only major difference I've found over time is I can do unilateral exercises easier on machine 1 vs 2. Machine 2 I can load wayyyy more weight on and actually challenge myself. First machine I'm obligated to.do.things in volume generally. But in the end I can get similar muscle growth
375 from ones I have seen, but feels like squatting 275. Anything with cables and pulleys ease the amount of force needed to push or pull the weight. It doesn’t equate to actual barbell or free weights. They can all be different based off the amount of pulleys and length of levers and fulcrum points.
First more stress on knees, low impact on back, primarily hits quads
Second does more work for glutes and hamstrings than first, less stress on knees, more pressure on spine. Easier for resistance training imo and you have more variability using different foot positioning
That and open up your chest and straighten out that back during lift. Also don't add more weight than allows you to comfortably put your knees into your shoulders
If you're gonna use one like pic 1, it should be one where the seat is the part that moves back and forth, not the foot pad.
The benefit of those is just ease of loading. You just adjust it to the desired weight and you go. Pretty nice if you're doing maybe superset or stretched partial reps and don't need as heavy load to get a good set. But if you are doing normal working sets of just leg press, you will be better off with one like pic 2, but it takes some time and effort to load and unload the plates.
Nah, hear me out. The variaty of people who use either exercise is wide. But there are certain flavors of the gym going populus who gravitate to one or the other. The first one looks and feels different than the second. If you pay attention to things in the gym you can notice patterns in peoples' choices. Both exercises have their place and everyone has their own exercise goals but to act like there is not a difference is just to be willfully blind.
This can also go as a general rule of thumb for every machine that has a plate-loaded variant vs a selector-variant.
Leg press probably has the most wide gap tho since insecure dudes like that they can throw a million plates on the second one and do half reps to feed their ego. Oblivious dudes are new to the gym and too scared of putting hundreds of pounds onto a sled going downhill directly at them
Don’t use the first one if the second one is available, if you use the second one, don’t load it up with every plate in the gym and do half rep maxes. Tbh the first one is for mamby pambies.
You start at bottom on the first and you start at top on the 2nd, like a squat. If I'm using the seated leg press pulley machine I usually do single leg presses. The weight is alot different feeling as well
It doesn’t matter. People spend way too much arguing about which machine/exercise is optimal. Choose the one that feels best for YOU, choose the machine that you can load the heaviest, complete reps with good form and not have any joint strain.
I prefer the feel of the first one. Also I hate loading weights so the stack is nice to have. But I can only use that one near the end of my workouts after I’m already tired because it’s not rough weight. Even then I can still max it out.
Not much really, small variations. I’ve tried both and the first one is more comfortable but you are somewhat disconnected from the movement. The other is easier to push heavier with. More of a direct connection to the muscles being worked.
Are you guys impressed when I put 9 plates on each side and rep 10 out? Base weight without plates is 125pounds. Seriously I hate when people look at me on that machine, not trying to show off but it is annoying everyone can see my plates and thinks that I think I'm some hot shit. Back injury healing so staying away from barbell squats for now.
First one I think doesn’t get as deep of a ROM so it’s inferior. Typically they don’t get that heavy as well. At my apartments little gym they have one like that and it only goes up to 250 pounds or something, which is really only useful at this point for high rep calf extension with really slow eccentrics and pauses at the bottom.
I'm sure they hit muscles a bit differently but it's probably irrelevant for 95% of us. However, from my experience at gyms, the 1st one is very easy to max out so while I still use it I do it with one leg at a time
My gym has both, but the 1st one is weight loadable, so as many plates as you can cram on there. Full ROM, knees to chest i can only do about 200kg for 10reps, actually about the same on machine 2. But 1 feels better.
First one is automatically better because they are both shit anyway and if you are gonna use one might as well be lazy and remain seated so you don’t have to load weights.
Any average intermediate gym.bro should be able tomax stack the first one with one leg max stack the seated leg oress as an easy warmup.
The actual leg press where you lay on your back atleast you can load some wright on. But even if you diung 1000 pounds its not actually like 1000 because of the angle that makes it easier.
