Lifter problems
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Another tip that I've found useful to engage the lats is to apply some torque to the bar, as if you we're trying to snap it between your hands.
One of the most counterintuitive thing on the bench press is how to use the feet. They should be glued to the floor, pushing away from the bum.
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I'm going to air this "problem" here as I feel safer doing it here than asking on a weightlifting forum and getting 69 different flavours of bro wisdom.
The short version is, I need an alternative exercise to leg presses. Are sumo squats a good replacement? Any other suggestions?
The long version is, the leg press machine at my gym is unreliable and out of order more than it works. I do two lower body days a week. Day A has deadlifts at the top of the routine and then the problematic leg presses, followed by a few assistance/isolation moves. Day B has Squats at the top, followed by Bulgarian split squats and isolation work. For the squats I'm doing 3x8, with a relatively standard, narrow stance (feet lining up between hips and shoulders), and I'm squatting to parallel. This suits my body type, allows me to go heavy and spares my 43 yr old knees the stress of going deep/ATG. I'm tempted to replace the leg press permanently with some more squat work, maybe sumo or wide stance and initially using lighter weights and breaking parallel with a view to getting as low as possible. Thoughts?
Any and all answers appreciated.
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If you've got access to some decent dumbbells, you could always try the goblet squat.
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If you've got access to some decent dumbbells, you could always try the goblet squat.
Goblet squat is absolutely an option!
If it were me I'd replace all the machines with squats 3x5 and/or leg mobility work.
Leg press is the only machine I use. But this is certainly a good chance to get shot of it forever.
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^completely agree with @TrickHell you shouldn't be afraid of squatting to the limits of your mobility/skeletal mechanics. There's much higher risk to your knees from not doing so and only going to parallel since this doesn't make use of the stretch reflex action. It's been mentioned by others in this thread, but I'd highly recommend reading Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe, and/or watching his YouTube vids.
Leg press machines are useful for bodybuilders but not so useful if you want to build functional strength and not compromise joint mobility. If you're squatting with proper form (and full depth) and on a good program for your specific goals then you shouldn't need to be doing leg presses, so I'm curious as to what you felt they were providing?
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Just to be clear, I have nothing against going ATG or breaking parallel and I'm not a stranger to Rippetoe. But without boring you all with specifics about my body shape and injury history, my knees definitely don't like the concentric movement of a below parallel squat done with normal foot stance. They tackle breaking parallel in a front squat and they tackle ATG with an exaggerated wide stance/borderline sumo squat, as long as my feet are properly flared and my knees track over them.
I'm going to keep on doing my regular Friday squat regardless. I've made great progress with it and it has done wonders for power, muscle growth and, in fact, my knees. The point was I guess, is a squat variation a useful substitute for the leg press. The consensus here seems to be it's actually an improvement. So I'm going to do straight sets (3x10) of wide stance deep squats on deadlift day, in addition to standard squats on squat day. My standard squat at the moment is 3x8 @ 140kg, so I guess 90-95kg (my bodyweight) would be a good place to start the wide stance, ATG variation?
Either way, thanks for all the input guys.
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Bit late on this, but I do front squats and rate them much more than leg press. I do them after low bar squats, 5 sets of 10 reps.
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@jvicente86:
@neph93 that should be a good starting point for the wider stance…
Thanks for the advice. First day with the wide stance was yesterday. Did 90kg for 3x10 with my ass way below parallel. Felt good, but different for sure. Could really feel the work my hip joints and core muscles were doing. Looking forward to perfecting form and throwing on weights.
I made the mistake of starting hill sprints at the same time as I tried moving into a calorific surplus. I was eating about 2000 cal more a week and still lost a kilo [emoji28]
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@jvicente86:
@neph93 that should be a good starting point for the wider stance…
Thanks for the advice. First day with the wide stance was yesterday. Did 90kg for 3x10 with my ass way below parallel. Felt good, but different for sure. Could really feel the work my hip joints and core muscles were doing. Looking forward to perfecting form and throwing on weights.
I made the mistake of starting hill sprints at the same time as I tried moving into a calorific surplus. I was eating about 2000 cal more a week and still lost a kilo [emoji28]
I'm late to the party but +1 for ditching the leg press. Consider switching every other week between front squats and overhead squats
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@jvicente86 I'm feeling like a seven stone weakling in comparison!
Just done my first proper arms session in weeks. I had a bursitis on my left elbow, and it's been really slow to heal up.
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I know that feeling too @jvicente86! I used to train with some powerlifters in Newcastle. One of them, Andy Thompson, was a UK heavyweight champion. He could bench 250 kg! :o
I've got a really bad shape for lifting heavy. I'm 6'3" with long arms and legs, and a short torso. My bench and squat suffer as a result.
Thanks for the compression cuffs recommendation. I'll look into them.
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Solid! Nice work.
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9/9. Nice work.
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Nice work man. They are really decent lifts.
