Muscles does hack squat target

Does it matter? Does it make a difference? In case of lack of access to a hack squat machine, do similar foot placement rules apply for back squats? Should I substitute my squats or deadlifts with them? I feel like hacksquats are kinda in between. My leg routine is hip thrusts, squats, deadlifts, calves vertical and calves horizontal. Ive never really played around foot placement on hack squats.

Didnt have a hack squat machine until last year. I noticed my hams blew the hell up. That was a high and med foot position. Well tried the lower foot position and holy crap, the burn was unreal! Thanks big John! Just wondering what your thoughts are on Reverse Hack Squats? What muscles do they primarily hit? This is a really easy excercise.

Even if you round your back a little it wont be as dangerous as a rounded back on back squats and deadlifts. Thanks for the tips on this machine. Always trying to make sure my knees are feeling good. Do you have any tips for foot placement on the vertical leg press machine?

Thoughts on depth and back pain on it as well? Great vid again guys! I was wondering if a BB hack squat, leg press, lying leg curl and leg extension workout would be sufficient to build big legs without the regular back squats???

This way, I could keep my low back out of the equation on leg day. Thanks for your time. Thank you!!! Implemented this into my hack squats blew my thighs out!!! Doing it this way for now on!!! Love these vids just hit that subscribe button!

Great video, I see a lot of people on the hack squat with their feet together to target the glutes. Is that also okay in your opinion? Question for you!!! But, I have a problem.

When I do this exercise, I find the bar always hitting the bottom of my hamstring muscle right above the knee joint and it throws off my rhythm. Do you have any advice for how to fix this or what I may be doing wrong?! Just for those coming here in , this is NOT the proper way to do a barbell hack squat and does not focus the load on the quads like a proper barbell hack squat.

You should not set up like a deadlift. Look at the top of the wall across from you to force yourself to stay upright. Put your heels on small dumbbells I use the 20s for a nice elevation. Also, keep a wide grip and the bar in contact with your ass the entire time. Or is the difference negligible. Strained my patellar tendon doing the low footing very first in my routine. Warm up on leg day, folks!

I mean, iam talking about the kind of exercise you do by emulating an squat machine. John, I incorporated an interval lunge exercise from one of your streams that really sets your legs on fire! I like to think so, especialy and because i hardly can stand on my legs by the end of my workout!! The wider i go, the more i feel it in the knees, even though i do the exercise with proper form!

Narrow stance seems to be more forgiven! How do you guys feel about using a plate or a plank to elevate your heels a bit with this exercise? It feels more efficient to me that way but might be just lack of mobility.. Always fun to see peoples reaction when me and my brother does tjis at the commercial gym! What are the best tips if you find this places too much pressure on your knees no matter how many foot positions or placements you use?

Thoughts on the way Tom Platz used to do a lot of hack squats, descending with heels up on your toes then driving up with heels down with the knees kinda pointing out? Please do a leg press exercise index next. I loved this video. I always like to see how much weight he has on there. Looks like 2 x 45 on each side. You could injure yourself without wrapping those knees. Hey MD,I done hang cleans,shoulder shrugs and dead lifts today.

Is it ok to do squats,hack squats and lungdes tomorrow? They really hurt my knees when feet low. Now I know what to do. My workout has me doing them second after barebell squats. IS this not good?

Hi Ryan, I love your approach and to the point videos. After watching this I am taking the approach 1 and a half reps at the bottom with all my exercises. Do you think it is advisable and would have the same effect? Recently switched to a powerlifting gym which doesnt have a hack squat. Are theyre any bars or methods you can suggest to mimic one? I was having good results with them.

Good video. Short sweet and to the point. No added fluff. John does a great job on how to do exercises and how not to get injured. Can I possibly lift up my toes while using the smith machine to drive my heels down?

Edit: nevermind he says yes at the end. One year in and my legs are actually growing! This is the best quad exercise. I stand on a platform and put my hands width just outside of my glutes in order to get full range of motion.

Put a block under your heels and you want your ass to basically touch your calves, and it is the single best quad exercise. I go for about reps. I do this after my heavy breathing squats. Been working out since I was 18, but have fought lower back and hip issues all my life. Much appreciated! Do you think the Hack squat would be a good substitute? And yes I did recommend the trap bar.

Thanks for the fantastic instructions. I will most definitely apply differnt foot positions to my training. Anyway you sort of sit in it. I use it more of as a sissy squat because I go all the way down. Super dope channel! Can you make a video with more ways to hit traps with dumbbells only? Your breakdowns are effective and to the point.

Thanks bro! Lol apologies for the mini series… starting legs would you do just hack squats to start? And just starting is one or both of these enough for a leg workout?

Great advice as always, John. Are regular squats the best exercise? Yes, but not for everybody. Vince Gironda always said hacks are the wat to go. He was way ahead of his time. My right leg is shorter than my left. If I put my legs close together on any squatting movement I get pain in my hips.

I have to do everything with a sumo style. What can I do to hit the outer head more? Used a Swiss ball against my back at the wall, holding bar behind old-style, 10 sec. Next two sets only 4 reps. Crazy burn in the quads. Talk about TUT. The adductor magnus anterior head is also worked to a small degree. Furthermore, since you are gripping the barbell with your hands, you also target the forearm muscles, including the wrist flexors and wrist extensors.

Since you are maintaining a straight wrist position, the forearm muscles are targeted isometrically. This exercise is a slight variation of the regular hack squat, and is a safer alternative, especially for beginners. By using a wide-stance, wider than shoulder-width apart, you recruit more of the inner thighs.

So, you involve more of the adductor magnus anterior and posterior heads. The other muscles worked in the hack squat, which are the quadriceps and gluteus maximus, are also worked while performing this variation of the movement. Place your shoulders under the padded shoulder rests, with your feet about shoulder-width apart on the foot plate.

Slowly lower your hips, bending your knees to 90 degrees. Stand up again to return to the starting position. Keep your back in contact with the backrest throughout the movement to maintain support for your spine. Hack squats target the quadriceps muscles, or quads, on the front of your thigh more than barbell squats do. The four quadriceps muscles attach to your thigh bone and the front of your pelvis and insert through a common tendon onto your knee cap, which attaches through the patellar ligament to the front of your shin bone.

The quads are responsible for straightening your knee. However, they each apply load to the lifter differently and have unique supporting muscle groups that assist during the exercise. The hack squat machine consists of a backrest and shoulder pad assembly that slides up and down a set of tracks on either side of the machine with a platform at the bottom.

The machine keeps the lifter leaning backwards at a 45 degree angle throughout the movement. On the flip side, the leg press has a couple different machine variations. The less common version places the lifter in a seated position with their feet directly in front of them, requiring the lifter to push the platform horizontally away from them.

The more common leg press machine has the lifter laying down against a back pad, with their legs angled upwards at a 45 degree angle — pushing the platform away to perform the exercise. In the hack squat and leg press, the lifter is leaning back at a 45 degree angle and laying down with their legs up at 45 degrees, respectively. Since the lifter and machine also move horizontally during these exercises, there is a significant change in the biomechanics of the movements.

Consider this: the lifter is fighting entirely against gravity when performing a squat or a bench press. In both of these cases, the bar is ideally moving straight down and directly back upwards. However, the lifter is not only moving in a vertical plane during the hack squat and the leg press.

There is also some horizontal movement of the lifter or load throughout these movements. Because of this, the machines in both of these exercises are supporting a portion of the weight loaded and higher weights can be lifted as a result. In turn, the weights that can be lifted in the hack squat will be greater than those lifted in the back squat.