Fix These 4 Leg Press Mistakes to Continue Making More Legday Gains

Fix These 4 Leg Press Mistakes to Continue Making More Legday Gains

There is a lot of love and hate surrounding the leg press.

Some people think it's not very functional because you're sitting on your butt and doing presses, which is similar to nothing you do outside of the gym. Other athletes swear by it because it allows them to lift heavy weights and build muscle without the pressure of the barbell on their back.

However, most of us find ourselves somewhere in the middle of this debate. However, if you do it right, you can build a lot of muscle and strength with the leg press. With the fixed range of motion and stability of sitting, you can move heavy loads. Since you have to carry heavy loads, mistakes can also be made.

Although the leg press is not a technical exercise, mistakes can occur that can lead to injury and loss of success. Here's how to do the leg press, what's needed for good form, and four common leg press mistakes you make and how to fix them.

How to perform the leg press

Depending on your body type, the leg press will look different for different athletes. Before starting, adjust the machine to ensure maximum safety and comfort for your body.

1. Setzen Sie sich auf eine Beinpresse und platzieren Sie Ihre Füße in der von Ihnen bevorzugten Position auf der Plattform.
2. Senken Sie die Sicherheitsstangen ab und drücken Sie, bis Ihre Beine vollständig gestreckt sind, jedoch mit einer sanften Kniebeugung.
3. Senken Sie die Plattform ab, bis Ihre Knie einen 90-Grad-Winkel bilden.
4. Schieben Sie die Plattform zurück in die Ausgangsposition.
5. Zurücksetzen und wiederholen.

What good form requires

The beauty of the leg press is that you can do it even if you have limited hip mobility or lower back pain. Here are a few basic things needed for a good leg press routine.

• Nehmen Sie sich Zeit für die Einrichtung. Da wir alle unterschiedliche Gliedmaßenlängen haben, nehmen Sie sich die Zeit, den Sitz anzupassen und ein paar Wiederholungen mit der leeren Plattform durchzuführen, um zu sehen, ob Sie mit Ihren Knien einen 90-Grad-Winkel ohne Ausgleich erreichen können.
• Halten Sie Ihre Füße für die Dauer des Sets flach auf der Plattform.
• Es besteht kein Grund, mit der Fußbreite zu experimentieren, da schulterbreit auseinander für die meisten Lifter funktioniert.
• Halten Sie Ihren unteren Rücken und Ihre Gesäßmuskulatur immer am Sitz festgeklebt.
• Behalten Sie die Kontrolle über die Belastung der exzentrischen Kontraktion und seien Sie explosiv bei der konzentrischen Kontraktion.

4 common leg pressing mistakes

Mistakes are not bad. This is how we learn to do it right in the first place. When you know better, you do better. In addition to selfishness and too much weight, here are four common mistakes in leg pressing, because you know both of them, right?

Drop the 1RM

Doing heavy lifting and reaching 1RM maximum strength on the leg press is something you should only do occasionally. Most of the time, you should use the leg press to build muscle in your quadriceps. The best way to achieve this is to control all parts of the rep, including the eccentricity. The weight is too heavy if you cannot control the eccentric contraction.

Fix it:Focus on tension and control and slightly less on the weight on the platform.

Hold on to it

The only part of your body you should be able to move and feel are your knees and glutes. That's it. If your feet aren't glued to the platform or your lower back and your hips aren't glued to the seat, then you're doing it wrong.

Fix it:Pay attention to your setup. Your feet should be shoulder-width apart in the middle of the platform and your knees should reach a 90-degree angle without touching your torso. In this case, change the seat angle so that all your body parts remain glued to the platform and cushion.

Don't short-circuit yourself

To get the most benefit from the leg press, your knees need to reach a 90-degree angle. Doing half a rep with a huge weight may feel good to the ego, but it won't add anything to your gains and your knees may end up hating you.

Fix it:A little less ego and weight on the platform is required here. Use a weight that you can control at a 90-degree knee angle.

It is a quad exercise

This may annoy some Instagram influencers, but the leg press is primarily a quadriceps exercise with a bit of hip extension. Placing your feet higher on the platform to work the glutes and hamstrings more is, in my opinion, a waste of time when there are better exercises to target them than the leg press.

Fix it:There is no solution for this per se. Use better exercises to train your hamstrings and glutes, such as: B. Hip thrusts, RDL and thigh curl variations.