Muscles worked
Your quads do the main work, helped by your glutes and adductors. With your back on the pad, your trunk does not carry the weight, so your legs get all the focus. Foot position changes the emphasis. Lower on the platform, your knees bend more and your quads work harder. Higher up, there is more movement at the hip, and your glutes and hamstrings take a bigger share. A wider stance with your toes turned slightly out gives your inner thighs more work. Whatever the position, keep your whole foot down and your heels on the platform.
Common mistakes
- Heavy weight, short reps. It is easy to pile on weight and move the platform only a few centimetres. Pick a depth you can control, use the same depth every time and lower the weight if needed.
- Knees caving in. Under heavy load, your knees tend to pull inwards on the way out. Keep them pointing the same way as your toes throughout the press.
- Snapping your knees straight. Pushing hard into fully locked knees leaves the weight resting on your joints rather than your muscles. Stop just short of straight and start the next rep from there.
Variations and alternatives
- Single leg press: one leg at a time. Choose it if one leg is weaker than the other.
- Hack squat: a machine where you stand with your back against a pad, with plenty of quad work.
- Back squat: free weight with the bar on your back, which also trains your trunk and balance.
- Bulgarian split squat: one leg at a time with dumbbells, when your gym has no leg press or you want to train balance.
Sets and reps
The leg press suits every goal, and with no weight to balance, longer sets work well too. For strength you can do 3 to 6 reps, as long as the depth is the same on every rep. To build muscle, 6 to 12 reps works, and for endurance 12 to 20, over 2 to 4 sets. The guide to sets and reps explains how to choose a range.
A small plate usually makes small steps easy. Machines differ, so the same number on two leg presses is not the same load. Log which machine you used and where you placed your feet, and only compare with yourself. Raise the weight once every set is done at full depth, and you are following progressive overload.