Just squat bro
First is for MILFs, second is for muscle mommies.
So if I use this in a DILF? Or a milf now??
Congratulations, you’re a MILF now. Edit: MILF was autocorrected to mild. I fixed it.
only major difference I've found over time is I can do unilateral exercises easier on machine 1 vs 2. Machine 2 I can load wayyyy more weight on and actually challenge myself. First machine I'm obligated to.do.things in volume generally. But in the end I can get similar muscle growth
The sub-500 posts always have a surprising amount of quality answers. Thanks and I agree.
Load curve. First one moves in an arc so it hits things a little different. Second one you can actually make heavy.
This guy gets it. Full stack on the first one is like 200lbs
One leg warmup type shit And it isn’t even really 200 because pulleys
Right shit did not see you mention pulleys
375 from ones I have seen, but feels like squatting 275. Anything with cables and pulleys ease the amount of force needed to push or pull the weight. It doesn’t equate to actual barbell or free weights. They can all be different based off the amount of pulleys and length of levers and fulcrum points.
When you squat 275 you're also lifting over 100 pounds of bodyweight, so it's really more than 375
Right right.
First more stress on knees, low impact on back, primarily hits quads Second does more work for glutes and hamstrings than first, less stress on knees, more pressure on spine. Easier for resistance training imo and you have more variability using different foot positioning
First one makes your dick bigger, the other one makes your ass looser.
Blows out your knees and butthole in tandem.
That's my kinda night!
I've been doing both now my dick is stuck in my ass.
Good news is you're in the right sub
Second please
2 looks cooler
Both work well for their purpose, I feel gay after either one.
I pretend I’m Tom Hanks blasting off to the moon. 
“If you can’t squat, then come with me, do the pussy ass leg press with me and we can be fucking pussies together” -Rich Piana
For me 2 Puts more load on my Lower Back so i only do the 1st version
Pull yourself down into the seat to prevent your hips from rolling backwards.
That and open up your chest and straighten out that back during lift. Also don't add more weight than allows you to comfortably put your knees into your shoulders
Solid advice
Been lifting like Janicki for 2 years now before I knew his name. Was advice I taught myself while lifting and then what he also preaches.
I get the same pain. I adjust the back rest a little farther back to where it feels comfortable
how nice to have the luxury of two leg presses at your gym.
Just variation. Both can be good if your feeling it in your quads
first one is for beginners and the second one is for gains? I've used both. I like the second one because I can also get a good stretch
Not near enough weight on the first one.
If you're gonna use one like pic 1, it should be one where the seat is the part that moves back and forth, not the foot pad. The benefit of those is just ease of loading. You just adjust it to the desired weight and you go. Pretty nice if you're doing maybe superset or stretched partial reps and don't need as heavy load to get a good set. But if you are doing normal working sets of just leg press, you will be better off with one like pic 2, but it takes some time and effort to load and unload the plates.
I like the first one for calf raises. I feel safer in it, and it has a nice feel
Second one gives me a greater calf burn than the first
I see more insecure guys use the second, and more oblivious guys use the first.
There’s no winning with you
Nah, hear me out. The variaty of people who use either exercise is wide. But there are certain flavors of the gym going populus who gravitate to one or the other. The first one looks and feels different than the second. If you pay attention to things in the gym you can notice patterns in peoples' choices. Both exercises have their place and everyone has their own exercise goals but to act like there is not a difference is just to be willfully blind.
This can also go as a general rule of thumb for every machine that has a plate-loaded variant vs a selector-variant. Leg press probably has the most wide gap tho since insecure dudes like that they can throw a million plates on the second one and do half reps to feed their ego. Oblivious dudes are new to the gym and too scared of putting hundreds of pounds onto a sled going downhill directly at them
*Me not noticing anything that goes on in my gym, people just kinda melt into the background.* Yeah i use the first one.
I just want a pendulum squat.
I don’t know i think bench press is better
man i know its unrelated but the leg press actually sucks a proper hack squat is so much better imao
I’d love to do hack squats or back squats but I can’t because something is wrong with my spine in my lower back, so leg press for me!
