Seated vs. Regular

[Californianrower]

Which weightlifting machine helps rower more? Seated leg press, where you are sitting in a chair and you press forward on a horizontal plane , or regular leg press, where you are on your back or on an incline, and push up? Thanks a lot

[dwalk]

If it strengthens the legs it will help. I tend to do more squats, Bulgarian split squats, and lunges for my quads, but I do like to leg press occasionally and use both types.

[ArmandoChavezUNC]

In my opinion the seated leg press isn't very helpful. The inclined one where you are on your back places a lot of unnecessary stress on your lumbar spine, which can lead to injury.

The three most important exercises (and really you don't need any more) for developing the rowing musculature are:
1) Squats
2) Deadlifts
3) Rows/Bench-pulls

[hjs]

Which weightlifting machine helps rower more? Seated leg press, where you are sitting in a chair and you press forward on a horizontal plane , or regular leg press, where you are on your back or on an incline, and push up? Thanks a lot

No difference, but I also am in the camp of the former 2 posters. Free weights are better. Those work the work the whole body.

[gregsmith01748]

Any opinion about power cleans versus squats and deadlifts?

I wonder if the acceleration of the weights and upper body work of a clean might be a good match for the rowing stroke.

[dwalk]

Just be sure you are instructed on proper form when squatting, deadlifting, and especially cleans. If you have never performed any of these exercises start with progressions. Rack pulls for deads, squatting to a bench or box or goblet squats, and just make sure you get instruction on cleans from someone who is qualified.

[Bob S.]

In my opinion the seated leg press isn't very helpful. The inclined one where you are on your back places a lot of unnecessary stress on your lumbar spine, which can lead to injury.

I disagree with that completely. Many, many years ago, when I was doing full squats with several hundred pounds on my shoulders, I always felt quite uneasy about keeping my spine straight. It felt as limber as a piece of spaghetti. Eventually I learned that full, or even half squats were a no-no for the knees, but going to quarter squats did not eliminate the risk to the spine. Going to one-legged squats with much less weight helped a lot, but there is a risk in losing balance, so I just skipped the weight and stuck with one-legged body-weight only squats. Not as much resistance, but minimal risk. At that time I had never even heard of a leg press. That was around 1950, so maybe they did not exist yet. Most everything was free weights in those days, and the erg itself was a couple of decades in the future.

Nowadays, my skeleton system is pretty well shot, especially in the 4th and 5th vertebrae, so I am very careful about adding any additional load to my back. The only quad work I do, other than rowing, is on an inclined leg press. With my back securely pressed against the inclined backrest, there is no risk to the spine. The resistance pressure is against the back of my hips.

(Note: On the machine that I have available, the incline is 45°, so the resistance along the incline is 71% of the weight of the carrier plus the added weights. The gym owner told me that the carrier weight is 65 pounds.)

Bob S.

[ericredaxe]

Just be sure you are instructed on proper form when squatting, deadlifting, and especially cleans. If you have never performed any of these exercises start with progressions. Rack pulls for deads, squatting to a bench or box or goblet squats, and just make sure you get instruction on cleans from someone who is qualified.

This is so very true and can't be stressed enough!!!

[rowingdude]

Fer god's sake. DO NOT EVER USE A "WEIGHT LIFTING MACHINE," use free weights or NONE at all. Free weights train every muscle associated with the stability of your target muscle. Weight machines remove all the stability work.

Second, as for lifts.. stand in front of the mirror and replicate a rowing motion.

Free weight exercises:

1. Squats
2. Dead lift
3. Power clean
4. Bench rows
5. Isolated rows (prop the weight bench up on some of your gym's** riser blocks) and then lay face down on the bench, using two heavy dumb bells to do rows (but do NOT "chicken wing" it)
6. Back extensions/supermans
7. Sit-ups three ways (regular, twisting, and with pauses at 20, 45, and 70 degrees)

"Machine" exercises

1. Leg press
2. Seated row machine
3. Seated calf raise, or standing calf raise in the dreaded Smith machine.

** If your gym has a policy against using free weights in excess (you're going to be squatting big numbers) or does not have riser blocks, then you're going to a pussy gym. Find a gym where the owner is a lifter himself, and he can help you with a routine.

Rowers see the best performance gain through perfecting technique lifting is only a bonus.

[dwalk]

I wouldn't do just situps for your core. Most people sit at a desk all day and the last thing they need to do is reinforce that position by only doing situps. That is me doing the human flag in my avatar and the number of situps I've done in the last 5yrs is under 300. You need to brace your core during the rowing stroke, so I would do more core bracing exercises.