‘Leg press’ your way to stronger hamstrings

Strengthening the posterior thigh muscles can improve your balance

- Pulasta Dhar

The leg press exercise and machine are such good inventions that it would be foolish to use them only in their most conventional forms.

The basic leg press is done with the feet hip-width apart, neutral knees and the toes turned just slightly outward (but never inward). While this does work the hamstrings, the main focus is usually on the quadriceps. But there are ways to modify the stance to give the hamstrings at least as much or probably more load using the same exercise and equipment. Doing so would add another element to hamstring development without loading the spine.