurance, whereas doing just some reps with a really excessive quantity of weight will add a ton of muscle mass and make your glutes bulkier.
Robust glutes are well-defined glutes, and meaning your butt will look very nice and tight. (I’m speaking to you women) Plus, they might help you carry out quite a lot of decrease physique workouts, and robust glutes come in useful for on a regular basis issues like strolling up the steps.
Doing leg presses frequently may also assist with growing the form and energy of your hamstrings as a result of they’re engaged by many of the motion as effectively. Robust hamstrings are important for getting that push-off energy that you just want whenever you run, stroll up stairs, skate, and soar.
5. They Construct Nicely-Rounded Legs
The seated leg press is a lower-body, compound train as a result of the train engages multiple main muscle group at a time. Seated leg presses assist to train nearly each main muscle and muscle group in your legs directly.
Generally, your physique likes to construct muscle tissues collectively as a unit. So whenever you construct a number of decrease physique muscle tissues utilizing one train, your physique rewards you with quicker muscle positive aspects.
Along with your quads, hamstrings, and glutes, the leg press machine can also be nice in your calves. They act as secondary stabilizers through the motion. However, if you wish to actively construct extra muscle in your calves, the leg press can double as a calf increase machine just by locking the platform to its prime place and urgent up with the balls of your toes.
6. There are Numerous Variations with Quick Development
If you’re doing a seated leg press, you possibly can simply change issues up. For instance, urgent by the balls of your toes prompts your quads. Then, when you change up your emphasis and press by your heels you possibly can activate extra of your glutes.
It’s also possible to regulate your toes – slim, vast, and flared out – and alter the width of your stance – low, mid, and excessive. All of those totally different variations are you able to enable you activate particular muscle tissues greater than others. Simply try the Seated Leg Press Variations additional all the way down to get some concepts.
The seated leg press additionally means that you can obtain progressive overload very simply. With a weight stack, you possibly can simply change the location of the pin in simply seconds. The machines with plates do take just a little longer to alter, however that break means that you can get ample relaxation between units.
Alongside the identical strains, the straightforward weight adjustment makes seated leg presses nice for pyramid units (weight development) and drop units (reducing the load from excessive to low).
7. They Enhance Your Working Pace and Vertical Leap
Leg presses may even enable you soar increased and run quicker as a result of they strengthen the facility and endurance of your legs. If you embody seated leg presses in your common exercise routine, you’ll finally discover that you’ve extra explosive energy, and be capable of carry out longer bodily exercise.
Over time, the leg press machine will present your physique with a way more secure base. And, when you play sports activities like volleyball or basketball, you would possibly even see will increase in your vertical. Tim Grover, Dwayne Wade’s low season energy coach, says that the one leg press is a crucial a part of the basketball star’s coaching classes due to the way it improves his soar.
As for velocity, your legs have to create sufficient pressure to maneuver your physique ahead. The extra pressure they create, the additional and quicker you’ll run. Heavy leg presses can enhance your velocity as a result of your decrease physique will adapt to create a big quantity of pressure.
8. Its newbie pleasant
One other nice seated leg press profit is its noob-friendly nature. The motion is easy, and learners can simply preserve their kind. All you do is load the weights, sit nonetheless, unlock the weights, and begin urgent.
How To Do The Seated Leg Press Train
The leg press machine would possibly look intimidating the primary time you test it out, however it’s simpler to make use of than you would possibly assume. Right here’s easy methods to safely function this factor so you can begin reworking your legs.
- Begin by including a 25 or 35 lb plate to every facet of the machine. You may all the time enhance or lower the load relying on how troublesome it feels throughout your first reps.
- Have a seat within the machine and place your toes on the footplate about shoulder-width aside.
- Press your toes into the footplate and absolutely prolong your legs so you possibly can unlock the security latch along with your arms.
- Slowly bend your knees and let the footplate transfer nearer to your physique.
- When your knees make a 90-degree angle or much less, straighten your legs once more by partaking your quads and hamstrings and urgent in opposition to the footplate.
- This can be a single rep.
Seated Leg Press Exercise Instance
Right here’s a quite simple exercise utilizing the leg press that may construct your quads and hamstrings over time. It begins with a number of warm-up units after which jumps into the work units.
Heat-Up Units
Take into account the load you propose to make use of in your work units and calculate your warm-up units as a proportion of that weight. Right here’s a proportion template you should use in your warm-ups.
- 60% of labor set weight x 12 reps
- 80% of labor set weight x 6 reps
- 95% of labor set weight x 2 reps
Relaxation for 60 seconds after warm-up units 1 and a couple of and relaxation for two minutes after warm-up set 3.
Work Units
For optimum simplicity, use the identical quantity of weight to carry out 3 units of 10 to 12 reps. Relaxation 2-3 minutes between units.
In case your work set weight is 100 lbs, your leg press exercise would look one thing like this.
- 100 lbs x 12 reps
- 100 lbs x 11 reps
- 100 lbs x 10 reps
On this instance, let’s fake you couldn’t carry out all of the reps in units 1 and a couple of, however that’s OK. So long as you full sufficient reps in your goal rep vary, then it is best to enhance the load by 5 lbs for the following session.
