Leg Press

[Chupacabras]

@syrus2001

Just remember that the leg press recruits less overall motor units and so you will perhaps require greater and more varied stimulation to attain the same degree of mu recruitment as squats.

If I had to remove squats I would make sure I did reverse hypers and glute/ham raises, hamstring curls, hypers and extra core along with the leg press lift. For some reason I’ve always thought that the leg press was more quad dominant then the squat, but I’ve never had any justification.

Yeah, I think you might be right about the leg press being more quad dominant. I was planning to include extra posterior chain work to counter this. Unfortunately I don’t have access to a glute ham raise or reverse hyper. Instead I will use RDL, Hypers, Ham curls and bulgarian squats. Good point about requiring extra core work.

@syrus2001

The squat is good because you get high mu recruitment for the movement that you’re doing. So you get the bang for your buck. To get the same stimulation you need to do more exercises. This could also be argued for cleans, but as charlie points out the coordinated action and proximity to sprinting on the f/v curve is in somewhat of a conflict with sprinting.

There are some decent options to replace squats with. Some people like the one legged step up squat, which is much easier to attain the positions required as a lanky athlete. Hack squats are good too. The bulgarian split squat is good as you listed. Lunges maybe. If your main goal is to gain mass there are definitely many ways to achieve that without squatting. I highly recommend reverse hypers and glute ham raises if you can’t squat.

I wouldn’t say my main goal is just to gain mass. My goal is to gain mass while improving or at the very least maintaining athleticism. I probably should have explained that in my first post.

@syrus2001

Another option here, and I’m not saying that perhaps you havent tried it yet or should try it. But many athletes hate the squat because their form is terrible and havent been well instructed on how to perform it. Especially taller athletes where form is more exaggerated. I know when I first started I hated squats and sucked big time at them. I sucked up my ego, dropped down to 100lbs and said screw it, im going to build this up the right way. And so I never increased my weight until my form was solid, and eventually you build strength in key areas required to get into a good position.

With that said, I know that taller athletes are at somewhat of a disadvantage when it comes to lifting and technique. How tall are you if I may ask?

I’m 6’5. It’s not so much my height that’s the biggest issue, but more the fact that my femurs are long compared to my torso.

My form is pretty good, but it still feels as though my lower back is the limiting factor in the lift.

Thanks for the detailed response