How to Do a 45 Degree Leg Press
A 45 degree leg press is a plate-loaded sled you push up an angled track. Set your feet shoulder-width in the middle of the platform and lower until your knees pass 90 degrees, stopping before your lower back rounds. It trains the quads, glutes and adductors. Most lifters do 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 12 reps.
- 1Top. Back and hips flat on the pad, feet shoulder-width in the middle of the platform, legs almost straight. Every set starts and ends here with the safety handles locked.
- 2Bottom. Lower until your knees pass 90 degrees and stop before your hips curl off the pad, then drive through your whole foot.
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How to do a 45 degree leg press
- Load the plates evenly with the sled locked. Sit with your back and hips flat on the pad.
- Place your feet shoulder-width apart in the middle of the platform, toes turned out slightly.
- Press the sled up an inch, turn the safety handles out to release it and hold the side handles.
- Lower the sled over 2 seconds with your knees tracking over your toes, until your knees pass 90 degrees or just before your hips start to curl off the pad.
- Drive through your whole foot until your legs are almost straight. After the last rep, turn the safety handles back in before your feet leave the platform.
Leg press foot placement
Foot height is the setting that changes the muscles. Low feet drew more quad activity and high feet more glute activity in heavy sets (Da Silva 2008), and foot height did not change the forces on the knee (Escamilla 2001). Turning the toes out changed nothing in that study, and a narrow stance put more compression on the knee than a wide one. On an inclined press, neither stance width nor toe angle changed muscle activity (Martín-Fuentes 2022). Start shoulder-width in the middle, then move your feet lower for quads as far as your heels stay flat.
How deep to go, and when your lower back rounds
On a 45 degree sled you choose the depth. Lower until your knees pass 90 degrees, and stop the moment your hips start to curl up off the pad, whichever comes first.
Past that point your hips have run out of room, so your pelvis tucks under and your lower back rounds while it holds the sled. The pad does not take the lower back out of the lift: in a flywheel leg press, peak compression on the lower spine was as high as in a barbell back squat at an 8-rep max (Sjöberg 2023).
You do not need extreme depth for the quads. In trained lifters, single-leg presses to 100 degrees of knee bend grew the quads as much as presses as deep as each lifter could go (Larsen 2025). Deeper reps do more for the glutes and adductors, which grew more from full squats than half squats (Kubo 2019).
If the backrest adjusts, try a more reclined setting. A 125 degree angle between seat and backrest let the hips bend further and drew more outer quad activity than an upright 90 degrees, with no change for the glutes (Marchetti 2023).
Stop an inch higher, or move your feet a little lower and wider so your thighs pass beside your ribs instead of into them. Moving your feet higher makes the hips bend more, not less.
Safety stops and the release handles
A 45 degree leg press has two locks. The release handles by your hips hold the sled at the top: press it up an inch and turn them out to start, then turn them back in after your last rep, before your feet leave the platform. The safety stops lower on the track catch the sled if you cannot press it.
If the stops adjust, set them just below the bottom of your rep, so a failed rep lands on the stops instead of your chest and knees. If they do not adjust, stay 1 to 2 reps short of failure on heavy sets. Load and unload plates one side at a time with the sled locked, so it never carries much more on one side.
Press to almost straight under control. Snapping into lockout under a heavy sled can push the knee past straight.
What you actually push on a 45 degree leg press
The sled runs up a 45 degree track, so only the share of its weight along the track pushes back on your feet. That share is the sine of 45 degrees, about 71%, and friction on the rails takes off a little more.
The sled counts too, and every brand weighs differently, so check the plate on the frame or the maker's spec sheet. Load four 45 lb plates a side (360 lb, 162.5 kg) on a 100 lb (45 kg) sled and the total is 460 lb (210 kg), but you push about 325 lb (147.5 kg) along the track. Most lifters log the plates only, which is fine for tracking yourself as long as you log the same way every time.
Leg press numbers do not carry over between machines. Of 6,000+ Gravitus lifters who logged both this and the seated leg press (September 2026), about 3 in 4 had a bigger best on the 45 degree sled, and the typical lifter's sled best was about 1.45 times their seated best.
Not in the logs. Keep a separate log for the sled and the seated stack, and compare each only with itself.
How much weight should you leg press?
On Gravitus, the median man lifts 340 lb (155 kg) for 10 reps on the leg press, and the median woman 200 lb (90 kg).
