# Belt Squat (Machine): how to do it

- Main muscles: quads, glutes
- Also works: adductors
- Equipment: machine
- Level: intermediate
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/belt_squat/094bc63b76/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Fasten the belt round your hips and clip it to the chain.
2. Stand on the platform, feet shoulder-width apart, hands on the handles.
3. Sit straight down, knees following your toes.
4. Lower until your thighs are level with the floor.
5. Push through your whole foot to stand tall.

## Cues

- Chest up, sit between your feet.
- Heels stay down.
- Hands steady you; legs do the work.

## Common mistakes

- Pulling yourself up with the handles.
- Letting your knees cave inward.
- Stopping well short of thighs level.

## Starting position

A padded hip belt sits round the top of the pelvis, just below the waist, with its chain hanging straight down between the legs through the slot to the end of the lever. The belt attachment point sits on the line of the ankles, and the chain is set so the lever is level when standing tall [1]. Feet shoulder-width apart, toes turned out a little, whole foot flat. Hands rest on the front handles, arms nearly straight, only for balance. Stand tall, chest up, stomach braced.

## The movement

Push the hips back a little and bend the knees and hips together, sitting straight down between the feet. The belt and its chain pull straight down on the hips, so the trunk stays more upright than in a back squat. Knees travel forward over the toes and stay in line with the feet; heels stay down. Lower until the thighs are level with the floor. Pause briefly, then push through the whole foot and stand up, hips and chest rising together, until the hips and knees are straight. The hands steady the body; they do not pull.

## End position

Bottom: thighs level with the floor, hip joint about level with the knee, heels down, trunk leaning forward about 25°. With the thigh level the hip joint is also about 45 cm up and 21 cm behind the ankle, against about 93 cm when standing. Because the load hangs from the pelvis rather than sitting on the shoulders, the trunk only needs to lean far enough to keep the body's centre of mass over the mid-foot, about 25°.

## Tempo

2 s down, 0.2 s pause at the bottom, 2 s up, 0.4 s standing tall. The 2 s lowering and 2 s lifting match the metronome used in [1].

## Form in numbers

| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Belt attachment line | over the ankles | ± 5 cm (machine) | [1] |
| Lever at the top | level | ± 5° | [1] |
| Stance, heel to heel | 1.0 × shoulder width | 0.9–1.3 × | [3] |
| Toe-out, each foot | 10° | 0–20° | [3] |
| Knee flexion at the bottom | 110° | 100–125° | [1] [4] |
| Thigh at the bottom | level | 10° above to 5° below | [1] |
| Knees, front view | over the 2nd–3rd toe | within 3 cm | [3] |
| Heel lift | 0 cm | 0 cm | [3] |
| Knee flexion at the top | 0° | 0–5° | [3] |

## Sources

1. [Joseph et al. 2020, J Hum Kinet 72:223–228, "Activity of trunk and lower extremity musculature: comparison between parallel back squats and belt squats"](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7126258/)
2. [Evans et al. 2019, J Strength Cond Res 33(7S):S52–S59, "Comparison of muscle activation between back squats and belt squats"](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28595237/)
3. [Myer et al. 2014, Strength Cond J, "The back squat: a proposed assessment of functional deficits and technical factors that limit performance"](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4262933/)
4. [Front Sports Act Living 2024, "Impact of the deep squat on articular knee joint structures" (scoping review)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11618833/)

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/belt-squat