Machine Hack Squat
A machine squat with the back braced on an angled sled, keeping load on the quads with no balance demand.
How to do it
- Load the machine and step onto the platform under the shoulder pads.
- Set your feet at shoulder width with your back flat against the pad.
- Extend your legs, release the safety handles and take the load.
- Bend the knees and lower until your thighs reach about 90 degrees.
- Drive through the platform and extend the knees just short of lockout.
- Finish your reps, then re-engage the safeties before stepping out.
Key technique cue
Keep the hips on the pad; don't lock the knees at the top.
Common mistakes
- ✕ Locking the knees at the top, which hands the load to the joint and unloads the quads.
- ✕ Letting the hips roll off the pad at the bottom, which rounds the lower back.
- ✕ Setting the feet too high, which cuts the quadriceps range the machine exists to train.
- ✕ Adding weight before reaching a full 90 degrees, which shortens every repetition.
Benefits
- ✓ The fixed path removes balance, so the legs can be trained close to failure safely.
- ✓ Back support takes spinal loading out of a heavy squat pattern.
- ✓ Foot position gives a simple way to shift emphasis between quads and glutes.
Progression: from easier to harder
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Step 1 You are here - Machine Hack Squat
- Pendulum Squat / V-Squat
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Step 2
About the exercise
The hack squat machine puts your shoulders under pads and your back flat on an angled carriage, so the sled travels a fixed path and you only have to produce force. Feet go shoulder width on the platform; you release the safeties, bend the knees to roughly a right angle and press back up without locking out. The quadriceps take the largest share, with glutes, hamstrings and calves supporting and the trunk braced against the pad. Foot position shifts the balance: pressing through the heels pulls in more glute, pressing through the balls of the feet biases the quads. It suits hypertrophy leg days and is a back-friendly alternative when a barbell squat cannot be loaded.
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