Geschatte leestijd: 3 minuten
How high should you place your feet on the leg press? What’s the difference between a high or low placement? Here you’ll read about the implications for the load on the involved muscles and joints.
Leg press
The
leg press is a popular exercise for training the legs and glutes. Particularly because of the lower need to stabilize with core muscles and the lower pressure on the lower back compared to squats.
While writing hundreds of exercise descriptions in the app, I was actually continuously answering my own questions. One of those questions was what the difference is when placing your feet high or low on the leg press platform.
Research shows that you can use the following rule of thumb:
- A high placement results in higher activation of the gluteal muscles
- A low placement results in higher activation of the quadriceps
How high should you place your feet on the leg press?
Brazilian researchers wanted to gain more insight into the muscles involved during the leg press in both executions [1]. They build upon previous similar research from 2001 that used EMG measurements to determine muscle tensions [2]. However, that research did not look at the involvement of the gluteal muscles. In the later 2008 study, the involvement of the gluteal muscles was also measured. Additionally, the leg press was performed with various degrees of intensity.
The 14 female participants had at least six months of strength training experience and four months (minimum) specifically with the leg press. They trained at least once a week.
For the study, they performed the leg press in three different ways:
- Leg press with feet placed high (LPH)
- Leg press with feet placed low (LPL)
- Leg press execution on a machine at a 45-degree angle (LP45)
They performed the exercises at 20, 40, 60, and 80 percent of their 1RM max (the maximum weight they could lift for one repetition).
Muscle activity during the leg press
The muscles whose activity was measured were the rectus femoris (RF), vastus lateralis (VL), (long head of the) biceps femoris (BF), (outer) gastrocnemius (GAS), and gluteus maximus (GM).
Why the researchers also looked at the execution on an inclined version of the leg press (45 degrees) is not really clear to me. Especially because the researchers did not compare both possible foot positions in that inclined variant. When looking at the photos, you can see that the execution on the inclined device in terms of foot position (LP45) more closely resembles the horizontal leg press with the feet low (LPL) than with the feet high (LPH). Then it’s not surprising (to me) when you see in the graph below that the measured muscle tensions per muscle more closely match between LP45 and LPL (both feet ‘low’) than between LPH and the other two.
The results: Feet high or low?
I personally find the data at 80% of maximum effort most relevant. This corresponds to a weight you train with for muscle strength and/or mass. At 40%, you’re training more for muscle endurance.
Calf muscles
It’s not very surprising that the calf muscles are more stressed when the feet are placed low. With a low placement of the feet, a greater range of motion is made at the ankle joint. The toes come closer to the knee. To control this (eccentric phase) and then extend the feet again (concentric phase), the calf muscles have to do more work with the feet placed low. In the study, this was measured with measurements of the activity of the outer head of the gastrocnemius (GAS).
Quadriceps
For the quadriceps, it’s clear that placing the feet in a low position leads to higher muscle activity. For this, the researchers measured two of the four heads of the quadriceps. The Rectus femoris (RF) and the vastus lateralis (VL).
Hamstrings
For the involvement of the biceps femoris, one of the muscles of the hamstrings, according to the study, there was no significant difference whether the feet were placed high or low.
Gluteal muscles
For the Gluteus Maximus, there is a significant difference. Placing the feet high was found to significantly increase the activity of this muscle. This is due, among other things, to bending more from the hips in this position.
Differences in practice may be even greater
These differences can, in my opinion, be even greater in practice. For the study, the participants had to start the exercise with knees bent at 90 degrees. In practice, the knees are often brought further back, sometimes up to the chest. This increases the differences between a high and low placement of the feet. With low placement, the knees and ankles are bent further than with the feet high. This will make the difference in involvement of the quadriceps, but also the calf muscles, even greater. With high placement, you bend even more from the hips, increasing the involvement of the gluteal muscles even more.
References
- Da Silva EM, Brentano MA, Cadore EL, De Almeida AP, Kruel LF. Analysis of muscle activation during different leg press exercises at submaximum effort levels. J Strength Cond Res. 2008 Jul;22(4):1059-65. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181739445. PubMed PMID: 18545207.
- Escamilla RF, Fleisig GS, Zheng N, Lander JE, Barrentine SW, Andrews JR, Bergemann BW, Moorman CT 3rd. Effects of technique variations on knee biomechanics during the squat and leg press. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2001 Sep;33(9):1552-66. PubMed PMID: 11528346.
