Leg Press Foot Placement (7 Stances & Muscles Worked) (2024)

Target: Quadriceps, gluteus, hamstrings

The regular stance foot placement for leg press involves placing your feet on the middle of the platform roughly hip-width apart.

Doing so allows you to achieve the best overall development for your legs; it works your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves [1].

But, even though this leg press foot placement works all areas of your legs, it primarily works your quadriceps (the large muscles located on the front of your upper legs). I’ve found my clients develop excellent quadsperforming12-15 reps on the leg press using regular stance.

This stance is most likely the one you’re using each time you use the leg press. It’s most common among gym-goers and isn’t overly complicated to perform. However,depending on your body’s proportions and mobility, you might find this foot position awkward.

In2001 a studyfound using the regular stance foot placement during leg press doesn't recruit as many muscle fibers in your hamstrings and glutes as you'd hoped. If you’re looking to develop your glutes using the leg press, you might want to look at the high foot placement leg press.

Further Reading -Leg Press Vs Leg Extension For Building Quads

• Targets all major lower body muscle groups, giving you the best overall strengthening exercise. Think of it as the best all-rounder.
• Recovery is quicker than squats and deadlifts which tax the nervous system more.
• Ideal for high volume, high-rep hypertrophy training.

1. Sit inside the leg press and place your feet on the footplate.
2. Adjust your feet so they are placed hip-width apart in the middle of the footplate.
3. Angle your toes outward (roughly placed at 11 and 1 on a clock face).
4. Perform your reps going as deep as possible without rounding your lower back and keeping your feet flat to the footplate.

Target: Gluteus, hamstrings

When you use a high foot placement on leg press,you increase the muscle activation of the glutes and hamstrings. This is due to youachieving adeeper position at the bottom of the movement, stretching the hamstrings and glutes more than any other leg press foot position.

You can use the leg press high foot placement as asubstitute for deadliftsand hamstring curls, which is perfect if you’ve got access to limited gym equipment.

Most gym-goers will find they can lift the most weight using the high foot position,primarily due to the increased activation of the glutes, which are a powerful muscle group.

The only downside to the leg press high foot placement is that the increased hip extension increases your lower back's work. If you have a sensitive lower back, be cautious with this variation and perhaps choose another to use.

After you blast your glutes and hamstrings with this leg press stance, try some of thebest dumbbell glute exercisesfrom our workout guide.

• Works your glutes and hamstrings through an extensive range of motion.
• Requires more hip extension,whichprovides your muscle fibers with greater stimulation leading to increased muscle-building potential in your hamstrings and glutes.

1. Step into the leg press and sit down.
2. Place your feet high on the footplate so your toes are near the upper edge.
3. Your feet should be hip-width apart, with your toes pointing slightly outwards.
4. Perform your reps, ensuring your feet at flat to the footplate and that your lower back doesn’t lift from the seat.

Target: Quadriceps, calves

Developing impressive quads is hard work and requires overloading them with large amounts of weight while moving through a wide range of motion. Adjusting your leg press foot placement to a low stance helps you hit your quads harder than the regular stance.

During the low leg press foot placement for quads, your knees need to travel beyond your toes, which places the quads in a far deeper stretch, increasing the muscle fiber activation during each rep.

However, there is onemajor drawback to this leg press foot placement; if you have ankle and hip mobility issues,you won't be able to get your legs deep enough to recruit your quads muscle fibers effectively.

But, if you don’t have these issues, you’ll love this leg press foot placement for teardrop quad development.

• Big emphasis on the quads due to increased knee flexion, ideal for muscle growth.
• Good for those who want to grow their quads specifically but can't do squats due to limitation or injury.

1. Sit on the leg press machine and place your feet low on the bottom of the footplate so your heels are close to the bottom edge.
2. Move your feet shoulder-width apart with your toes slightly flared out.
3. Perform your reps, making sure your heels remain flat throughout the movement. If you find your heels are raising, decrease your range of motion (but remember, this also reduces quadriceps activation).

