Dumbbell Substitute for Leg Press | Livestrong.com The barbell step-up is a fantastic functional, unilateral, multi-joint exercise that is killer for your quads, glutes (and core). The leg press is a compound power lift which involves the use of the maximum number of legs muscle groups. They”ll help you get similar (or even better!) If your training program is flexible enough, you should be able to do lifts like back squats, front squats, step ups, Bulgarian split squats, hack squats, or many other exercises in place of the leg press. They’re not only fantastic for working the entire leg – including smaller muscles like the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, lateral hamstring, and gastrocnemius – but they also work your core, which is never a bad thing. Make sure your knees don’t collapse inward. The foot placement keeps your pelvis in a neutral position ensuring your spine or lower back problems are not exacerbated. To get you through your next leg day without access to a leg press … Driving through your heel and the middle of your foot, push up to be standing on the bench. Set up a barbell in a landmine attachment and load it with an appropriate weight. We left this one till last as even though you will still need to use the leg press, this exercise is great for solving an imbalance in legs. You don’t NEED a leg press machine to effectively train your legs. They can be done with either a barbell on your back or with dumbbells by your side. Bend both knees to lower your body towards the ground – you should feel tension in your front leg and glute, and a stretch through your back quad and hip flexor. This exercise replicates the biomechanics of the leg press in that you are pushing the weight/resistance away from your body. Land lightly on your feet and controlled in a squat position, ensuring that your knees do not extend past. Brian Ward is a fitness writer, founder & editor of TheWorkoutDigest. Grab a dumbbell in each hand and placing one foot up on the bench. It is imperative that you get the form right when doing this exercise for it to be effective, so pay close attention to the ‘how to’ notes. This exercise places a great focus on strength, speed and power. Broad jumps make great leg press alternatives as you can do them anywhere, anytime and save you that pricey gym membership, but you’ll need a bit more space for this one (try doing them outside). Leaning back into the barbell, bend your knees and lower yourself down into a squat, over a few seconds. Have a weight plate of a suitable weight in your hands, ready to go. Do all reps with the barbell on one side before repeating on the other side. Like the barbell step-ups as mentioned above, but with a greater focus on unilateral strength. I prescribe this exercise for my clients often, specifically for its balance and symmetry developing benefits. Walk back towards the cable machine (maintaining tension) and perform your next rep. Take a large step forward, and then bend both knees to lower your body towards the ground. Ensure that you keep your chest up, your weight in your front heel and your front knee behind your toes. This is such a monster exercise, it’s worth waiting for! Side-lying single leg press with recovery band With a recovery band to provide variable resistance, this exercise will work your glutes, quads and hamstrings on both sides. Not to worry, you can build-up these smaller muscles with another set of leg exercises you can do anywhere. The exercises included in this article target every muscle in your lower body and are good for everything important: strength, power and size. If you are using the leg press machine as an assistance exercise, step ups may be a great alternative. Lower your hips back down and return to the starting position. Shift most of your weight to the front leg. The single leg stiff-legged deadlift pretty much follows the same rules as the stiff-legged deadlift except you will be utilizing one leg at a time. Roll a barbell over your lap so that it is in the crease of your hips. Below you will find a range of exercises ranging in difficulty, from beginner to advanced. Squats are the most similar exercises to the leg press, which is why it’s our number one alternative. Bend your knees and have your feet close to your hips, in such a way that when you push up into your thrust, your knees are at a 90-degree angle. Usually there is one side which is usually stronger or bigger than the other. Pro tip: The closer your feet are to your hips, the more you will target your glutes. Pro tip: Practice your ‘mind to muscle connection’ – focus on your glutes! Stand in front of a bench or box of an appropriate height (knee height is a good starting place). Categorized as a plyometric movement, it’s perfect for activities that require an intense burst of energy like sprinting. The exercise we all love to hate – walking lunges! Since these are the exact muscles, you’ll use them throughout the day whenever you use your … With your upper back rooted to the floor, lift your hips until your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your hips and knees, squeeze your glutes at the top of the movement. Get ready to kiss the leg press machine (and waiting in a queue to use it) goodbye! Benefits of The Leg Press. This move is unique because as the body descends, the hips experience some rotation that causes the body to move in all three planes of motion at the same time. Walk out, away from the cable machine, until there is tension on the band. Bring your knees towards your chest without lifting your hips off the ground, Push your legs away from you, against the resistance band, until they are straight, Squeeze your quads at the end of the movement. I just needed an alternative to the leg press. This post may use affiliate links. Have a dumbbell in each hand on extended arms by your sides. It works one leg at a time, which means it’s an excellent way to spot and fix left-to-right strength imbalances. Make sure you keep your chest and elbows up as to not collapse to far forward into the squat, taking the weight off your heels and onto your toes. You’ll discover workouts tailored specifically to your goals and target specific muscle groups. Step forward with one leg, keeping your hips square and bend at the knee to drop forward. Drive through the heel of your front foot, pushing off the back foot to return to your starting position. Push your hips back, bend your knees, and lower your buttocks. How to: Have a dumbbell in each hand on extended arms by … Our glutes (aka our butts) are not only one of the largest group of muscles, but often the weakest as a result of prolonged sitting. You can use a hip thrust pad to perform this exercise easier. Rome wasn’t built in a day! Leg Workouts at Home: No Equipment Leg Exercises, At-Home Leg Workouts: Feel Strong and Confident This Summer, 12 Days of Christmas Workout: Holiday HIIT is Here. Even with the best of form, the constant tension and shortening of the hip