Quads exercise
Smith Machine Hack Squat (Feet Forward)How to do it, with form in numbers
How to do it
How do you do the Smith Machine Hack Squat?
- Set the Smith bar on your upper back and grip it just outside your shoulders.
- Walk your feet forward about a foot in front of the bar, shoulder-width apart.
- Unlock the bar and sit straight down under it, chest up, until your thighs are level with the floor.
- Keep your heels down and your knees behind your toes.
- Drive up through your whole foot to stand tall.
Cues
- Sit straight down under the bar.
- Heels heavy, chest up.
- Knees out, behind the toes.
Common mistakes
- Feet too far forward, so the lower back rounds at the bottom.
- Feet too close to the bar, so the heels lift.
- Bouncing out of the bottom.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
The version in our demo
The gym's "Smith hack squat": the bar on the back on the Smith machine's fixed vertical track, with the feet placed well forward of the bar. The track holds the bar, so the body can sit straight down under it with the trunk upright and the knees staying behind the toes, which puts the work on the quads (like a hack squat machine).
Starting position
Bar high on the upper back (on the traps, not the neck), grip just outside the shoulders. Feet shoulder-width, about 25–30 cm in front of the bar line, toes turned out a little. Standing, the straight legs lean back slightly under the bar.
The movement
Sit the hips straight down under the bar, chest up, knees travelling only a little past the ankles. Squat until the thighs are level with the floor, then drive up through the whole foot, heels down, to stand tall.
Breathing
Breathe in and brace at the top, hold it down and through the bottom, breathe out as you stand.
Tempo
About 1.8 s down, a brief touch at the bottom, about 1.3 s up, a pause standing.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stance | shoulder-width, toes out 10° | hip- to shoulder-width | |
| Depth: hip crease vs top of the knee | 2 cm below | 0–3 cm below | |
| Knee flexion at the bottom | 104° | 95–115° | |
| Shin forward of vertical at the bottom | 10° | 0–15° (knees well behind the toes) | |
| Trunk from vertical at the bottom | 16° | 10–20° | |
| Knees | 4–5 cm outside the toe line (out, never caving in) | 0–6 cm out | |
| Heel lift | 0 cm | 0 cm |
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Smith Machine Hack Squat is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
Sources
- ExRx.net, "Smith Squat" (bar on the back of the shoulders, descend until the thighs are just past parallel, knees pointing the same way as the feet)
- ACE Exercise Library, "Back Squat" (heels down, chest up, depth to parallel)
- NSCA, Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, 4th ed. (2016), ch. 15
