Leg Press vs. Squat for Muscle Mass

W hen it comes to making your lower body tougher and more flexible, there are a lot of methods you can try. From uncomplicated walking lunges and reverse lunges to Romanian deadlifts and leg extensions you can do on a multi-gym machine, they are all effective. However, many people still prefer squats – simple or with weights – as they are very efficient at working out the glutes and calves and can be modified to provide a large diversity of exercises. A different category of athletes go for leg presses, and there has been a visible upsurge in the number of leg press machine reviews that can be found on the internet since they have started being bought for home in the past years. Most leg press adepts argue that the machine is more fun and safer, allowing them to test their limits without exposing themselves to any major risk. If they are right, we are about to find out, as we are set to compare squats with leg presses to see which is more efficient for leg training.

Young Woman Working Out Legs with Leg Press Machine

What Are Leg Presses?

They are isometrics that are executed on a leg press machine. They imply resting with your back on a bench and propping your feet on a footplate that can be located either on the horizontal, at a 45-degree slope, or on the perpendicular. The apparatus has an opposition system that implies stacking weight plates on the apparatus. The more mass you attach, the more difficult the calisthenics comes to be. To do leg presses, you need to push with your feet into the plate until your legs are entirely stretched, and then gradually bend your knees to go back to the initial pose.

Why Do Leg Presses?

Each type of calisthenics is conceived to target a specific problem. For instance, aerobics will help you lower your BMI and improve your cardiovascular function while doing endurance exercises like rowing can strengthen your body while helping you maintain a healthy body fat percentage. Leg presses can help you with all these but offer some particular benefits as well, so let’s check them out.

• They permit you to work out your lower body only – if you are performing squats, it is impossible to avoid involving your torso, as your back muscles are the ones guaranteeing that you don’t fall over. If you have suffered back damage and must ease up on this area, the press can help you. During the calisthenics, your back is locked on the bench, and you will be setting almost no compression on it while getting the physical movements you need for your legs.
• They help you grow stronger even if you have trouble maintaining your balance – after having hip or knee surgery, there is always a paradox happening: you need to keep fit to regain force in your legs, but you can’t do many of the calisthenics as they require that you have good steadiness. The press can be an intermediate in your recovery progression, as it lets you flex your legs while seated and propped with your back on a seat. When you are growing more forceful, you can continue with bike workouts and so on, until you are prepared for squats.
• They affect your quads and coach you for deadlifts – the main muscle group engaged in the movement is represented by the quads, and you will be working them well. The proof can be found in this study, which showed that the press and other devices that use stacks of weights are extremely effective in developing muscle and force and make you more productive if you want to go on with squats or deadlifts.
• They can be done without supervision – this is an exercise that can be performed at the gym, but you can also do it at home. The explanation? You don’t need a spotter to keep an eye on you. The apparatus has a safety mechanism that doesn’t let the plate come crushing on you. Plus, there is no possibility that the plate might travel on a different path than the pre-established one.
• They let you lift more and feel awesome – the fact that you can press your body weight from the beginning and keep adding more can make you feel more excited about the calisthenics and keep up with your workout sequence, alternating between higher weight and fewer reps and lower weight and more repetitions.

Disadvantages

Some weightlifters consider that you should never replace barbell squats with leg presses, as they see them as less efficient. Here are their arguments regarding the exercises:

• They don’t improve your balance – if you are trying to regain your mobility after an accident, the press is not the best choice. Its ability to stimulate balance was tested during this clinical trial and showed that it doesn’t stimulate the muscles located around the ankles and knees enough, concentrating mostly on the quads. However, all these muscle groups need to be fortified for flexibility to be enhanced.
• They can give you a false impression of how much you can lift – it is easy to lose the sense of reality when using the apparatus. Suddenly, you are stacking hundreds of pounds on it – some have even established world records of over 2,000 pounds – so you may end up thinking that this is the actual weight you can lift. If you opt for switching to a barbell exercise, we recommend starting a lot lower than you can press, otherwise you can hurt yourself.

Woman Doing Squats While Watching Training Video

What Are Squats?

To do a simple squat, you don’t need any other accessories. You just need to stand while maintaining a moderate distance between your feet. Stretch out your hands until they are parallel to the ground or curve your elbows and place your hands at the back of your head. While holding your abdominals involved, shove your hips to the back to get into the squat pose. Curve your knees until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Thenceforward, expand your knees and drive your hips to the front to get to the point where you commenced.

Why Do Squats?

Squats are preferred by many bodybuilders since they are more challenging and often don’t require the presence of additional gym equipment. Besides this, they also offer a lot of benefits we will explore in the following.

• They help you burn calories – if you are looking for a way to reach an optimal body mass index while getting more power in your legs, squats can help you consume more calories. According to this article published by Kalavati Poti and Dr. Jyoti A Upadhye, squats are the most successful exercises to help you cut down fat deposits in your legs, thighs, and butt.
• They work out almost all your leg muscles – they don’t only target your gluteal muscles but push you to use your quadriceps and hamstrings as well. To make the transfer, your adductors and calves are triggered along with your hip flexors, as they are the ones helping you preserve balance.
• They also engage your core – since you have no support to prop your back on, you need to do your best not to fall on your sides or back, especially when using a barbell. Your abdominal and back muscles get activated at this point to lock your core. This helps you correct your balance and get a better posture that will reduce back pain in the long run and cut the number of visits to your chiropractor.
• There is a lot of variation in the workouts – you can do basic squats but also try other variations that will cast boredom away and help you engage other muscle groups. You have barbell back squats, single-leg squats, plie squats, split squats, curtsy squats, overhead squats, front squats, Bulgarian squats, sumo squats, and so on. Just allow yourself to experiment, and the benefits will increase.
• You will be better at other sports – you see football players and basketball players doing squats, and you also see sprinters and marathon runners doing it right before the race. So what’s the catch? This research paper presents the results obtained when the subjects did squats before a sprint, which show that this tactic improves speed considerably. The reason? Squats make your leg muscles stronger and able to endure more pressure, so they perform better during jumps and runs.

Disadvantages

As expected, there are some downsides to squatting. However, they are specific to certain exercise alternatives and only appear in special situations.

• Improper form can lead to a knee injury – the most dangerous part of the exercise is ascension, especially if a barbell is involved. According to this study, most knee injuries in adults over 20 happen when they try to return to the initial point, during which the risk of suffering a meniscal tear is higher. Nevertheless, if proper form is upheld, the chances of injury decrease considerably.
• Barbell squats require good balance and the presence of a spotter – using weights while squatting is not recommended if your legs or hips are weak after an injury or surgery. Even if you are sure about your legs, it is advised to have someone supervise you during the exercises so they can step in in case you can no longer sustain the weight.

The Bottom Line: Should You Do Squats or Leg Press Exercises?

The leg press can be seen as an expensive way of saying in shape, and it does give you a sense of luxury. It is snug and enjoyable, and it can even start an addiction. Which is good if you think about your goal of working out as much as possible. It is the right choice if your legs are weak and you are trying to build more muscle mass, particularly if you cannot sustain a good balance. Conversely, doing traditional squats doesn’t cost you a penny, and even if you resolve to add a barbell or kettlebells to your sessions, it is still cheaper than buying a machine. However, using heavy weights while squatting may require supervision, and it is certainly not indicated to do it during recovery sessions. The best way to tell which option fits you better is to think about your training level and your health condition.