Squat Rack Tips

Leg Press Machine and Workout

August 20, 2009 1 comment »

Leg press machine is an important apparatus for developing muscles and strength of the lower body. It is also important to understand that this is just one of the supplemental exercises when it comes to packing meat on your thighs. But, quite a supplemental exercise it is! It develops power more than any other leg movement, except for squat, of course. Therefore, it should be used often in your routine, if not always.

I want to clear one thing from the start. From my experience, leg presses compared to squats don’t stand a chance when it comes to building the ultimate leg power. Therefore, if you plan on buying some leg equipment, squat rack should be the first of your choices, it should even have priority over leg press machine. Depending on your budget, there are some good ones that you can consider buying.

Two Types

There are two main types of leg press machines:

45 degree leg press where the weight is pushed diagonally upward with sled type movement.
90 degree or vertical leg press machine where the weight is pushed vertically upward with sled type movement.

Call me crazy but vertical version has one interesting advantage. When the weight pins you down to the floor you are unable to squiggle under the construction, which can often occur on 45 angled ones when the weight is too big and you are trying to struggle with it and thus cheat by raising yourself up the seat. But, 45 version inflicts less pressure on ankles and knees, and feels more natural to perform. That is why I prefer using it.

These machines are reliable and have high safety factor because of the included adjustable side brackets that will prevent the user from being trapped under the weight.

Leg Exercises

Actually, there is not a big variety of exercises that you can do on a leg press machine because of its predetermined weight path, but the ones that you can are important part of your leg workout and should not be neglected. Beside the intended leg exercise you can also perform calf presses, which can be a great addition to your main calf builders – standing calf raises. These can be done either with one leg or with both at the same time.

I always try to share advices on home gym with leg press type of equipment because I know there are a lot of people that prefer exercising at home. I myself am a gym rat; hence I usually dabble on some gym leg press.

Although I am a bigger fan of diagonal machines there is an excellent cheap Powerline vertical version from Body Solid. You can find it anywhere from $200 up to $250 which is suitable for many wallets. Although affordable, this can be too much for low budgets. In that case you can opt for used leg press machine. These can cost less than $100, depending on how much weight is included in the price.

If you have any other question or you want me to review a certain leg press machine that you want to buy, bump a comment and I’ll be happy to accommodate.

Share Bookmarks:

1 comment »

Category:Leg Press Machine

Tags:45 degree leg press leg exercise leg exercises Leg Press Machine leg press machines used leg press machine vertical leg press machine

Smith Machine – Squats Workout Alternative

August 17, 2009 No comments »

I’m sure you already know everything there is to know about smith machines. But since you are reading this article you obviously need some information about them. That is why I will try to cover as much related topics as possible, including exercises that you can perform on them as well as reviews on some manufacturers. If you made it through this much of my rambling than please bare with me for a second more while I explain some basics, because we have a lot of newbies reading this.

The smith machine is a piece of equipment that is used in sport training purposes. It consists of a rack with barbell fixed on steel runners that can be moved only vertically. Construction is usually stabilized by counterbalanced piece at the bottom. Runners have pins on which you can hook the bar during the exercise. Safety pegs are often included at the bottom to prevent the barbell dropping on the floor and causing a serious injury. Pegs remove the need for spotters and increase the safety factor.

There are numerous benefits for beginners in sport of using the smith machine. Even the professional athletes can use it to improve form and technique of their special activities. There is a vast range of movements that you can perform on it. To name a few: shoulder press, shrugs, bench press, squats which are an excellent bonus to your leg workout routine.

The Philosophy of It

The smith machine squats are performed differently than using a standard squat rack or some of the squat stands. There is always a big hype amongst experts on whether to perform this squat because it takes the legs and thus the body through an unnatural range of motion, which may cause injuries. But, its fixed trajectory can be beneficial for beginners in a few ways. Since squat is a complex exercise and mastering the proper technique is hard, machine forces the untrained body to develop the feel for proper free weight squatting performance. Using this machine can also allow unstable lifters to lift more weight, which was confirmed by researchers at Drake University, Iowa. This leads to greater overloading of muscles and thus greater growth and power.

Downturn of the predetermined barbell path is that you don’t need to stabilize the weight, which results in poor development of stabilization skills. Therefore, lifting ability on it does not translate into free weight lifting ability. Given that stabilization skills are very important to develop, I recommend that you don’t use this movement as one of the main leg exercises in your routine, but only as a supplement to your leg exercise plan.

Manufacturers and Pricing

Now, let’s talk a little about manufacturers. You’ll have to excuse me, but I always hated those smith machine home gym – all in one combos where you have various functions stuffed together. I like my smiths served simple, and that’s the only way I roll. There is no harm in buying an expensive, for example, Marcy smith machine, Body Solid smith machine or a Weider smith machine, but my point is that for quality leg workout you don’t need all that hype.

Regarding the price, from my experience you don’t need to go over $250 for a new one. Everything above that is too much. Make sure that at least 225 lbs (100 kg) of weight comes with it. Other interesting option is to buy a used smith machine, in which case you can save money. 90% of the times used one may be a much better solution and a much cheaper one.

One more thing, when buying a smith machine make sure the construction is fairly stable. You don’t want to find this out later while squatting, believe me. You can check this by leaning on the machine from all sides. Good counterbalanced heavy duty smith machines should be pretty hard to move. Also, distance between lockout pins should be no more than 2 inches (5 cm). This ensures good movement efficiency. The rest of the details are less important so you don’t need to worry about them too much.

In a nutshell, that’s it. If you have some additional question don’t worry, I’ll be adding detailed reviews of some commercial apparatus soon. You are welcome anytime to drop a question.

Share Bookmarks: