# Best excercise for legs, barring squats **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 23, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-excercise-for-legs-barring-squats/318309 "2005-08-23T19:16:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-excercise-for-legs-barring-squats/318309/21 "2005-08-24T22:08:00Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > Again according to the labeling at my gym, to really _isolate_ the glutes you should do any abduction movement with your legs…that is, spreading the legs apart, or back one at a time. Isolation doesn’t matter as much as loading. You’re not going to get any significant size/strength from a movement like that cause you’re not producing a lot of force. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-excercise-for-legs-barring-squats/318309/22 "2005-08-24T22:25:49Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > Isolation doesn’t matter as much as loading. You’re not going to get any significant size/strength from a movement like that cause you’re not producing a lot of force. True, but don’t you still get some benefit from the isolation movement, particularly if you continue to do squats or at least leg presses? If I understand the kinesiology here, abduction, pressing, and squatting all involve the glutes, but abduction calls on it to power a different movement. In fact, couldn’t you say that leg adductions are to the glutes what lateral dumbbell raises are to the delts? BTW I think I know why I have that problem with deadlifts–it’s probably because I can barely do a proper squat, with heels on the floor. They’d make us try that in yoga class, and I nearly tipped backwards every time. So I end up leaning so far forward that I have a hard time getting the bar up without bumping my knees. I got me some real flexibility issues there. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-excercise-for-legs-barring-squats/318309/23 "2005-08-24T23:15:54Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > In fact, couldn’t you say that leg adductions are to the glutes what lateral dumbbell raises are to the delts? Sure, but I don’t either exercise is particularly useful, let alone necessary. If you want big lateral delts, do overhead presses. > [@Lord Ashtar](#): > > And keep doing the calf raises. Calves are one of the hardest muscles in the body to force to grow, since their so dense and tough. I found I had to do a LOT of weight (like close to 900 pounds on my last set of donkey calf raises) in order to make them grow. This should make sense. Every step you take is a repetition. With all the low weight work your calves are exposed to every day, they’re not going to grow from a little bit more. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-excercise-for-legs-barring-squats/318309/24 "2005-08-25T16:40:41Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > Isolation doesn’t matter as much as loading. You’re not going to get any significant size/strength from a movement like that cause you’re not producing a lot of force. Naturally I didn’t mean doing abductions without any resistance, rather using a machine and loading the weight stack with as much as you can take and still do the movement correctly. You’ll definitely feel it then. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-excercise-for-legs-barring-squats/318309/25 "2005-08-25T20:22:46Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > Naturally I didn’t mean doing abductions without any resistance, rather using a machine and loading the weight stack with as much as you can take and still do the movement correctly. You’ll definitely feel it then. Feeling it doesn’t mean all that much. You can generally get a better burn from leg presses than squats, but squats are definitely harder work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-excercise-for-legs-barring-squats/318309.md?page=1)