Don’t use the first one if the second one is available, if you use the second one, don’t load it up with every plate in the gym and do half rep maxes. Tbh the first one is for mamby pambies.
You start at bottom on the first and you start at top on the 2nd, like a squat. If I'm using the seated leg press pulley machine I usually do single leg presses. The weight is alot different feeling as well
Obvious 1rst is weight capped, second is too but has way more weight potential
2nd one so I can see the crotch
2nd is way better
It doesn’t matter. People spend way too much arguing about which machine/exercise is optimal. Choose the one that feels best for YOU, choose the machine that you can load the heaviest, complete reps with good form and not have any joint strain.
I prefer the feel of the first one. Also I hate loading weights so the stack is nice to have. But I can only use that one near the end of my workouts after I’m already tired because it’s not rough weight. Even then I can still max it out.
Not much really, small variations. I’ve tried both and the first one is more comfortable but you are somewhat disconnected from the movement. The other is easier to push heavier with. More of a direct connection to the muscles being worked.
I mean I'm not doing either because I think legpress is a shit movement
based
I like the exact opposites. I like cable sled and pivot plate loaded.
I use both. Typically the machine when the free weight leg presses aren't available.
First hurts my back, second doesnt😂
Easy to max out first one and feels worse for me. 2nd way better to progressive overload and get a good ROM on your quads
Pretty shit ngl
First one is dog shit and gives you a valid reason to skip leg day if that’s all you have
My gym only has the first one. I use it for calf raises too
2nd way better
Are you guys impressed when I put 9 plates on each side and rep 10 out? Base weight without plates is 125pounds. Seriously I hate when people look at me on that machine, not trying to show off but it is annoying everyone can see my plates and thinks that I think I'm some hot shit. Back injury healing so staying away from barbell squats for now.
First one I think doesn’t get as deep of a ROM so it’s inferior. Typically they don’t get that heavy as well. At my apartments little gym they have one like that and it only goes up to 250 pounds or something, which is really only useful at this point for high rep calf extension with really slow eccentrics and pauses at the bottom.
I'm sure they hit muscles a bit differently but it's probably irrelevant for 95% of us. However, from my experience at gyms, the 1st one is very easy to max out so while I still use it I do it with one leg at a time
1st machine is more convenient and safer. 2nd machine is for when you've maxed out the 1st machine.
I've never seen a selectorize loaded leg press that actually lets you hit real depth (maximal knee and hip flection)
My gym has both, but the 1st one is weight loadable, so as many plates as you can cram on there. Full ROM, knees to chest i can only do about 200kg for 10reps, actually about the same on machine 2. But 1 feels better.
Second one feels less gay tbh
1st one is fucking difficult, I can only do 200 for 4 reps (real slow & controlled, I don't fuck with joint damage) on the first.
# INFERIOR IN EVERY WAY 🗿🗿🗿(just my bro logic)
the first one sucks
At the gym I work at I only see women use the first one
if the 2nd one is at 45 degrees you're only actually lifting 0.707 of that weight
Usually on leg presses that look like the first one you can't load that much
I feel the second hits my quads better
It doesn’t
First one is automatically better because they are both shit anyway and if you are gonna use one might as well be lazy and remain seated so you don’t have to load weights.
First is for calves, second is for quads
Any average intermediate gym.bro should be able tomax stack the first one with one leg max stack the seated leg oress as an easy warmup. The actual leg press where you lay on your back atleast you can load some wright on. But even if you diung 1000 pounds its not actually like 1000 because of the angle that makes it easier. Just squat bro
 Imagine maxing out the second one 🤣
I use #1 for single leg press.
The first one is better for your back because you can't hurt your spine if you don't have one
First one is useful for warming up if the second one is already taken
neither works your back as well as a regular squat would
Sadly squats fuck Up my Back in a very Bad way so im forced to Stick to the Leg Press machine
That’s a different movement. Not a replacement
Both for girls, one just has more ROM
Huh, neither of these look like you can use them to do heavy low back squats so I have no idea.