الصفحة الشخصية: Fught19707551

Re: Leg Press Newbie Here: What Muscles Am I Actually Working? (And Why Do My Knees Hate Me?)

Hey, welcome to the leg press life! I’ve been at this home gym game for a solid decade, and I feel you on the love-hate relationship with that beast of a machine.

You’re already on the right track noticing how foot placement shifts the vibe, so let’s unpack your questions with some real-world tips from someone who’s logged way too many hours sliding that sled.

You nailed the muscle breakdown—leg press is a lower-body party.

Quads lead the charge (especially with a standard stance), but glutes, hammies, and calves tag in depending on how you set up.

The magic is in the tweakability: narrow and low foot placement hammers quads, wide and high hits glutes and hamstrings harder, and pushing through your toes gives calves some love. Depth matters too—deeper range (without butt-lifting off the seat) recruits more posterior chain (glutes/hams). But let’s get to your pain points.

1. Knee Pain Struggles: Oof, creaky knees are the worst. That horror movie vibe usually screams quad dominance or form issues.

First, check your depth: if you’re stopping short (like quarter-repping), your knees take the brunt of the load.

Aim for a 90-degree knee bend or deeper, but only if you can keep your lower back flat against the pad—lifting your butt is a red flag for too much weight or range.

Try dropping the weight (ego check, I know) and focus on slow, controlled reps to feel where the stress lands.

Also, experiment with foot placement: move ‘em a bit higher on the platform to shift load to your hips/glutes, which can ease knee strain. If your knees still hate you, check your seat angle—too upright can jam things up.

Lastly, warm up with bodyweight squats or leg extensions to get the joints lubed up. Fixed mine years ago by prioritizing depth over weight and adding mobility work (think dynamic stretches). You seeing a physio or just powering through?

2. Glute-Focused Setup: For that booty pump, high and wide is your friend. Place your feet shoulder-width apart, high on the platform (toes near the top edge, but not so high you slip). Point toes slightly out (~15-30 degrees).

This shifts emphasis to glutes and hamstrings. Go deep—knees toward chest, but keep that lower back glued to the seat.

Pause for a second at the bottom to really feel the glutes fire. Pro tip: pre-exhaust with hip thrusts or glute bridges before leg press to make sure your glutes are awake and leading the movement. If you’re not feeling it, lighten the load and slow the tempo—3 seconds down, 1 up. Took me years to realize my quads were stealing the show until I dialed this in.

3. Why Still Do RDLs/Leg Curls?: Leg press hits hamstrings, sure, but it’s not a true hamstring isolation move.

The hammies are mostly stabilizing or assisting in the stretch, not getting the full stretch-contract cycle like in RDLs or leg curls. RDLs (Romanian deadlifts) stretch the hamstrings under load and build that hip hinge strength, which leg press can’t replicate.

Leg curls isolate the knee flexion part of hamstring function, hitting them in a way leg press only flirts with. Plus, these moves bulletproof your posterior chain for better squats and deads. I pair leg press with RDLs in my setup—leg press for quad/glute volume, RDLs for hamstring strength. Keeps things balanced.

Bonus Rant Response: Haha, those influencers gliding through leg press like it’s a TikTok dance? Lies. They’re either on baby weights or edited to death. Real leg press sessions leave you looking like you ran a marathon in a sauna. Embrace the grind—it’s where the gains live.

Try those foot placement tweaks and lighter loads for now, and let us know how it goes! Also, what’s your leg press setup—home gym machine or commercial one? That can change the feel too. Keep us p

Here's my take after doing 12-3-30 consistently for 3 months: it can help, but don't expect magic numbers. I lost 8 lbs while doing it 5x/week, but honestly? The real game-changer was pairing it with calorie tracking.

The incline absolutely torches your legs (hello, post-workout jelly legs!), but I noticed my appetite skyrocketed too – had to consciously swap my afternoon chips for Greek yogurt to avoid canceling out the calorie burn.

Pro tip: Wear a chest-strap heart rate monitor instead of trusting the treadmill's numbers. Mine showed I was burning 250-280 calories per session at 150 lbs, way higher than generic estimates.

That said, my weight loss plateaued after 2 months until I added weekend hikes. Your body adapts fast – mix up the speed/incline weekly if you're doing this daily.