Reverse Hack Squat (Machine)

How to do the Reverse Hack Squat (Machine)

1. Position yourself facing into the hack squat machine with your chest against the back pad and shoulders under the shoulder pads.
2. Place your feet hip to shoulder-width apart on the platform, positioned slightly higher than in a standard hack squat.
3. Release the safety handles and lower yourself by bending at the hips and knees, keeping your chest pressed into the pad.
4. Descend until your thighs are roughly parallel to the platform or slightly below, maintaining tension in your hamstrings and glutes.
5. Drive through your heels and midfoot to extend your hips and knees, returning to the starting position.
6. Re-engage the safety handles after completing your set.

Form tips

• Keep your hips back and chest firmly against the pad throughout the movement to maximize posterior chain engagement and prevent excessive forward knee travel.
• Place your feet higher on the platform than you would for a standard hack squat to increase the range of motion at the hips and load the hamstrings and glutes more effectively.
• Drive through your heels rather than the balls of your feet to maintain tension in the hamstrings and glutes instead of shifting the load to the quadriceps.

Common mistakes

• Placing feet too low on the platform: this shifts emphasis back to the quadriceps and reduces the posterior chain involvement the exercise is designed for.
• Allowing the hips to rise faster than the shoulders: this turns the movement into a quad-dominant pattern and diminishes hamstring and glute activation.
• Losing contact between the chest and back pad: this reduces stability and can place excessive stress on the lower back during the lift.

Sets and reps

For strength, perform 3 to 5 sets of 4 to 6 reps with heavier load, and for hypertrophy, perform 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 12 reps with moderate weight.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between reverse hack squat and regular hack squat?

The reverse hack squat has you facing into the machine, which shifts the emphasis from the quadriceps to the glutes and hamstrings by changing the angle of resistance. The regular hack squat has you facing outward and targets the quadriceps more directly.

Should my knees go past my toes in the reverse hack squat?

Your knees will travel forward somewhat, but less than in a regular hack squat due to the increased hip hinge. Focus on sitting back into your hips while keeping your chest against the pad rather than worrying about a specific knee position.

Can reverse hack squat replace Romanian deadlifts for hamstrings?

The reverse hack squat can be a useful hamstring exercise, but it involves more knee flexion than the Romanian deadlift, making it a squat pattern rather than a pure hip hinge. Use both exercises to target the hamstrings through different ranges of motion and movement patterns.

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