6 Seated Leg Press Variations
Regardless that the leg press looks as if a easy machine with just one technique to do it, that’s not true! With a number of minor foot changes, you possibly can truly emphasize totally different leg muscle tissues. Listed below are 6 variations it is best to think about when utilizing the leg press.
Toes Shoulder-Width Aside
That is the essential setup for the leg press. Place your toes shoulder-width aside in the course of the footplate. This variation will give probably the most balanced muscle stimulation.
Vast Stance
For this variation, place your toes in the course of the footplate just a little wider than shoulder-width. This setup emphasizes your inside thigh muscle tissues.
Slim Stance
For the slim stance variation, place your toes in the course of the footplate narrower than shoulder-width. This setup emphasizes your outer thigh muscle tissues.
Toes Up Excessive
With a shoulder-width stance, place your toes close to the highest of the footplate. It will place extra emphasis in your hamstrings and glutes.
Toes Down Low
With a shoulder-width stance, place your toes close to the underside of the footplate. It will place extra emphasis in your quadriceps.
Single Leg-Leg Press
Take one leg off the footplate and lower the resistance weight in half. You could possibly deal with extra weight, however attempt with much less weight first.
Performing the one leg leg press has a number of advantages together with better vary of movement, improved useful energy, and with the ability to develop your decrease physique simply as successfully without having as a lot weight loaded.
Seated Leg Press Machine FAQs
Ought to I Leg Press On a regular basis?
You don’t need to, however some specialists declare that performing the leg press on a regular basis is an efficient technique to push by lingering plateaus and rework your legs quicker. One technique is to load very gentle weight onto the machine and do as much as 100 unbroken reps earlier than racking the load. It’s best to all the time know your limits beforehand and use protected practices when trying one thing like this nevertheless.
Is There a Leg Press Development to Observe?
To start with, it’s a good suggestion to select a manageable quantity of weight and carry out straight units in the identical rep vary for 10-12 reps. Discuss with this Seated Leg Press Exercise Instance.
Finally, you’ll wish to cycle your rep ranges and quantity with a view to see better muscle positive aspects over the long run. For instance, right here’s a 6-week cycle that modifications rep ranges and units.
- Week 1: 3 x 5-8 reps (90% of weight)
- Week 2: 3 x 10-12 reps (80% of weight)
- Week 3: 3 x 15-20 reps (70% of weight)
- Week 4: 4 x 5-8 reps (90% of weight)
- Week 5: 4 x 10-12 reps (80% of weight)
- Week 6: 4 x 15-20 reps (70% of weight)
Take into account a weight you possibly can already do utilizing 3 x 5-8 reps, after which use 90% for the primary week. Lower the load each week whilst you enhance the reps and/or variety of units.
On week 7 take a deload by dropping the load by 40% or so. On week 8, restart the cycle, however enhance the load by 5 lbs.
Is Heavy Leg Press a Good Thought?
Should you’re asking this query, then I’m assuming you’re a newbie so the reply is not any. Freshmen shouldn’t carry out extraordinarily heavy-loaded leg presses as a result of it’s simply not mandatory to construct well-developed legs.
After you’ve been urgent for a number of months and also you perceive your limitations, positive, proceed including extra weight and see the place your journey takes you. However all of the Instagram and YouTube movies displaying guys loading up the leg press with ungodly quantities of weight after which bending their legs hardly in any respect is downright moronic.
Does the Leg Press Have Weight Loss Advantages?
The leg press doesn’t immediately profit weight reduction. Not directly, including extra muscle mass to your physique requires extra metabolic maintenance and might very barely increase your resting metabolism. It’s not quite a bit although.
In case your essential purpose is weight reduction, you’re higher off making a caloric deficit along with your weight-reduction plan and including some supplementary cardio into your day by day routine to burn energy. Throwing within the leg press isn’t going to make that a lot of a distinction.
What’s seated leg press good for?
As we’ve defined on this article, the seated leg press is a good lower-body train for constructing dimension and energy, plus burning fats. We narrowed down these 8 seated leg press advantages for you:
- They’re a killer warm-up on leg days
- They might help you break by plateaus
- They construct superior quad energy
- In addition they strengthen the glutes & construct sturdy hamstrings
- They construct well-rounded legs
- There are many variations with quick development
- They enhance your operating velocity and vertical soar
- Its noob pleasant
Do seated leg presses make legs larger?
Sure, you may get larger legs by doing seated leg presses. This resistance train is nice for the decrease physique as a result of it targets your quadriceps, hamstring, calves, and glutes directly.
Wrapping up the Seated Leg Press
As you possibly can inform, there are an a variety of benefits for the seated leg press machine that make them an superior train for constructing killer legs. Not solely will they construct your quads, glutes, and hamstrings, however they’re going to create well-defined legs total that may enhance your operating velocity and enhance your vertical.
However you possibly can’t rework your physique with simply the seated leg press machine. You want a whole coaching and weight-reduction plan plan to maneuver the needle. That’s why I recommend you try my highest really useful muscle constructing routine known as The Kinobody Greek God Program so you possibly can take all of the guesswork out of constructing a lean and muscular physique and begin trying higher right now.
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