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Sorry if this has been asked so many times before, but I can't squat. I have moderate to severe OA and I get terrible pain and cracking noises when I squat. Lunges (and even then, very slowly and at moderate reps) is about all that I can handle. I've taken to using the plate loaded leg press (no pain) and I wonder if that's a decent enough substitute. I need to "balance things out" when it comes to my body. My upper half is responding well strength and size wise but my legs (except for my calves) are largely undefined. Stairclimbers, despite their claims, do bumpkus. As some of you know, i lost a lot of weight and my legs sorta look like those of someone who lost weight and not firm. I'd like get strong as well, but I know, it's not the same as squatting and that's fine. it is what it is.
Hamstrings are knee flexors and pelvis stabilizers. Quadriceps is leg extensor. Those are the so called antagonists and hamstrings do not do much during leg presses. That is gluteus maximus>quadriceps>triceps surae job.
Mof, I do not even understand, why we have bulk of hamstrings as they literally do so little work walking or standing or running, that bulk and size of the muscle group is a total overkill for the job.
Like Ruth said - knee curles and dead lifts with knees kept straight do hamstrings.
Let me add something. With OA, you don't really want to do formal dead lifts standing. Better off, do them sitting on the horizontal row machine bench, knees locked. That's what I use for dead lifts. Much less strain on the lower back.
Sorry for no response. Thank you. I don't deadlift for the same reasons as no squatting but I didn't know about other versions of the deadlift.
Mizzile, that's true but in this case it's not a fat issue more of an imbalance. Because of my limitations I've neglected my legs meanwhile my upper body is pretty defined. It just looks weird plus I want to be equally strong.
I admit that I've stopped bothering with the leg curl machine...nowadays I tend to do a lot of cable dumbbell and barbell work...but machines are probably a good bet for those with limitations like myself
The unfortunate truth is that you won't get any definition doing anything unless your diet is on point. 80% diet, 20% exercise.
This is only true if you're carrying excess fat in this area. I can tell you that diet makes virtually no difference in the definition in my legs since I have no excess fat in my legs. Women may have a more difficult time getting definition in their legs since many have a tendency to carry excess fat in their legs.
Sorry for no response. Thank you. I don't deadlift for the same reasons as no squatting but I didn't know about other versions of the deadlift.
Mizzile, that's true but in this case it's not a fat issue more of an imbalance. Because of my limitations I've neglected my legs meanwhile my upper body is pretty defined. It just looks weird plus I want to be equally strong.
I admit that I've stopped bothering with the leg curl machine...nowadays I tend to do a lot of cable dumbbell and barbell work...but machines are probably a good bet for those with limitations like myself
Hmm, then you probably can't do a romanian deadlift either (it's a deadlift where you start from the top but you don't lower the weight all the way to the floor).
The leg press is an A+ exercise and is great because you can load weight on it and progress on it pretty much indefinitely, much like the squat and deadlift. If you ever get tired of it, switch to the hack squat machine, it has the same benefits. But to prevent quad-dominance (which I've read can lead to injuries), balance it out with high volume hamstring work. I'm not sure any exercise where you can move massive weight for the hamstrings, so instead I would just do high volume work like I said, 50-100 reps per workout, dividing it into however many sets you want. Good mornings, leg curls, and glute-ham raises are all great. Jim Wendler is a huge fan of them, and that's an opinion you can trust.
I would keep lunges and their variations in your workout because you get a nice trifecta of working quads, hams, and glutes, and single leg training is good for athleticism (now that I mention it, I should throw some in my workout!).
If those two are your focus I would think leg extension and leg curls would be your best pair of exercises. Squats tend to be the mother exercise for all leg exercises but are better as free weight that machine exercise since the machines would cancel out any stabilization and also not have as continuous of a path. And someone mention Romanian dead lifts- those are pretty good across different groups as well but cannot be done from a machine. The good thing about both squats and Romanian deadlifts is that you can use dumbells or kettle weights instead of only barbells. That makes them easier for some people.
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