In our next installment of the ‘Back to the Basics’ series we demonstrate how to perform the Plate Loaded Machine Leg Press !! You’d be hard pressed to find a gym that doesnt have one of these guys and you may very well have used one yourself or noticed when the weight tower is empty that someone has this loaded to the brim with all the plates in the gym !!
Our mission here is to keep this exercise as safe and as beneficial as possible, yes you can move a truckload of weight on the leg press but just like any exercise its not usually necessary if we focus on good clean form, feeling the resistance in the eccentric or negative phase and contracting the muscles hard in the positive or concentric phase.
Make the exercise work for you, we dont want any unnecessary load on the knees, hips or lower back.. what we do want is a clear focus on the muscles being targeted – predominantly the quads with a little bit of hamstring, glute and calf creeping in there when we start to push to our limits.
Give it a rip next time your in the gym !!
