A Waste of Time

Let me start by saying I'm not a huge fan of the leg press. I personally haven't used or put a client on this machine in about two years. I adapt my training to what I've learned, and I've learned that the leg press does more harm than good and might be pretty useless. Maybe the only thing it's good for is racking weights. And nothing drives me crazier than listening to some buffoon tell me how much he can leg press. Tell me how much you can squat or deadlift. Then I might listen to what kind of workout hero you are.

Anyways, I'm training a client today and out of the corner of my eye I see this guy loading 45lb plate after 45lb plate on the leg press machine. Two on each side. Then three on each side. Then four on each side. I move onto another exercise with my client and this guy is still loading plates on. And this guy is not some jacked up bodybuilder in work boots. This guy is about 45 years old, weighs about 160lbs and looks like your typical computer geek. I think he actually had about seven plates on each side. So now I can't help but watch this guy a little more closely. So after spending about 15 minutes loading it up, the guy hops in and I can't wait to watch what is about to happen. This is the guy who tells the girls at happy hour how much he leg presses. So, he unlocks the machine and....starts doing calf raises!! Calf raises!! Are you kidding me? This guy spent all this time loading up this machine and now he's going to perform a movement where the range of motion is only about a couple of inches. He's getting a better and more functional workout loading and unloading these 45lb plates.

Another example of brainless exercise selection when it comes to working out. It's about 8 in the morning, so I'll assume this guy is a 9-5 (if that even exists any more) working man. He probably has a limited amount of time he can spend exercising each week. And he's going to spend 15-20 minutes loading up the leg press, doing a couple sets of limited range of motion calf raises and then unload the machine? Friends, this what I call workout inefficiency. A complete waste of time.

More tales form the gym to follow. I may actually have to make it a weekly feature.