The quadriceps, located in your thighs, are one of the largest and strongest muscles in the human body. You use your quadriceps for many activities and movements, including walking, running, jumping, riding a bike and swimming. The leg press is one of the best exercises you can perform to increase the strength, size, speed and stamina of your quadriceps. How much weight you should leg press to get the best workout will depend on your own personal goals.
Evaluating Your Fitness Goals
Before you can know how much weight you should be leg pressing, you have to evaluate your goals. Whether you are trying to increase your mass, strength, speed or stamina will determine how much weight you should be pressing. Once you know what you are trying to achieve, you'll be able to determine the proper amount of repetitions you'll need to do, which will also determine how much weight you should press.
Finding the Proper Repetition Range
There is no single range that is going to be best for everyone. If you are trying to gain muscle mass, aim for a lower range of repetitions. Find a weight that you can comfortably press between four to eight times. If you are trying to increase your strength without gaining much mass, find a weight that you can press between eight and 12 times. For increasing your speed and stamina, focus on performing higher repetitions with a weight you can press between 12 to 16 times.
Leg Press vs. Squat
The leg press and the squat are exercises that are often compared since they are similar in movement and focus on the quadriceps. However, it is not possible to say one is superior to the other because they are different, and each has its pros and cons. The leg press is a safer exercise for working the quadriceps because it eliminates spinal compression by placing the load on your hips rather than your back. The squat, though, is a more complete exercise, because it also engages muscles in your back and core for stability.
Overtraining
Will power can go a long way and lead to overtraining. The leg press is a machine-assisted exercise, which makes it easy for you to lift more weight, perform more reps or preform more sets than you should. There are several ways you can tell if you are overtraining: you are sore for several days after your workout, you are failing to perform the same number of repetitions or increase your weight each time you workout, your joints and bones are becoming sore, you are losing weight but not losing fat or building muscle and you are having difficulty sleeping, focusing and may feel restless. It is also possible for you to overtrain without feeling any of these side effects. If you are doing leg presses every day, for example, you are overtraining.
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