flexors combined with the lack of hip extension fuels lower back issues. Like the barbell step-ups as mentioned above, but with a greater focus on unilateral strength. Jump up and forward in the air, exploding forward as far as you can. One of the causes that leg extension is so common is how easy it is to do for everyone from most well-advanced athletes to a (1 st)first-timer.. Load a barbell into front rack positions with the bar across your collar bones, soft hands, wrists flexed back and elbows up. Push back upwards whilst taking your next step forward. Continue your reps, alternating from one leg to the other. Through optimal hip extension, barbell hip thrusts target your glutes and hamstring. When you push with a single leg, you can rectify leg … As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. There's a lot of proponents of single leg training, especially in the athletic world with single leg squats, due to lower back injury risk combined with the bilateral deficit which says we can actually produce more force per limb when using one limb at a time (ie a single leg … Whether you want to build more muscle stronger, up your general fitness or shed any weight, 8fit Pro is just the ticket. The biomechanics of a smith machine squat are like the leg press, but in reverse. © 2016–2021 TheWorkoutDigest.com - All Rights Reserved TheWorkoutDigest.com is designed for informational purposes only & DOES NOT provide medical advice, treatment or diagnosis. An effective leg press alternative, there are numerous types of lunges you can perform, including classic forward lunges, curtsy lunges or walking lunges to name just a few. Suggested reps: 20 to 24 (1o to 12 on each leg). Whether it be because you don’t have access to a leg press machine, or you simply want to spice up your leg workouts with something different – there’s plenty here to keep you going for a few leg days. Sometimes known as standing long jumps, this exercise develops explosive strength and improves your fast-twitch muscle reactions. I find that this exercise and the continuous load on one leg creates a greater level of exertion through the glutes. It is one of the most effective exercises when it comes to targeting the quads, hamstrings, and glutes. Why not level-up make your workout even more challenging by wearing ankle weights when executing the movement. One essential building block for many strength and resistance trainers that may be inaccessible is the leg press machine. This variation is similar to the elevated single-leg squat except the non-weight-bearing leg travels laterally behind the supporting leg. Push back up to standing position with power, without locking your knees at the top of the movement. All you need is a little bit of space to move around! Load the smith rack up with an appropriate weight (don’t be too heroic). But most guys don’t get really … The single leg press is good for isolating the major leg muscles including the quads and hamstrings, the same way you use dumbbells to isolate each bicep or tricep. You can’t go wrong with lunges, and just like squats, you can do them anywhere you have enough space. Lift one leg up onto a bench or ledge behind you (rest your foot on the ledge on your toes). Do three rounds of the following exercises: Jumping jacks (or jump rope) – 60 seconds, Forward lunges (right-left equals one) – 30 seconds]. He has been a contributor for several health and fitness publications, including WealthyGorilla.com, MuscleAndBrawn.com. Leg Press Alternative - 2 Targeted Muscles: Legs and Buttocks Leg Press with Resistance Band What You Need: Resistance band 1. Look no further than the Bulgarian split squat! If you don't have the right exercise equipment to do a leg press at home, you can use dumbbells as extra resistance for several alternative exercises instead. I like to do walking lunges with the maximum weight I can manage, over a smaller amount of reps. You have two main options in affordable leg press machines: Vertical leg presses, and horizontal leg presses. Vertical leg presses are performed lying on your back on a slightly angled back pad (often around 7 degrees), and pressing a platform loaded … Drive weight into your heels to stand back up to your starting position. Pro tip: Raise the height of the bench/box to keep this exercise challenging you! For those of you who love “loading up on weight” like you can do on the leg press machine, this one is for you. This exercise can be compared to a single-leg leg press. Let’s start things off and discuss what muscles you can expect to strengthen when you use a leg press. Lateral Single-Leg Squat. Take a deep breath and then push your hips up until your shoulders are on the bench and your hips fully extended. Who knows! Try our 15-minute workout and get some serious leg action you can squeeze into any busy schedule. Hold this position for the desired amount of time. Keep your weight in your heels, engage your core and send your hips backwards, descending into a squat by bending your knees. Load a barbell onto your back, as you would for a back squat. Plus, you’ll get access to over 700 healthy recipes and curated meal plans just for you. Push back up powerfully to standing position, squeezing your glutes at the top of the movement. Squeeze your glutes hard at the top of the movement and hold in this position for a second. This exercise places all the tension on one leg at a time – and without placing unnecessary tension on your spine. Leg presses work to develop and strengthen your quads, hammies, and glutes so that you can maximize the power in your legs and overcome muscle imbalances. Single Leg Press/ Unilateral Leg Press. That said, this exercise is a machine variation. Feeling fighting fit? The leg press functions in all the four segments of our leg muscles in our lower body section. Working one leg a a time helps to build strength and hip symmetry. Step into the resistance band, placing it around your hips. You can do this workout from just about anywhere – your hotel, your dorm room, your living space or your bedroom. Place your weaker leg on the bench (it will stay there until the end of your rep range). You can do the leg press on a machine in a gym, or you might follow the leg press alternatives like squats. You should land in a semi-squat position, bending your knees to absorb the impact of the jump. Suggested reps: 20 to 24 (10 to 12 on each leg). This exercise can be compared to a single-leg leg press. Stand in front of a knee height bench or box, facing away from it. The difference obviously lies in the position of your body as you press the weight. Sit in the leg press and rotate your body onto your right side so that you are sitting on your right hip. The machine is excellent for people who may be recovering from an injury and need to execute movements in a careful, controlled manner minimizing any overextension or incorrect form – often the case with barbell exercises. 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