How and why to do hack squats

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

This exercise deserves a place in your program.

What are hack squats

This is a type of squat in which the point of application of force - weight - is located at the back, behind the line of the legs, and not above them, as in the squat with a barbell on the shoulders.

The creation of the hack squat is often credited to Georg Gakkenschmidt, a Russian athlete and wrestler known throughout the world at the beginning of the 20th century. In Gackenschmidt's book The Path to Strength and Health, a similar exercise is given, but its form is very different from modern hack squats: the bar is held behind the back with a narrow grip, the feet are together, and the squat is performed on toes.

In modern strength training, the hack squat can also be done with the barbell behind the back, however, the hands on the bar are shoulder-width apart and the heels are pressed against the floor or a low stand.

But most often such squats are performed in a gakk machine - a special simulator that made the exercise convenient and safe even for beginners.

Why hack squats are good

There are several reasons to try this exercise.

Helps to pump up embossed hips

Hack squats perfectly pump all heads of the quadriceps - the large muscle located on the front of the thigh. Back squats do it just as well, but unlike free weights, in a hack machine you don't have to strain to stabilize your core. In addition, the hack squat puts much less stress on the hamstrings and glutes.

As a result, you can work with large weights and provide the quadriceps with enough stimulus to grow quickly.

Lightly load the lower back

In the hack squat, the load on the back extensors - the muscles located around the spine - is almost half as much as in the squat with a barbell on the back or chest. Thus, you can increase the load on your legs without worrying about the lower back.

Increases knee stability

By pumping the lower quadriceps, hack squats significantly increase knee stability.

This will help protect your knees from injury in sports that require short sprints and sudden changes in direction, such as soccer and basketball.

Learn to squat correctly

Newbies in strength training often do squats with weights incorrectly - they fall on their toes, thereby increasing the load on the knees and risking injury to them.

Hack squats, on the other hand, are done with an emphasis on the heels, so people without experience can learn the correct movement without risking overloading the joints and getting injured.

Increases jump height and power

In one study, six weeks of machine hack squats significantly improved the height and peak power of the vertical jump.

In addition to strength training, participants also performed plyometric exercises and sprints. However, in groups without additional strength work and with squats with a barbell on the back, indicators were lower than in those who trained on a hack machine.

Who Shouldn't Do Hack Squats

Hack squats are not recommended for knee and lower back problems. This exercise is safer for the spine than movements with a barbell on the back or chest, but with existing problems, even this may be enough to injure.

Also, do not get carried away with hack-squats if you dream of pumped up buttocks, and you don't need relief quads.

Basically, any two-legged squat is not the best movement for pumping your priests. And the exercises in the gakk machine load the gluteal muscles and the back of the thigh even worse than all other types, including the Zercher squat, sumo, options with a barbell on the back or on the chest.

How to Do Hack Squats on a Trainer Correctly

Before mastering the hack-machine, remove all pancakes from it. Press your back against the back cushion of the machine and your shoulders against the shoulder pads. Place your feet shoulder-width apart in the middle of the platform, slightly turn the toes outward.

Grasp the handles and set them to the operating mode. In most simulators, for this you need to move the handles from a diagonal position to a vertical one. Straighten your knees, but don't block them - this is the starting position.

Pressing your back against the simulator, with an inhale, squat down to the parallel of your hips with the platform or slightly lower. As you exhale, press your heels into the support and squeeze yourself upward, returning to the starting position.

Repeat the exercise as many times as needed.

How to do barbell hack squats

Place the barbell on the floor and turn your back to it. Position your legs in the same way as if you were going to do regular squats or deadlifts: place your feet slightly wider than your hips, but narrower than your shoulders.

Straighten your back, bring your shoulders back, bend your knees and sit down on the bar. Grasp the bar with a straight grip shoulder-width apart. Check the position of the body and legs: the hips are parallel or close to the floor, the back is straight, the heels are pressed against the floor.

If at the same time you are unable to keep your back straight, place the bar higher - on plinths or safety stops in the power frame.

Maintaining a neutral lumbar position, as you exhale, rise with the barbell in your hands until the hip and knee joints are fully extended, open your chest and bring your shoulder blades together.

Then, inhaling, return to the starting position and repeat.

What mistakes to avoid when doing hack squats

Hack squats are much easier to learn than free weights, but there are some technical things to keep in mind:

1. Don't round your back at the bottom. If you are doing exercise on the machine, constantly press your lower back against the pillow. In the version with a barbell, carefully monitor the position of the lower back in the phase of lifting weights from the floor: if it begins to round, take a smaller weight.
2. Don't fall on your toes. If you feel that the weight is shifting to your toes and your heels are lifting off the surface at the bottom of the squat, move your feet up, closer to the edge of the platform. For a barbell, place pancakes or a rubber mat about 5 centimeters thick under your heels.
3. Don't wrap your knees inward. It is dangerous to do this under load: this position deprives the joint of stability and can lead to injury. Try to spread your knees slightly outward. If this does not work, reduce the operating weight.

How to choose a working weight, the number of approaches and repetitions

Do three or four sets of 8-12 reps. Pick up the weight so that the last repetitions in the approach are difficult, but you can do the right amount without mistakes in technique.

If on the last reps your back starts to bend and your knees begin to curl inward, reduce your working weight and stick to it until you can do at least eight times with perfect technique.

How to add hack squats to your program

While hack squats are very effective for building quads and are safe for the back, they should not be done as a single leg exercise. Especially if you don't have spinal problems.

First, squats with a barbell on the back or chest, in addition to the hips, also pump the muscles of the back and abs, which stabilize the core and protect the spine during strength exercises. And secondly, free weights provide more metabolic stress, which is necessary for both weight loss and muscle growth.

So do hack squats as extra work. Include them in your program once a week, along with other exercises for the muscles of the hips and buttocks: squats, lunges, strides and rows with a barbell and dumbbells.