When to Use Leg Presses vs. Squats to Build Huge Legs
Training effectively means doing exercises that will get you to your goals faster. If that goal involves building strong legs, you've likely programmed leg presses or squats at some point in your training.
'Both of these exercises are going to let you lift heavy and hard, and they'll challenge all of your leg muscles,' says MH US fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. But, which one takes the crown when it comes to effective leg development?
The truth is, both exercises deserve a place in your routine. Below, we break down their similarities and differences, and teach you how to use both exercises to the best of their ability.
How are leg presses and squats similar?
The leg press and the squat are both knee-dominant moves. Because of that, the two exercises are powered by the same major muscle groups: the quads and the glutes.
Since they're driven by such large muscles, both exercises will be two of the heaviest hitting moves that you'll do in the gym – you'll really be able to load these up.
How are leg presses and squats different?
There are three main differences between the two: systemic stress, versatility, and overall safety.
Systemic Stress
The biggest difference between the two lies in what is called systemic stress – or, how much you fatigue your entire during an exercise.
In a squat, the muscles of your core and upper body are required to work in order to stay upright – vital to maintaining proper form. That remains true regardless of the equipment you're using. You'll also need to fire up some smaller muscles like your adductors, obliques, and spinal extensors, to stabilise your joints and maintain your balance. In a leg press, your torso and upper body is supported by the machine, and require less activation.
'Instantly, this means there's less total body fatigue [on the leg press], and that also means you can push harder to really fatigue your quads and glutes on every single set,' Samuel says.
Versatility
Because our spine is mostly out of the equation in the leg press, we can play with different foot positions on the platform to emphasise different muscle groups.
In a squat, there's some room to play with footing, but ultimately you need to be able to stay balanced to stay safe – so there's not a ton of room to play with.
Overall Safety
Speaking of staying safe: there's a smaller margin for error in squats as opposed to leg presses. If you lose your balance or can't handle the load on a squat, more of your body will be compromised, since the move requires more torso and upper body recruitment and focus.
In a leg press, if you're unable to handle the load, there's safety mechanisms built into the machine to ensure you don't get squashed by the weight. That might limit your range of motion a tiny bit, but it makes going heavy safer.
Which is better: leg presses or squats?
The truth is both movements deserve a place in your routine. Here's when and how to use them.
When to Leg Press
'The leg press is at its best as a tool that lets you take your knee flexion movement pattern to max fatigue,' Samuel says. 'It'll let you push past fatigue into deep quad burn much better than a squat.'
If you're looking to really fatigue your quads, especially through the use of special practices like dropsets or rest pause sets, the leg press will be the safest, and most effective option. To build full body strength, though, you'll still want to keep more systemically demanding moves like squats and lunges into your routine.
These movements will demand more out of your body, though – so it's important that you do them early on in your workout. If you try to back squat after multiple sets of high-demand leg presses, you're setting yourself up for injury.
Because of that, keep your leg presses towards to the end of your workout, and program high-rep sets, like 3 sets of 20 reps. Don't be afraid to really push yourself to failure here – there's mechanisms in place to keep you safe.
When to Squat
'The squat is the move you go to build general strength and power, and to train your entire body,' Samuel says.
Do them early in your workout. Make them the first or second move you do in your routine. Your core and upper body will fatigue earlier than your legs because they're smaller muscles, so keep the rep scheme lower – think 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps. It's a strong movement that you'll want to load up, but don't push it to fatigue.
'In the end, both of these tools actually compliment each other very well, and you can use them to bring out the best in your leg training over the long haul,' Samuel says.
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