Vertical Leg Press: How to Use It Safely, Pros, Cons and Who Should Avoid It

A vertical leg press is a leg press where you lie on your back under a carriage and push it straight up towards the ceiling. It works the same muscles as any leg press (mainly quads and glutes) in a tiny footprint, but because you push the full load against gravity and your hips sit higher than your head, it needs more care with depth, back position and breathing than a 45 degree sled. Here's how to use one safely, what it's good and bad at, and whether it earns a place in a home gym.

What is a vertical leg press?

You lie flat on a padded back rest at floor level, with your hips directly under a footplate that runs on two vertical guide rods or rails. Plates go on pegs either side of the carriage. You unrack the carriage, lower it towards your chest by bending your knees, then press it back up.

Because the movement is pure vertical, there's no angle discount. On a 45 degree sled you push roughly 71 percent of the load along the rails; on a vertical press you push all of it, carriage included. We cover the maths in more detail in our plate loaded leg press guide. The short version: start lighter than you'd use on a gym 45 degree machine.

How to use a vertical leg press safely

Set the machine up before you load a single plate.

1. Set the safety stops first. Almost every vertical press has adjustable stops or catches below the carriage. Lie down, unloaded, and find the lowest point you can reach with your hips and lower back still flat on the pad. Set the stops at or just above that point. If a rep goes wrong, the carriage lands on the stops, not on you.
2. Lie down and line up. Your hips go directly under the footplate, back and head flat on the pad. If the machine has a hip pad or angled seat, use it; it reduces the head-down feel.
3. Place your feet. Feet roughly hip to shoulder width, flat on the plate, toes turned out slightly. Your whole foot should stay in contact for the entire rep.
4. Brace and unrack. Breathe into your belly, tighten your abs, press the carriage up an inch and turn the release handles. Keep a grip on the handles beside your hips throughout.
5. Lower under control. Take two to three seconds to bring your knees towards your chest. Stop before your tailbone peels off the pad. That's your depth, and it's usually higher than you'd guess.
6. Press up. Push through your mid-foot and heels until your legs are almost straight. Don't lock your knees hard at the top.
7. Re-rack every set. Turn the catches back on before you relax your legs. Never let go of the load with the stops disengaged.

Foot placement

Foot placement works the same way as on any leg press. Higher on the plate puts more work on your glutes and hamstrings and reduces how far your knees travel forward. Lower on the plate biases your quads but increases knee bend and makes it easier for your hips to roll up at the bottom. Wider with toes out brings in more adductor work. Our main leg press guide has a full foot placement breakdown.

On a vertical press, start a little higher on the plate than you normally would. It gives your lower back more room before it starts to round.

Muscles worked

• Quadriceps: the prime movers, straightening your knees out of the bottom.
• Glutes: drive hip extension, and get a big stretch because your hips start so flexed.
• Hamstrings and adductors: assist hip extension, more so with a high or wide foot position.
• Calves: stabilise the ankle, and you can do calf raises on the plate with straight legs.

Your core works to keep your pelvis pinned, but there's very little upper body or balance demand, which is the point of any leg press.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Small footprint. A vertical press is much shorter than a 45 degree sled, which is why it suits garages and spare rooms.
• Cheap. Simple frames with two guide rods cost a fraction of a full sled, and some power racks and Smith machines offer a vertical press attachment.
• Big range for the quads and glutes. You can get a deep knee and hip bend if your back stays flat.
• No spinal compression. The load sits on your feet, not your shoulders, so it's useful when your back won't tolerate squats.

Cons

• Blood rush to the head. Lying flat with your legs and hips raised shifts fluid towards your head. Many people find it uncomfortable over a long set.
• Lower back rounding. The hips-up position makes it easy for your pelvis to curl at the bottom, which loads your lumbar spine under heavy weight.
• Awkward to load. You load plates at about shoulder height on the carriage, then have to get under it. Changing weight between sets is slow.
• Heavier for the same plates. No angle discount, so the numbers look smaller than a 45 degree press.

Vertical vs 45 degree vs horizontal leg press

	Vertical	45 degree sled	Horizontal (seated)
Body position	Lying flat, push straight up	Reclined, push up an incline	Seated, push forwards
Share of plate load you push	All of it	About 71 percent	Usually a weight stack instead
Footprint	Smallest	Largest	Medium
Head-down feel	Strong	Mild	None
Loading	Awkward	Easy	Pin change
Best for	Tight spaces, cheap setups	Heavy loading, comfort	Beginners, rehab, multi gyms

The 45 degree sled is the most comfortable and easiest to load heavy, but it's big. Horizontal presses are the gentlest option and the type you'll find on home multi gyms like the SPORTSROYALS home gym, though stack weight limits how strong you can get on them. If you're weighing up machines more broadly, our hack squat vs leg press comparison covers the other main option.

Who should avoid the vertical leg press

The head-down position and heavy breath-holding both raise pressure in your head and eyes. Head-down postures raise intraocular pressure within seconds: a small study of four head-down yoga poses found rises of roughly 4 to 13 mmHg in both glaucoma patients and healthy people, settling within two minutes of sitting up (Jasien et al., PLoS One, 2015). A vertical press isn't a full inversion, but your hips do sit above your head.

Speak to your GP before using one if you have:

• High blood pressure, especially if it isn't well controlled
• Glaucoma or ocular hypertension, or recent eye surgery
• A history of stroke, aneurysm or heart disease
• Pregnancy (lying flat on your back for long periods gets harder later on)
• Ongoing lower back problems, particularly disc issues that flare with flexion

For anyone in those groups, a seated or 45 degree press with smooth breathing is a safer default.

Should you buy a vertical leg press for a home gym?

Buy one if three things are true: you're short on floor space, you already own Olympic plates, and you're comfortable lying head-down under load. In that case a vertical press gives you heavy leg training that a set of dumbbells can't, for less money and floor space than a 45 degree sled. The Body-Solid Powerline VLP156 is the obvious example of a compact, plate loaded vertical press built for home use.

Skip it if you have the room for a 45 degree machine, if loading plates at chest height under a carriage sounds like a chore, or if any of the health points above apply. And if you mostly want leg work alongside upper body training, a multi gym with a horizontal leg press station is a better all-rounder.

Recommended reads

1. Body-Solid Powerline VLP156 vertical leg press review
2. Plate loaded leg press: types, sled weight and buying guide
3. Leg press: how to do it, muscles worked and foot placement
4. Hack squat vs leg press
5. SPORTSROYALS home gym review