Bodybuilding.net - Bodybuilding Forum - View Single Post - Help with legs please squats and leg press

EricT · 02-22-2007, 09:03 AM

You know it seems to me that once you can squat 400 you have a strong core. Not to say you don't want it stronger but that's not exactly sissy weight for most. The only reason why that would not already have helped build you a strong core is if you don't go very low.

So my questions would be how low do you go and what have you done to try and get past this weight limit?

Edit* I keep coming back to this to make myself more clear. You say you need 325 to feel it in your legs and 400 is your upper limit. It would stand to reason the if you did 325 for 7 or 8 reps that would be a maximal effort and you should certainly feel it. Likewise if you did 300 for around 10 you should feel that. For you not to feel 325 in your legs at any appreciable reps your upper limit should be MUCH higher. The only thing I could thing that could break this down is if your range of motion is very shallow.

Or you legs are very much strong compared to your core musculature. In my experience though squats and things like leg presses are different enough that it's not going to happen like that very often. However, if it is the case that you have that kind of imbalance that your legs don't feel anything while your form breaks down because of a weak core then one thing I would wholeheartedly recommend is all sorts of one-legged squat varitions. Preferably ones that have a loaded barbell on your back. They will help stregthen you core, especially because of the imbalance of one leg while keeping you at a weight your core can benefit from while still overloading your legs. This will have much more benefit than legg presses and probably any assistance. Although of course you should do abs and hypers are a great idea, as Dave mentioned. He also mentioned lunges which is great but also step ups, and bulgarian split squats.