maratoolSmith Machine Hack Squat
How to do the smith machine hack squat
- This is another variation of the basic Squat that focuses primarily on the quadriceps, or thigh muscles, while using the Smith Machine.
- Adjust the bar to a low setting just above your ankles.
- Stand with the bar on the floor just behind your legs, with your feet shoulder width apart and your toes pointing forward.
- With your feet firmly placed on the floor reach down and grasp the bar from behind, with an overhand grip.
- Lift the bar by extending your hips and knees, taking care not to lock your knees.
- Lower yourself (squat) down until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
- Slowly raise yourself up to starting position.
- Note: Your knees should be moving in the same direction as your feet.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the quadriceps across the front of the thigh, which straighten the knee and, just as importantly, control it on the way back down.
Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the hamstrings assist hip extension and slow the knee down; the glutes finish hip extension; the calves control the ankle and hold the heel position.
The lower back take a share of the work as well.
Every exercise for:QuadricepsHamstringsGlutesCalvesLower back
How this movement works
The working muscles shorten as they drive the load away from you, and more than one joint changes angle to do it. Load spreads down a chain instead of sitting on one muscle, which is why a compound push handles more weight than any single-joint alternative — and why joint position, not the muscle, is usually what fails first.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
A Smith machine runs the bar on a fixed track. You never have to balance it, so you can chase the target muscle harder, but your joints have to accept the path the rails picked.
The machine fixes the path, removing the balance demand and letting you train close to failure without a spotter. The cost is the stabilising work a free weight would have made you do.
Every exercise using:Smith machineMachine
These train the quadriceps too, using equipment this one does not:
- Snatchbarbell
- Split Jumpbody only
- Split Squat with Dumbbellsdumbbell
- Squats with Exercise Bandsband
- Cable Deadliftscable
Difficulty
Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.
Of the 173 quadriceps exercises in this database, 70 are listed at beginner level.
Illustration: Everkinetic — CC BY-SA 4.0 — license. Modified versions are shared under the same license. Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.