Upper legs-alternative workouts

I am fairly tall-in the ring of average dudes, squats are the king of all exercises but they really stress my lower back and its a long fucking way down-just on leg day it would be nice to be 5'2". I have dabbled with a few alternatives to throw in the mix-got the idea from magazines mostly but I wanted to share some workouts-maybe pick up on a few things to try myself. I can't see just leg presses alone to be the answer, although they are a good staple for me. I do squats every other week, I have to keep them in the mix but they are a pain in my ass, I cannot do them to failure really. I have to warm up extensively otherwise my back will pay, I knock out about 8 sets total. I would like less but I cannot find a comfort zone. So when I do a squat free leg day I start with the leg extension-warmup with a few sets then knock out a set of 8 and then 6 to failure. Then I will hit the leg press for 2 working sets 6 and 4. Then I try the hack squat although this still bothers my lower back. I knock out 2 sets of 8 with very slow negative counts. I hit the romainian deadlift for a set of 6 and then its on to the leg curl for a set of 6. Then I do a higher rep calf routine.

dude if it's starting to twitch your lower back STOP it's not worth it, that's why I quit doing them, and switched to lunges after I pre-exhaust with leg extensions and leg presses

once you fuck up your back your done for the rest of your life-buddy of mine (we use to call him quadzilla) could leg press 1200lbs for reps and squat 600lbs for reps...he had to lay off the weights for a while because of surgery but when he came back he could barely squat 315lbs-in his frustration he went up to 405lbs and blew his back out-now he's fucked for life and regrets it.

Do you use a belt? I know we had the "belt thread" but cant remember your response.

How tall are you? Im 6'1" and squats sucked until I got a good lift belt. It helps save my back and lets me actually feel in it the legs more than the back. My back used to kill me after squats....but no more.

Yeah, I do use a belt for squats and dead lifts.

i would suggest front squats only because you do not need that much weight to get the same if not better results, but front squats tend to put more pressure on your lower back. they do for me anyways. i do fronts every other to every three weeks. i get a much more intence workout when i do them and i only use half the weight.

I really like front squats as well - they really put the stress on the front quads.
The key is to start with light weight to get the form down and once you have that, you can add more weight.