Barbell Hack Squats Vs Front Squats Video' title='Barbell Hack Squats Vs Front Squats Video' />One final point EXPLODE. Lift every rep as fast as you can while still maintaining proper technique. Squats are hard, so many lifters simply put as little effort. Barbell Hack Squats Vs Front Squats Video' title='Barbell Hack Squats Vs Front Squats Video' />Instagrams not just for checking up on your ex or indulging your love of small, strange dogs. The visually driven social media network is also a way of browsing. Squat vs. Leg Press for Big Legs. Question I was wondering if, for hypertrophy purposes, there is any real advantage using bar bell squats instead of leg presses. Although your own body weight is sufficient resistance to do both squats, especially for a beginner or during your warmup, you have the option of using. Front squats require scapula and clavicle elevation and upward rotation to keep the elbows up and the bar in proper position. This requires the traps, serratus. Squat vs. Leg Press for Big Legs Bodyrecomposition. Question I was wondering if, for hypertrophy purposes, there is any real advantage using bar bell squats instead of leg presses. Looking at things from perhaps an oversimplified perspective, the leg press seems to have the same joint movements and muscle lengtheningstretching as the squat plus its a lot safer for the lower back. Im guessing it may come down to maximum load that can be moved. But can people squat more than they can leg press Also, Id be surprised if it were practical to use loads 1. RM negatives for a squat, whereas on a leg press machine with a partner or two it is quite easily done. Im thinking the squat just feels harder because of all the stabilizers that are used and there is more need for proper technique to make it safe. I know a lot of power lifting purists will scream that the squat is the king of exercises, yada yada yada, but for legglute hypertrophy, what is the advantage Some people also seem to think squatting causes more testosterone and or GH release but is there any solid evidence of this I would doubt it. Answer First and foremost, while Im sure my answer will offend the hardcorehardheaded lifters, there is no requirement to perform squats back or front to build big legs or even build leg strength. I know that this contradicts everything that has ever been written on the Internet but the idea that someone must squat to get big is mainly a lot of macho nonsense. Historically, the reason that squats probably became popular was that, early in the days of weight training, thats all there was to do. Leg presses didnt exist at least not in any form that wouldnt cripple you and if you wanted to train your legs that pretty much meant squatting. Which isnt to say that squatting isnt an excellent exercise. It has arguably been responsible for more gains in strength and size than almost anything else. But its not the right exercise for all people and its certainly not required to get big or strong legs its worth mentioning in this vein that the Australian track cycling team, which absolutely dominated the world scene for a few years there, used the one leg leg press as their primary leg training exercise. Quite simply, the only people who must squat are powerlifters, for whom its a competition lift except in the pushpull meets where its not, and Olympic lifters where its a key assistance exercise and there is even some theorizing that modern Olympic lifting will get rid of the back squat with only the front squat being used to support recovery from the clean. Nobody else has to squat. And, again, for people with certain types of mechanics usually very long femurs, back squatting can be a very non productive exercise for strength or size. Theyll end up so bent over that their low back will give out long before their legs get a training stimulus or theyll wreck their knees because the only way to remain upright is to push the knees so far forwards that the shear is massive. Beyond that, lets take a quick look at reality Anyone reading this can go into any gym in the world and see the following. A guy squatting who never adds weight to the bar His legs will not be growing. A guy doing leg presses who is adding weight to the machine His legs will be growing. The exercise clearly isnt the determinant of growth here. Because exercise selection per se isnt the primary determinant of growth rather as Ive discussed in recent articles such as Reps Per Set for Optimal Growth, progressive tension overload is the primary stimulus for growth. Exercise selection is purely secondary outside of a given exercise allowing someone to apply progressive overload safely and effectively. You can build strength or mass with almost any exercise if the loading parameters and progression are there which isnt to say that exercises dont vary in how well or how poorly they lend themselves to progression. Put differently, if someone has really horrible mechanics for squatting, they wont be able to add weight effectively and or will get injured. That makes squatting a poor exercise choice for them. If in contrast, someone has good mechanics for squatting, meaning that they can add weight progressively in good form, that will make squatting a good exercise choice for them. Tangentially, its worth noting that usually when people say things like Exercise XXX is the best for growth what that usually means is Im built to do exercise XXX effectively. People assume that since an exercise is good for them since they are built well to do it, it must be the best for everyone. For some people, or in some specific situations, the leg press might actually be superior to the squat yes, I know heresy for training the legs. Some of those situations include what I mentioned above, people who have terrible levers for squatting for whom things like low back will be limiting long before legs are trained. By taking the low back out of the movement, the legs may get a better training effect in that situation. Related to this, leg presses can often be used as a secondary leg exercise after back squats assuming the person is built to back squat in the first place to get a greater leg stimulus after the lowupper back is fatigued from squats. Again, hardhead lifterscoaches tend to shit on this approach but enough athletes including some very strong powerlifters do this to make me think that the hardheads are full of it. Its worth noting that your comment about the leg press being safer on the low back isnt automatically true. 3D Xml Viewer Mac. Done incorrectly, the leg press can be a low back death trap. People with poor flexibility andor who try to bring the sled too far back will round their low back terribly under heavy compression load this is an excellent way to herniate a disk. Its worth mentioning that doing leg presses one leg at a time with the other leg on the floor makes it nearly impossible to round the low back and this may be the safest way of all to do them. It also saves you a lot of time loading the machine since you wont have to put as many plates on. As far as comparing loads between the two movements, this isnt really accurate. The leverages on the leg press will allow almost anyone to move more weight in absolute terms than squatting. But what we are concerned with in terms of the growth and strength response is not just the absolute load on the bar, we are interested in the tension in the muscle. The mechanics of the leg press will let folks move more weight in terms of plates on the machine but that doesnt automatically mean more tension on the target muscles. Its also worth noting that people who get on the leg press and move a ton of weight through a tiny range of motion arent doing themselves any favors either. Not only is it much more stressful on the joints, by working only in the strong range, they are actually decreasing the amount of tension that their muscles are being exposed to. Assuming the flexibility is there, I want people taking their leg presses to at least parallel e. For most macho leg pressers, this will mean stripping about half the weight off the machine to get depth.