Thoughts On Squats VS Leg Press VS Leg Extensions

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mcemino2
mcemino2 Posts: 427 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
I read an article recently that stated doing leg presses and leg extensions is pretty much pointless unless you are a body builder. I personally do all three and believe that they are all beneficial. Squats are harder on my knees, so I lowered the weight and am working more on full rom and form. Maximum on squats is 195#, while I can easily do 350# on the leg press.

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  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
    cupcakesandproteinshakes Posts: 1,092 Member
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    I do all 3. I’m not about builder but I’m on a hypertrophy focussed programme. So on legs day I do front squats then leg press then extensions.

    When was the article? I think the answer is context dependant.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,389 MFP Moderator
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    I do all three. And considering I have some back issues, I can't do heavy squat. So I use leg press as my heavy move.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    edited December 2019
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    I hold a few squat records as a powerlifter and dose leg press into my developmental portions of my blocks as well as others.

    Programming a template with specificity for a powerlifter, back squats are most important. Then leg press. Leg extensions could be useful on a pivot week.

    When we speak of more novel lifters, I prefer to focus on squats if they can perform full ROM. Leg press and extensions would only take up away volume and gains initially. We are talking a better ROI for the stimulus needed for progress.

    There are advanced aged people I have started on leg press until they are able to perform a barbell squat.

    There are many recipes for different goals and capabilities.

    Anybody the uses the word "pointless" to describe those movements doesn't have a grasp on training or programming intelligently unless they were being specific to a certain training that was ranking usefulness.

    Hopefully the remarks to the article you read was taken out of context.
  • mcemino2
    mcemino2 Posts: 427 Member
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    That's pretty much my thoughts, unfortunately I don't remember where I found the article. I'm not sure I qualify yet for "advanced age", I'm 58, but I only started doing squats about 6 months ago. Initially on a Smith machine, now using a barbell since I changed gyms.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
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    mcemino2 wrote: »
    That's pretty much my thoughts, unfortunately I don't remember where I found the article. I'm not sure I qualify yet for "advanced age", I'm 58, but I only started doing squats about 6 months ago. Initially on a Smith machine, now using a barbell since I changed gyms.

    I'm glad to hear you have progressed to barbell squats and are reaping the benefits of trainibg. That's neat.

    Just keep in mind since you are fairly new to lifting that a lot of content we find is questionable and should not be considered evidence just because it's out there to read.

    That being said perhaps the articlr was referring to a specific idea on training.

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