Leg Press form.

[hypo]

Simple question- how far down do you go on the leg press? Right now I'm bottoming out the machine before pressing back up, but I just read going down too low may cause back injury. I have a twitchy lower back so I try to avoid anything that might stress it too much.

Also, I place my feet fairly low on the pad so when it comes down it feels more like a deep squat, but I see most people positioning their feet more towards the middle or upper parts...

Any suggestions?

 

[kwyckemynd00]

Don't roll your ass up, and IMHO, do it in whatever range of motion hits your quads the hardest.

There is no magic formula other than the deeper you go the more ham/glute involvment you get.

Just do them slow

 

[SJA]

Feet low and together will hit the tear drop. Feet high and wide will hit ham/glute. Feet low and apart will hit high quad and tear drop. Going too low will definitely give your low back stress. Go slow and pause at the top without locking your knees.

 

[Beelzebub]

what these guys said. buddy of mine used to religiously go all the way down, lower back coming way off the pad. ended up really screwing his back up because of this, now he has a hard time walking around.

 

[natedogg]

Just do them slow

Yeah, unless you're doing 30 to 40 reps with 12+ plates after a heavy set of 6 to 8.

I usually go down until my thighs touch my chest/stomach. Foot placment is about mid/high base and medium to wide stance.

 

[hypo]

Thanks for the advice guys, I think I'm going to stop going down all the way, my hips do rotate off the pad a bit.

I've never heard "tear drop" though, what is that?

 

[CSK]

It's a nickname for the vastus medialis muscle--shown here: