Hack Squat
A squat focused on your quads: on the machine you lower the sled with your back against an angled pad, and in the barbell version you lift a bar held behind your legs.
Equipment
- Primary muscles
- Quads, Glutes
- Secondary
- Forearm flexors, Adductors, Hamstrings
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Logged as
- Weight × reps
- Primary muscles
- Quads, Glutes
- Secondary
- Adductors
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- Weight × reps
Loads from YouTube only when you press play. The video is by an independent creator.
Why do it
The hack squat machine fixes your torso on an angled pad, so you can push your quads hard without worrying about balance or bracing under a bar. That makes it a staple for quad-focused leg days at any level. Foot position changes the emphasis: lower on the platform for more quads, higher for more glutes. The barbell hack squat is an old-school free-weight version that keeps you more upright than a deadlift, though your grip often gives out before your legs do.
How to do it (Barbell)
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and a loaded barbell on the floor just behind your heels.
Squat down and grip the bar behind you with an overhand grip, back flat and chest up.
Push through your feet and stand up, keeping the bar close to the back of your legs and your torso upright.
Lower it back down by bending your knees and hips under control. Holding the bar behind you keeps you more upright than a deadlift, which puts more of the work on the quads.
Set the shoulder pads to your height, put your back flat against the pad and place your feet shoulder-width apart on the platform.
Release the safety bars and bend your knees to lower the platform until your thighs are at least parallel to it.
Press through your whole foot to come back up, stopping just short of locking your knees.
A higher foot position shifts more work to the glutes, a lower one to the quads.
Common mistakes
Heels lifting off the platform
Feet set low with stiff ankles let your heels rise as you go deep. Move your feet up a little until your whole foot stays down at the bottom.
Shallow reps with a heavy sled
Heavy loads tempt people into quarter reps. Lower until your thighs are at least parallel to the platform, and drop the weight if you can't.
Locking your knees at the top
Snapping into lockout rests the weight on your joints and gives your quads a break. Stop just short of straight and go into the next rep.
Letting the barbell swing away
In the barbell version, a bar that drifts back from your legs pulls you out of the upright position. Keep it close to the backs of your legs the whole way.
Sets, reps and progression
How many sets you do and how close to failure you take them depend on your goal and your week, not on the exercise. These guides cover it:
Alternatives that train the same thing
Same movement, a different angle or piece of equipment.