- Most lift
- 245 to 460 lb
- Top 10% lift
- 575 lb or more
- Starting out
- under 245 lb
- Most lift
- 130 to 285 lb
- Top 10% lift
- 385 lb or more
- Starting out
- under 130 lb
- Most lift
- 110 to 207.5 kg
- Top 10% lift
- 260 kg or more
- Starting out
- under 110 kg
- Most lift
- 60 to 130 kg
- Top 10% lift
- 175 kg or more
- Starting out
- under 60 kg
Muscles worked
45 degree leg press vs seated leg press vs hack squat
| Attribute | 45 degree leg press | Seated leg press | Hack squat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded with | Plates on a sled | Weight stack | Plates on a sled |
| First rep starts | At the top, lowering | At the bottom, pressing | At the top, lowering |
| Depth set by | How far you lower | Seat position | How far you lower |
| Best for | Heaviest loads, most volume | Beginners, fast weight changes | Deep quad work |
Close to a tie for growth, so pick the one you can load and go deep on. Over 10 weeks, the 45 degree leg press every session grew the thighs as much as rotating it with hack squats and Smith machine squats (Kassiano 2025). The numbers do not carry over: most lifters who log both press far more on the sled.
Sets, reps and progression
Stop each set 1 to 2 reps short of failure. Sets taken close to failure build muscle across a wide range of reps (Schoenfeld 2021), so pick a range where you keep the same depth.
Add reps first. When every set reaches 12 clean reps at the same depth, add a 10 lb (5 kg) plate to each side and go back to 8.
Common mistakes
-
Hips curling off the padYour lower back rounds at the bottom. Stop just above that point, or move your feet a little lower and wider.
-
Heels liftingYour feet are too low for your ankles. Move them up the platform until your heels stay flat.
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Quarter reps with the whole rackA huge number over a few inches of range. Take plates off until your knees pass 90 degrees.
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Knees caving inPush your knees out over your toes on the way up. Go lighter if they still drift in.
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Stepping off an unlocked sledTurn the safety handles back in before your feet leave the platform, every set.
Leg press variations
Questions people ask
What does leg press work?
Mainly the quads, with the glutes and adductors helping. Twelve weeks of leg press training grew the vasti, glutes and adductor magnus, but not the rectus femoris (Kinoshita 2026). The hamstrings and calves only steady the joints.
Does leg press work glutes?
Yes. Twelve weeks of leg press training grew the glutes 15.4% (Kinoshita 2026). Put your feet higher on the platform and go as deep as your lower back stays on the pad.
How deep should you go on leg press?
Until your knees pass 90 degrees, stopping before your hips curl off the pad. Presses to 100 degrees of knee bend grew the quads as much as the deepest reps each lifter could do (Larsen 2025).
How much does a leg press weigh?
The empty sled depends on the brand, so check the frame or the maker's spec sheet. On a 45 degree sled you push about 71% of the sled and plates together, because only the part of the weight along the track resists you.
Is leg press a hinge movement?
No. It is a squat pattern, where the knees and hips bend together and the quads do most of the work. A hinge, like a Romanian deadlift, bends mainly at the hips and works the hamstrings and glutes.
Is the leg press better than squats?
Not for growth; both build the quads. Over 10 weeks, the 45 degree leg press alone grew the thighs as much as rotating it with hack squats and Smith machine squats (Kassiano 2025). The barbell squat works the hamstrings and trunk more (Escamilla 1998).
How much weight should I leg press?
For 10 reps, the median on Gravitus is 340 lb (155 kg) for men and 200 lb (90 kg) for women. The strongest quarter lifts 460 lb (207.5 kg) and 285 lb (130 kg) or more.
Log every set and see your percentile on every lift, leg press included.
Get GravitusRelated exercises
- Da Silva et al. 2008. J Strength Cond Res 22(4):1059-1065.
- Escamilla et al. 2001. Med Sci Sports Exerc 33(9):1552-1566.
- Escamilla et al. 1998. Med Sci Sports Exerc 30(4):556-569.
- Martín-Fuentes et al. 2022. Sports Health 14(3):317-327.
- Sjöberg et al. 2023. J Strength Cond Res 37(1):27-34.
- Larsen et al. 2025. J Sports Sci 43(10):986-994.
- Kubo et al. 2019. Eur J Appl Physiol 119(9):1933-1942.
- Marchetti et al. 2023. J Strength Cond Res 37(10):e541-e545.
- Hahn 2011. J Strength Cond Res 25(6):1622-1631.
- Kinoshita et al. 2026. Med Sci Sports Exerc 58(7):1566-1580.
- Kassiano et al. 2025. Res Q Exerc Sport 96(2):371-381.
- Sato et al. 2026. J Strength Cond Res 40(9):1035-1042.
- Schoenfeld et al. 2021. Sports 9(2):32.