Leg Press foot placement

[lestat85]

I've always done my leg press with my feet high on the platform, so that my knees do not pass my toes. I've been noticing though that most guys place their feet lower and are not concerned with their knees passing their toes.

Have I been doing this exercise wrong and missing out on the full benefit of it, or is it simply about preference?

[Soar]

I'm not sure if its that critical, tho I move my feet slightly on each set just incase.

[likelifting]

IMO, you were doing it right. I look at it like a box squat. Your feet are quite a ways in front, like your feet high on the platform. Seems right to me, but I'm no expert.

The other things that stood out to me when I was working with my PT buddy, was he said to push with my heels. I guess it brings in the hammys and glutes instead of overloading the quads???

I'm in for answers on this.

[lestat85]

From what the PT I used to work with explained, pushing through your heels is supposed to help keep the pressure on the muscles instead of the knee joint.

I chose my foot placement, exactly as mentioned above. Looked at it like squatting and have always been told and read that knees should never pass toes, to protect the knee joint.

[Zodiac82]

pushin with ur heels emphasizes that hamstrings....so the higher ur feet the more focus in ur hammys and the lower ur feet brings focus in on ur quads....I move my feet around....as stated by soar
it's a preference thing

[lestat85]

pushin with ur heels emphasizes that hamstrings....so the higher ur feet the more focus in ur hammys and the lower ur feet brings focus in on ur quads....I move my feet around....as stated by soar
it's a preference thing

I've been misunderstanding the pushing through the heels part of this for a while. Thank you for this clarification.

Would the knees passing the toes not still be a concern for the knee joint though?

[Soar]

The knees passing the toe part has me confused. It's to early on a Monday...

[human project]

I've always done my leg press with my feet high on the platform, so that my knees do not pass my toes. I've been noticing though that most guys place their feet lower and are not concerned with their knees passing their toes.

Have I been doing this exercise wrong and missing out on the full benefit of it, or is it simply about preference?

I try to use as many different foot placements as possible. Hit the muscle from multiple angles.

[baseline_9]

The lower the foot placement the more quad you will use.... The higher the foot placement the less quad and more glutes and Hamms u will use...

It really depends what your goals are and what ur trying to get out of the leg press....

If u want quad development then go low.... If ur doing the leg press as a squat accessorie lift to increase your squat (powerlifting) then go higher.... If your looking for overall development then mix it up...

However I would always now favour the higher foot placement.... 1. There will be less stress on the knees... 2. Most people are quad dominant anyway... 3. Quads are easy to hit and most people's leg training has more of an emphasis towards quad development...

[Zodiac82]

Would the knees passing the toes not still be a concern for the knee joint though?

definitely u dont wanna go too low bcuz of the stress but I like to keep the top of my shoe aligned with my knee

[Armykid93]

The lower the foot placement the more quad you will use.... The higher the foot placement the less quad and more glutes and Hamms u will use...

It really depends what your goals are and what ur trying to get out of the leg press....

If u want quad development then go low.... If ur doing the leg press as a squat accessorie lift to increase your squat (powerlifting) then go higher.... If your looking for overall development then mix it up...

However I would always now favour the higher foot placement.... 1. There will be less stress on the knees... 2. Most people are quad dominant anyway... 3. Quads are easy to hit and most people's leg training has more of an emphasis towards quad development...

X2 everything here I've always accepted as true. Also some really good advice.

[lestat85]

Thank you to everyone for the great information and advice. I'll definitely be incorporating more foot placements in my leg pressing.