Tell me why Squats are better than Leg Press.

[arbit]

Good question. I'm guessing it has to do something with a good mixture of heavy weights and high neuromuscular taxation(ie balancing heavy weight).

[Klinger]

One word why people don't do squats: fear.

I used to think I was pretty tough on the leg press machine, racking up 260, 280 lifts. Then I got under the barbell and started squatting. Very humbling. I think I almost passed out after four reps of 100 pounds.

Tell your friend that he is going to start out with low weight, but that does not matter: the lift is too important to skip. You could always try blackmail. Tell him you won't train with him unless he at least tries it.

Jason

[manif3st]

Originally Posted by Klinger

One word why people don't do squats: fear.

I used to think I was pretty tough on the leg press machine, racking up 260, 280 lifts. Then I got under the barbell and started squatting. Very humbling. I think I almost passed out after four reps of 100 pounds.

Jason

LOL thats exactly how i was! i think i was at like 360 on the leg press and tried to do maybe 130 wiht squats and after like 2 sets my whole body was drenched in sweat, i was breathing hard, seeing spots and i was just completely exhausted! i never realized how much cardio is a part of squats and how much of a whole body exercise they really are. i still hate em, but i do them cause i know they're good for me

[Firehawk]

Now you guys see why those "strongest men in the world" guys get soo out of breath and all they do is deadlift the back of a minivan, or pick up boulders or whatever. It doesnt seem soo taxing on the heart, but it is...my God.

[jukka]

Originally Posted by Firehawk

Look at EVERY HUGE bodybuilder that has enormous legs, famous or not famous. Theres no way they got to that point doing leg presses.

nah, not exactly, I've seen dudes that have incredible legs
that only did hacks and leg presses. of course, they were on roids,
but so where the other bodybuilders, those who squatted and had a little
less great legs. so the old genetics comes into play again.

I used to get on by just nicely (growth-wise) by doing hacks,
leg presses and leg extensions, but hacks started giving me knee trouble,
so I had to go back squatting. smith-style, but anyway.

due to my lower-back structure (almost arrow-straight, no natural spine curvature), my lower back is quite injury-prone and I just can not get to parallel with barbell squats. hence the smith machine.
and hence never ever doing cable rows.

And methinks it is better to do below-parallel squats with the old Smitty,
than doing above-parallel squats with barbell.

what often amuses (and sometimes annoys me), is that in both musclemags
and in training webseites, when someone starts telling about the superiority of suats (where I feel they are correct) they immediately start telling how you HAVE TO squat with a narrow stance keeping your back vertical
and no bendin over whatsoever.

which, unless you're about 5 foot tall, can be downright impossible.
but no, these "experts" give this advice on proper form and there's no other way of squatting. in their world, no dude has a different structure than they have.

as a kid, back when the advice of these experts was God's word to me,
I fealt really bad about not being able to squat the way the preached.

until I tried wider stance and realised that damn, my ass does NOT get huge
after all, even though the experts swear it balloons from wide-stance squatting. I'm your average assless white guy and no matter how i squat,
my ass does not get huge. then again, if I had a big ass to begin with,
no matter how i squatted, my ass would get big.

[Firehawk]

While genetics has something to do with it for sure, Ive never seen someone with great enormous leg size and definition NOT perform squats, or any variation, at one time or another. But theres always someone who seems to say they have seen people who have done this or that without doing the most efficient exercises...whatever. I guess its possible theres always those odd exceptions to the rule.

[Jackal]

I remember reading somewhere that 5 time mr olympia dorian yates didnt do squats, but only hacks and leg press.

[jgriffith]

If that was true, then I would say that it is very possible that squats arent all that superior to leg press and hacks as far as leg development is concerned. Dorian is the man, probably my favorite Mr. Olympia, Sergio Oliva is nice too though haha.

[Jackal]

Hell yea, dorian had a wicked back.

[Firehawk]

Originally Posted by jgriffith

If that was true, then I would say that it is very possible that squats arent all that superior to leg press and hacks as far as leg development is concerned. Dorian is the man, probably my favorite Mr. Olympia, Sergio Oliva is nice too though haha.

I never got winded from doing a set of really heavy leg presses before. lol What conclusions could you draw from that? I wasnt workin hard enough?

If Squats arent superior, or arent much superior to leg presses, why are leg presses so much easier?

[jgriffith]

Leg presses are so much easier because you dont have to balance the weight. You can make leg presses very very hard depending on how much weight you want to put on. I cant draw any conclusion to the benefits of squats or leg presses based on how winded YOU get. How winded you get has little to do with development of the legs.

I'm not even saying that leg presses are better than squats, but If Dorian Yates achieved that kind of mass without squats then I would have to say that they are not far behind squats as far as hypertrophy goes.

[Firehawk]

Originally Posted by jgriffith

Leg presses are so much easier because you dont have to balance the weight. You can make leg presses very very hard depending on how much weight you want to put on. I cant draw any conclusion to the benefits of squats or leg presses based on how winded YOU get. How winded you get has little to do with development of the legs.

I'm not even saying that leg presses are better than squats, but If Dorian Yates achieved that kind of mass without squats then I would have to say that they are not far behind squats as far as hypertrophy goes.

My whole point homie, is Id have to see it to believe it. I used "winded" as an example of how hard you work when you do squats as opposed to leg presses. Its obvious that your butt, and quads primarily, are sooo jacked up when you do squats, but its just not the same for the leg presses.

I believe leg presses are nowhere near at the level as squats are. I believe MAX OT stated something like this: "A half-azz workout of squats is still better than a full out leg press workout". I coulda swore i saw that in an AST article.

[NateDogg]

Originally Posted by Firehawk

My whole point homie, is Id have to see it to believe it. I used "winded" as an example of how hard you work when you do squats as opposed to leg presses. Its obvious that your butt, and quads primarily, are sooo jacked up when you do squats, but its just not the same for the leg presses.

I believe leg presses are nowhere near at the level as squats are. I believe MAX OT stated something like this: "A half-azz workout of squats is still better than a full out leg press workout". I coulda swore i saw that in an AST article.

For overall stimulation and as an exercise in general, sure squats are better than leg presses. For leg hypertrophy, probably not as superior.

[jgriffith]

My point exactly, thanks Nate :

[Todd]

Originally Posted by Jackal

I remember reading somewhere that 5 time mr olympia dorian yates didnt do squats, but only hacks and leg press.

I believe at one time he did do squats earlier in his career, but switched to leg presses and hacks for whatever reasons...but I doubt just because he switched from squats, that it means that they are not still superior to that of leg presses. There are many many others (the majority of bodybuilders) that will tell you squats are ESSENTIAL to gaining exceptional leg size. Nothing turns your system more anabolic and taxes it more than heavy duty squats! No matter how you want to slice and dice it and come up excuses for it...LOL! :

Not saying you can't build good legs with leg presses and hacks, but you can build FAR SUPERIOR legs with squats!