Hack Squat

Execution

1. Straighten your legs without locking the knees; this is your starting position.
2. Inhale, brace your core, and lower yourself slowly by bending the knees, keeping your back pressed flat against the pad the whole time.
3. Go down until the angle between thigh and calf is a little less than 90 degrees, knees not tracking past the toes.
4. Exhale and push mainly through your heels to drive the platform back to the top, extending the knees and hips together.
5. If you run out of strength mid-set, do not grind: drive up as far as you can, turn the handles to swing the safety catch back in, and let the sled settle onto it before you slide out.
6. Re-engage the safety catch as soon as the set ends, before you get out of the machine.

Quick cues

• Back stays pinned to the pad.
• Push through the heels, not the toes.
• Track the knees over the toes.
• Neck rests on the pad, do not crane it.
• Lock the safety catch before you step out.

Common faults

• Fault: The knees caving inward on the drive up

  Fix: Drop the load one increment and focus on pushing the knees out over the middle toes for the whole rep.

• Fault: The back lifting off the pad at the bottom

  Fix: Shorten the depth to where the back can stay pinned and brace the core harder before descending.

• Fault: The knees traveling well past the toes at the bottom

  Fix: Move the feet a little higher on the platform so the knees have to travel less far forward.

• Fault: Forgetting to reset the safety catch after finishing

  Fix: Treat locking the catch as the mandatory last step of the set, done before standing up out of the machine.