I just tried these today for the first time and I love them! I also did front squats right before them. They really gave my quads a great burn.
However I stayed really light as I wanted to make sure my form was good. But thats the catch, I really don’t know what good form should look or feel like. I kept pulling the bar into the bend of my knee and rubbing it against my hamms on the way up. I am also not sure about the staring position. I kept my shoulders high and back and looked staight ahead.
I liked how they really worked my legs and I didn’t really feel like I was pulling with my lower back like I do when I do deadlifts. Of course I know I need to work on my deadlift form. I did hack squats for a couple sets of 5 reps starting w/ 135 and 155. and I stopped there. I deadlift 335 for 3, (but I really need to work on deadlift form and concentrate on using more leg and less back because I hardly feel like my deadlifts are a leg workout, they feel like a lower back workout and I need to work on this, I know I can pull way more than 335). So the load on the hack squats felt really light, but they were at the end of my workout so after 5 sets I stopped.
Could anyone help me with the form. Phill, how did you feel about your form and do you have any tips.
I want to make this a staple exercise.
I would say that for my first run with them I did fairly well with the form. I dont have my log here at present so I cant tell you where I stopped for weight somewhere aronud 300. They are going to be more of a leg excersize than the deads due to the placemeant of the bar under your butt. They are more of a quad movement which is what I was looking for. You are not really using your back as a lever like in a dead. Deads by the way are supposed to work the ole’ back quite a bit. No real way around it.
If I was on my home comp. I would send you a sight that goes over the movement. But I am a little limited with being on a foreign comp right now.
I am sure someone will come on with a good site for you to go to. It sounds though as if you were doing them correctly to me. Sorry I am not able to go into more detail right now.
Travis:
I’ll bet your form was better than you think. Unless you keep a totally rounded down back the whole time, it’s actually kinda hard to mess these up. When you first start from the floor, drive with your heels (like a DL) until you get to about knee level. That’s when you “slide” your hips forward. It might feel like your pushing your knees forward and down, too. The bar will slide right up your hamstrings until you lockout at around ass level or so, depending on how tall you are, or if you have gorilla-hanging arms.
I have made these a staple of my workouts for a while now, and I’m hooked. Happy hack squatting!
I just tried hack squats for the first time tonight. I’ve heard of people talking about them before, but I feel they didn’t really understand the concept. Maybe you guys can help. Why would you perform a hack squat? What benefits would it bring over a regular back squat, or a dead? Or is it just an equivalent that can be used for variance?
tot: It’s hard to beat the regular back squat in terms of usefulness and effectiveness, so I just consider the hack squat a nice variation that I do with regularity. It does hit the muscles a little differently, though. Which is good. Besides, it’s fun to be the only person in my gym who even knows what a barbell hack squat IS, much less DO them. Hell, the only people in my gym that I ever see deadlift are me and the girls that I help train (when they show their sorry asses up, that is). It’s sad, in a way. I see all these folks who could get SO much more out of their time at the gym, but… oh well. These are the kind of folks who are putting up such little effort as to be able to carry on a conversation with their so-called “personal trainer” about their kids and their car insurance and whatnot IN THE MIDDLE OF A SET. These aren’t exactly hardcore trainees, here. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, huh?
