Hack squats

[canecorso]

Where do hack squats fit into your workouts......(don't say leg day)lol

In other words, what is someone accomplishing by doing hacks instead of regular free squats?
Deep only

[canecorso]

bump

[Aesirian]

I'll bite on this. I use Hacks, face in, as the main-stay in my leg training. For a reason though, I had an L5 lamnectomy in 87' w/o fusion. I can't back squat because of it. I wish I could, IMO, nothing replaces the Back Squat.
When watching others in the gym do Hacks, the one thing I see most fail to do is use full rom. That is, balls to the floor is the only way to stimulate enough muscle fiber to make it count, at least for me.

[canecorso]

I'll bite on this. I use Hacks, face in, as the main-stay in my leg training. For a reason though, I had an L5 lamnectomy in 87' w/o fusion. I can't back squat because of it. I wish I could, IMO, nothing replaces the Back Squat.
When watching others in the gym do Hacks, the one thing I see most fail to do is use full rom. That is, balls to the floor is the only way to stimulate enough muscle fiber to make it count, at least for me.

Balls to the floor is the only way to go IMO.....I have some disc issues as well. Thanks for answering.

[A L]

I was gonna say b/c they dropped their tampax near the hack and didn't want to bother the chalked upped monsters that live in the power rack...

But yes, if you have back issues hacks are great. I still think the leg press is crap.

[roadwarrior]

I'll differ on the leg press AL only because I like them after I've exhausted my back and front squats, I'll do leg press to push the quads more while protecting the old man's back that already did a bunch of work.

I substitute in Hack Squat machine some weeks to change it up and work the muscles differently but I always start leg day with back squats. I've tried hacks with the barbell and they are awkward for me. I can't seem to get the form right enough to do enough weight to matter so I use the machine. Maybe with some form coaching I could do barbell hacks. I like ATF as Aesarian says and I like to go as heavy as the machine will let me.

[usmc8892]

I work legs twice a week, one is ham emphasis, the other is quad emphasis. On quad day, I'll work squats first, some days are heavy and I'll go parallel, some are heavy and I'll go ATG Full ROM. After squats, back or front, depends on where I am in my training, I'll follow up with leg press and hacks. I usually do leg press immediately after, and go wide stance and as deep as physically possible, sometimes bottoming out the rack. I may do 6 or 8 sets, I may do 5. Then I go to hacks, now the quads are pretty much exhausted and now I can really work on the sweep. Sometimes I'll work with my feet shoulder width apart, sometimes close together, but always Full ROM, or just don't do em, well unless you're doing tension, which is 1/4 to 3/4 ROM and never locking out. On my lighter days I'll maybe either skip presses or hacks, again depends on where I am in my training, and do some extensions. If I hit these, then I'll work them like some guys do arms with 21's, only thing is, I do 30 reps, 10 lower half, then go to 10 upper half, then polish that off with 10 Full ROM. Did I mention I love leg days ? :)

Oh, and even going heavy on all other leg exercises, the main one my quads have responded to lately is the deep wide press. My quads have gone from 24 1/2 to 25 1/2 in the last 6 months. But now my thighs rub and I walk funny, but hey, I'll take that, call me a duck- I've got some good lookin wheels though :) Can't wait to cut em up - D Day is Aug 28 gentlemen!

[Mr. Pelham]

hack squats, not a favorite. I feel that they burn more energy than anything

[Shakes]

Where do hack squats fit into your workouts......(don't say leg day)lol

In other words, what is someone accomplishing by doing hacks instead of regular free squats?
Deep only

I like them as a secondary movement in a superset since you do not have to worry about form; this could also be good for high rep squats.

They are also good for wide stance glute/back/hamstring squatters since the Hack's can allow them to put more emphasis on quads.

[Curious George]

I mean, everything has it's place in training. I hate the sheer force on my knees with hacks. It doesn't do well for my patella and I imagine overall it's not the best exercise to do if one is healthy. It's fun to do at times but shouldn't be the primary movement in legs. I don't really like anything that fixes my body in a position. I like stuff that can be done with my feet flat on the floor. It works more function than anything else. Ethan Reeve always talked about that and whatever her says, I believe. As for all the responses, I think they are fair and thought out, especially the part about the injury.

[Killer]

If I look at a hack squat wrong I get patellar tendonitis. I did hacks one day and then the next day walked around the hilly streets of San Fran. Painful, crappy day.

[Curious George]

Killer baby! How's my old buddy?