Target: Quadriceps

If you’re looking for the best leg press foot placement for quads, then narrowfoot placement is the best option for you.

By placing your feet in anarrow position,the leg press movement will target your quads virtually in isolation. This leg press foot placement for quads is perfectfor developing thevastus medialis, also known as the teardrop-shaped muscle in the quads [2].

Throughout this movement, you’ll need to go as deep aspossible(with good form) to get the most out of your quad development. It’s keythat your heels don't elevate during the exercise, as this will hinder your muscle recruitment and overall results.

During the narrow foot placement, your knees will most likely make contact with your stomach at the bottom of each rep. This reduced range of motion helps you lift more weight.

As with the low leg press foot placement, the narrow foot placement is difficult to perform if you have poor ankle and hip mobility.

While you’re performing this exercise, if you find your heels are rising at the bottom portion of the leg press movement or your knees are caving inwards, you should consider another variation.However, you can overcome mobility issues by working on mobilizing tight joints and trying to increase your flexibility.

• Very effective in specifically targeting the quads.
• Ideal exercise for those who have trouble engaging and feeling their quads working.
• Improves other exercises such as squats and lunges.

1. Sit inside the leg press machine, placing your feet in the middle of the platform.
2. Move your feet to a hip-width, toes out position.
3. Start your set and ensure you have excellent form during each rep.

Target: Gluteus, hamstrings, adductors

If recruiting more hamstrings and glutes sounds good, you’ll love the wide leg press foot placement. During this movement, your legs are placed beyond shoulder width (usually around 1.5x shoulder width), which increases the amount of work your glutes and hamstrings need to perform rather significantly.

It’s also worth noting that the widened foot position places your hips in hip abduction, which engages your abductor muscles. This removes some quad activation, but not a significant amount.

One problem with the leg press wide foot placement is it requires a lot of inner thigh muscle (adductors) flexibility. If you don’t have the flexibility, you’ll find your legs will cave inward, which increases the risk of injury.

• Increases range of motion and highly activates glutes and hamstrings.
• Helps reduce strength imbalances in the legs (e.g. stronger in the quads than the back of the legs).
• Improves overall explosiveness of the lower body.

1. Place yourself on the leg press machine.
2. Put your feet on the footplate 1.5x shoulder-width apart with your toes angled outwards (45-degrees).
3. Perform your set, taking each rep as deep as you can.
4. Get your legs as close to the floor as you can; this gives you the most bang for your buck during the movement.

Target: Calves

While traditionally, this isn’t classed as a leg press movement, it is technically still using the machine, so I thought I’d include it on the list.

You can easily perform calf raises by placing your toes at the bottom of the footplate and simulating regular calf raises on the leg press machine.

During this movement, you have an increased range of motion, allowing you to work your calves effectively.

• Building stronger calves improves overall leg strength and stability.
• Improves athletic performance in areas such as sprinting and jumping.
• Helps improve ankle mobility and flexibility.

1. Sit on the leg press and place your feet onto the footplate.
2. Move your feet to the bottom of the footplate so your heels are off and the balls of your feet are on the edge, placed hip-width apart.
3. Push the weight up, flexing your feet, and slowly lower the weight, stretching your calves allowing your toes to be pushed towards you.

Target: Quadriceps, Gluteus, adductors

Last but not least is the single-leg press foot position. It’s exactly what it sounds like; you use one leg at a time rather than two.

This unilateral movement is fantastic for correcting muscular imbalances that develop throughout your years of training. It’s also a brilliant way to increase the difficulty of an exercise without needing to add more weight.

By using one leg at a time, you can perform all the leg press foot placements on the list above. Still, I’d be careful with the wide position as the risk of injury increases significantly due to the awkward positioning.

• Addresses strength imbalances.
• Improves symmetry in your legs.
• Increases hip and knee strength which will help improve exercises such as leg press, squats and deadlifts.

1. Sit on the leg press and place both feet on the footplate.
2. Remove one leg and start your set.
3. Swap legs and finish your set.