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Home / Exercising / Fitness tests / Strength tests / Lower body tests / Leg press machine
Leg Press Machine Test
Introduction
To assess the strength of your quadriceps muscle, perform a leg press test on a regular basis.
The quadricep muscles are some of the biggest, most powerful muscles in the body, and it's important for athletes to keep them in good shape.
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What is the point?
The leg press test is one of the most beneficial types of lower body fitness measures you can do because it will solely focus in on this muscle. When you do other lower body assessments you may also be able to recruit other muscles into action, particularly if it is more aerobic in nature (sprint assessments for example).
With the leg press test however, the rest of your body will stay stationary while only the quads are contracting against the weight that you have loaded onto the machine.
The objective of the Leg Press Machine test is to evaluate the strength of the muscles of your thighs.
What do you need?
How do you do the test? - First sit into the seat of the machine so your back is either flat against the vertical back pad (if the machine requires you sit up) or flat against the back of the bench (if you are laying down). Your legs should be parallel and placed on the platform of the machine, approximately shoulder width apart. If you tend to have a natural turn out at your hips, you may want to have your feet slightly pointed outwards.
- Focusing on pushing through the soles of your feet (rather than the toes), push so the bench extends along the machine's tracks.
- Once fully extended, hold for a second and then lower. Note that at the top of the movement you do not want to lock the knees in place as this can place excess strain on the joint and cause pain.
- Remember to breath in as your are lowing and out as you are pushing against the resistance.
- Perform three trials, taking a three to five minute break in between and aiming to increase the weight as high as you can.
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What results you'll get :
The highest weight you are able to do effectively while maintaining proper form is then you score and what you will try and beat the next time you decide to perform this assessment.
What is being measured again?
These test measures the strength and endurance of the quadricep muscles of your thighs.
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