Squats vs Leg Presses

[whatupdog]

Hey, I am new to lifting (about 8 months) and have an issue with legs. While I recently did 45-degree leg presses at 410 lbs (remember, I'm new), I can only do in the low 100's for squats. While I know I need to hit more of my core and back for stability during squats, I was wondering what everyone's leg press weight to squat weight ratio is, Which one should I be able to lift more and what are evryone's max lifts in these exercises?

I am basically just trying to gauge how bad my squats really are...

[GearTripper]

IMO; on average you'll always be able to press a lot more than you can free squat. with my bad kness, my free squats are around 365 for 10 repetitions on my 2 heavy sets... i do two warm-up squat sets after stretching. my leg press can easily reach 720 after my free-squat set... so if i only did leg press as my main leg exercise, i'm sure i could hit 1000 no problem.

[goliath]

right GT...i'm the same way. i squat 405 for 6/8 reps and but i can press 900 on the leg press. however, as soon as my legs get close to 90 degrees my knees feel like they are about to explode. so i only squat...i use the hack squat machine on occasion...

[G-S]

Squats incorporate MANY more muscles than leg presses do, therfore are much harder than a simple leg press.

[whatupdog]

So, aside from the hack squat machine (which my gym doesn't have), are there any compound exercises that will help me improve my squat numbers?

[goliath]

Originally posted by whatupdog
So, aside from the hack squat machine (which my gym doesn't have), are there any compound exercises that will help me improve my squat numbers?

more squats man! keep squating and the numbers will go up...

[JUICE]

i love squats over leg presses. Beofre all i did was leg presses cause i had no chioce at wherei used to work out at. It was a rec center and thats all they had for legs, and notto mention only 500pounds on it. Ever since i got my new weight bench it came with a squat rack and loved it. My legs grew quicker.

[bigandreasg]

I stopped squatting over a year ago because my legs were not keeping up with my upper body. I always practiced great form but when i switched to doing just about everything but squatting my legs took off. If you want a great squat then dumbbell lunges are a good choice to build stability,strength, balance, and explosive power. My brother squats regularly and he's managed to build 28" thighs same as mine. So it's up to the individual. There is no best excercise. Oh yeah, everybody leg presses way more than they squat.

[G-S]

Originally posted by whatupdog
So, aside from the hack squat machine (which my gym doesn't have), are there any compound exercises that will help me improve my squat numbers?

Deadlifts.