9 Hack Squat Mistakes and How to Fix Them

[WolfCoaching]

0:19 Opening remarks
1:36 Mistake #1 - Not enough ROM
2:53 Mistake #2 - Too much ROM
3:35 Mistake #3 - Not having a standardized ROM
5:10 Mistake #4-Feet placement either too far back or forward
7:17 Mistake #5 - coming up on toes
9:08 Mistake #6- Magical feet width
11:46 Mistake #7 - Uncontrolled descent
13:33 Mistake #8 - Lockout paranoia
15:55 Mistake #9- Going too heavy or too light
17:30 Concluding remarks

[fsdmw]

Ever since I followed your tips and go deep enough, I've found I can do only 70% of my regular hack squat. It really gives my quads perfect stimuls! Now my normal squat performance has improved like 20%. Thank you!

[guyappin]

Spent the day watching many "How to Hack Squat" videos and by far this one has the best, most concise, "get to the point", along with explanations, case (best/worst) scenarios, and cause & effect analysis. IMO: A great investment in valuable time to watch this entire video for informational/educational purposes. If you're reading this, save yourself 1.5-2hrs of time looking for hack squat vids and just watch this. You've made it and this is the promised land of hack squat info! Thank the YT algorithm gods. To Renaissance Periodization: Bravo! Beautifully scripted, stitched together, and well-prepared. Definitely not an easy job to create/edit. So just know, I appreciate the work you guys put in. Well done! Thanks and gratitude... Please accept this upvote 🙏

[TheAthiiest]

"for a long time I was only hack squatting in the 300's" I'll just go cry now and dream of the day

[rexxstone]

I have tweaked my lower back on two occasions doing heavy hack squats yet still decent reps 10 to 12 rep range. Now I realize my feet being so far out in front of me has been the culprit as my back was rounding up!! Great video!

[BAILEYHULLFC]

12:20: "Sweet you're the man. Nobody gives a shit". I died hahaha

[sasb]

I started using a plate to give me a boost on the platform since the mats would slide down, those few inches make a huge difference & quads are always on fire, thanks so much for the tip!!

[vikingzeppelin]

I like the idea of a series of these videos identifying the common mistakes for one exercise at a time. Please include a link to a playlist of this series.

[mikelozano]

This training video answered all my questions about hack squat. I’ve had a leg press/hack squat machine and didn’t use the hack squat because I also am short. Why I didn’t think of mats I dunno? Thanks again Dr Mike!! Your the real game changer.

[tydupont]

“I never grew taller than a child” 😂😂😂 right there with you man. I’m 5’6... thanks for the tip with the mats. I’ve been looking for a solution because the hack squat machine at my gym doesn’t even allow me to go parallel

[jettangeles]

I've just started using hacksquat instead of doing regular squats and thank you so much for this video. It's answered all my questions.

[imsorrythankyouplease]

In America, Mike is Russian.
In Russia, Mike is a Jew.
In Israel, Mike is American.

[LoveForBluebirds]

After 16 years of lifting and very rarely attempting this machine, I came across your tips and went medium to light on this machine only for a few weeks to learn it and wow your tips were the key to success. I LOVE how this machine feels on my legs.

[UNGETABLE]

A cigar, a bit of hair and we’ve got an awesome Wolverine!

[robertoduenas]

You are as the kids say gucci and now im dying! 😂😂😂😂

[kristenolivia_]

Never had the confidence to train on the Hack Squat machine before, really appreciate this!
Will be giving it a go today

[jzepp]

I have been working out off/on for over 15 years. I thought i knew everything about building muscle through exercises, but since following Dr. Mike, I have been learning so much. I admit i use to be an ego lifter, but since lowering the weight and doing full range of motion slow and controlled has allowed me to see new gains.

[phichau]

I had to humble myself. 1 plate felt heavy going full range.

[johnkrazzki]

I was always afraid of this machine since I only did half reps and was afraid I would never get up again, If I pushed to failure. I thought I would rip my muscles and wreck my knees if I had to go all the way to the bottom. So I avoided it for years. Triggered by this video I did this exercise again today with very light weights but "ass to the grass" and - guess what - it worked. And it felt amazing. I'm confident I'll be able to ramp the wights up in no time but I understand that it's not so much about weights but proper form. And if you go all the way down, you don't have to be afraid of failure since you can just rest the weight at the lowest position. Awesome explanation, thank you!

[carterwongtbs]

I've been training at home since March and have been doing a DIY-style hack squat using a foam roller against the wall (without external load, so far). Once I'm set up, I start the reps at the bottom ROM and cut off the upper ROM a little above parallel, shooting for that sticking point sweet spot where I feel a tremendous amount of tension in my quads, before lowering back down with as much control as possible (control decreases with reps). To be clear, I'm probably a mid to upper-level beginner with legs, but these foam roller squats are absolutely brutal on my quads, which is great, but at the same time it isn't this overwhelming exercise, and I largely attribute that to being able to take a nice pause at the bottom in between each rep and take a breath and then really feel the motivation to fire a another really strong contraction. I'm tall so I keep my feet really close to my body and this allows for a nice stretch. As long as I keep my feet nice and tight to my body and make sure my legs are aligned properly both at the top and bottom (I do preliminary setup at the top before I drop down to starting position and fine tune the setup) so that my knees track over my toe correctly, I have zero knee pain and just walk away with a huge quad pump. I highly recommend giving this a shot for anyone training at home and wanting to hack squat. It's a really fun movement, but also really challenging. Before quarantine, I was doing safety squat bar squats at the gym for worksets of 200lbs in 5-7 rep range. When I switched to these foam roller squats, my initial capacity for them (again with no external load) was sets of 5 or 6, going to failure. This is definitely the leg movement I look forward to most these days. Combined with weighted lunges, foam roller back extensions and supermans, I feel like I've not just adequately but above-and-beyond replaced my safety bar squat in terms of gains (for the time being, at least) and because of this I've been having really good progress despite training entirely at home with minimal equipment.