I’m not really a big fan of hacks to begin with, but I was just wondering what everyone thought of using hack squats for an assistive to change things up a little (on either ME or DE day). Just curious to hear everyone’s ideas on these, since I’ve always thought they didn’t transfer over that well to real squats.
For hypertrophy you should vary the routine anyway. You would get much better results changing the exercises from time to time. Rememeber to also change the rest period, reps, tempo, sets and load etc. Obviously as you change the reps you will need to change the rest period and sets i.e. if you drop down to 4-6 reps you will need longer rerst between sets due to the increased neuro demands. With a decrease in reps you should then perform an extra set or two. So in my opinion any change is good. Cycle cycle cycle, but not on a bike.
When I started WS my quads started to shrink a bit so I started to do a few sets of hacks after the boxsquat on DE-day. It works the quads, back and traps quite well (and the grip) and I don’t think your squat will suffer if those musclegroups get stronger!!
I hope you’re asking about “real” hacksquat, not the machinehacks?? That is a waste of time un my opinion, a killer for the knees.
I agree with Moose. If you have an imbalance issue, the extra quad work(especially vastus medius) will help bring things in order. It might not do much to help your squat if you are trying to bring up your lifts in competition, but you might want to include some hacks during maintenance or recovery weeks.