Squats vs Leg Press vs Bad knees

[LM037]

HI All,

This is my first post on this board. Been looking around for some time now.

My question is. Is squats superior than leg press. My main concern is that I have dislocated my knee a few times now playing basketball a few years back. When I do squats I envision my knee just popping out, so I do leg press. I have been doing 8x1260 on leg press for some time, and max plates on hack squats, but haven’t dared to try squats in years.

How much of a better workout will I get doing squats taking into consideration the amount of strain this may put on my lower back with a substantial amount of weight??

Thanks in advance

-L

 

[d3track]

is your worry about your back or your knee?
your knee can pop just as easily doing leg presses or hacks.....

 

[cwick0]

time to hit squats again. Just dont go super heavy and you should be fine. I have horible knees, so i stop at 315 on squats.

 

[TRUEsoldier]

Well it all actually depends on the injury to your knee! do you know what that is? Is it a ACL, MCL, LCL, miniscus, platela or what? that is what matters.

if you dont know that I would first find that out, then get a docters opinion...
can you do leg extensions without pain?
if your leg pressing 1200+
and loading the hacks without much pain, then your probably fine!

Deffinatly start light, and slowly pryamid up using a power rack with the safety bars set correctly. make sure when you start from the get go, you go really deep, that will also let you konw what type of injury you got!!

good luck bro

Peace

 

[LM037]

My main concern is that I don’t want o have to walk with a cane when I get older just cause of working out, so my knees are main concern. My health insurance will kick in next month so I will go to the doc to see exactly what may be wrong.

I can do the leg press and extensions without pain, but I have dislocated my knee 3 times so far. It’s probably most mental since I feel more secure about leg press. I will try squats on Friday and start slow. My legs are in good shape so I can afford to go light for a few weeks to get my form down.

OK, now my question is...how far down do I go with squats. It’s been a long time

Thanks again

-L

 

[d3track]

most on here go ATF
me personally its just shy of paralell, seems ot work best for me

 

[cockdesiel]

save the squat for last after your leg press and you should be pretty warmed up . After hitting 1200+ on the press you shouldnt have that much left over anyway to be able to go too heavy on squats. Start off squatting with 225 for two weeks. If no unusual pain after those couple of sessions, increase poundages by 5 every week or two. There's no need to rush into heavier weight

 

[curgeo]

Never do anything that causes you pain that's not muscular. You are pretty strong in leg presses, but remember the knee rotation is not as great as on the squat.

Hack squats cause a great sheer pressure on your kneecap as does squatting half way down. When you only squat to parallel or above, the static pressure on your kneecap is greater than if you would squat all the way down. Leg extensions are also pretty hard on the knee.

There has been no peer conclusion that doing squats are hard on the knees. I can site some reports if need be.

What are you after? Strength? Size? Quad activation?