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Hack Squats for Shocking the Thigh |
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Written by Stephen E. Alway, PhD, FACSM
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Monday, 23 April 2007 |
Proper thigh training seemingly consists of an endless string of hard work. The payoff is to acquire large, ripped thighs, but this depends on your training program and diet. as much as your genetics. Perhaps you're among those with a slight sadistic streak and you look forward to pounding your thighs rep after rep until the buckets are retrieved so you can unload your last meal. Or, you may be among the majority who view thigh work as a necessary evil. There's no doubt about it; thigh training induces immeasurable (but short-lived) pain. It also demands a lot of mental toughness to get through the sets. Nevertheless, there is no getting around the need for thigh mass and cuts if you're going to succeed as a bodybuilder.
For shear mass, few exercises are more effective than barbell squats. Barbell squats activate most of the fibers in the quadriceps group of the anterior thigh without much discrimination as to which muscles are selected. However, bodybuilders need more than thick thighs if they are to mount the winner's podium. You'll see little separation between the muscles in most powerlifters' thighs, but their thigh strength and mass may well be beyond belief. Squat strength is important, but muscle symmetry and canyon-deep cuts are not on the list of goals for a powerlifter.
There comes a point in every bodybuilder's training career when mass should not be the only training goal. After the first few years of mass routines have passed under the weight belt, a bodybuilder should consider muscle balance and symmetry as strongly as mass when designing a training program. To do this, the thighs may need to be shocked with training that brings them beyond shear mass. One of the best ways to do this is to continuously activate the muscles throughout the complete set (constant tension). A constant tension set deprives the muscle of any opportunity for rest until the set is over. A good constant tension exercise for the anterior thigh muscles is the hack squat. Hack squats can add a new dimension of hardness and muscle growth in the mid-regions of the thighs and contribute to a chiseled-to-the-bone look.
Quadriceps: Structure & Function
The anterior thigh consists of four major muscles that are collectively known as the quadriceps femoris ("quadriceps" or "quads"). These cover the anterior and lateral parts of the femur bone of the thigh and comprise three vastus muscles and the rectus femoris. "Vastus" is a Latin name meaning large or great. The three large vastus muscles are named to indicate their position on the thigh. The vastus lateralis lies on the lateral (outer) part of the thigh. The vastus medialis covers the medial (inner) part of the thigh. The vastus intermedius is located intermediately between the vastus lateralis and the vastus medialis and covers the central and deeper parts of the thigh. The vastus medialis is attached to the medial part of the femur bone; the vastus lateralis comes from the lateral part of the femur; the vastus intermedius from the central, anterior part of the femur.
The fourth muscle is the rectus femoris. It attaches to the hip and it courses down the central portion of the thigh. All four muscles come together above the knee to attach to the patellar tendon. This attaches to the patella (kneecap) and the patellar ligament attaches the patella to the top part of the tibia bone just below the knee. Together, the quadriceps extend (straighten) the leg at the knee joint by pulling on the patella and through it, the patellar ligament that is attached to the lower leg (tibia bone). The rectus femoris also flexes the thigh at the hip joint by pulling the knee and thigh toward the chest. It works with the ilopsoas muscle to flex the thigh at the hip joint.
The rectus femoris muscle is a weak knee extensor when the hip is flexed because it is mechanically unable to make a major contribution to force production when the hip is flexed (e.g., sitting). Therefore, exercises like seated leg extensions work the vastus muscles quite well, but it is sub-optimal for the rectus femoris. On the other hand, hack squats do a much better job because the hip is quite straight during much of the lift and during this time, the rectus femoris can be strongly activated.
Hack Squats
The best hack squat machines are not vertical, but rather they have a slight (about 15-degree) angle so you're actually leaning backward slightly during the lift. By leaning back, the hip joint is straighter and this stretches the rectus femoris slightly, improving its ability to extend the knee. This angle also maintains tension better on the muscles throughout the exercise. Make sure your shoes have a good rubber sole that will grip the foot platform securely. The best type of hack squat machine has a four- or five-inch-thick pad to rest on your shoulders. This pad reduces the likelihood that your set will be limited because of pain associated with the weight resting across your shoulders and trapezius during the set.
1. Warm-up your knees and thighs before beginning your thigh workout, including some stretches for the quadriceps and hamstrings. Even if you've just completed your barbell back squats and you're moving to the hack machine, it's wise to do a lighter set and some stretches before launching into the hacks with all of your effort. Hack squats should be positioned somewhere near the end of your thigh routine, and certainly after leg presses or barbell squats.
2. Place your feet about two feet apart and no more than shoulder-width on the footplate. Your toes should point forward. Your clavicle (collarbone) should contact the shoulder pads with your knees slightly bent. Place your upper back firmly against the sliding back platform.
3. Release the safety stands, extend your knees and take the weight on your shoulders. Slowly control the descent in your body as the back slide moves toward the floor. Your knees will bend and your hip will flex during the descent.
4. Keep your back against the sliding back platform and make sure your hips do not come forward. Continue squatting downward until your knee joint is at about 90 degrees, or a little less.
5. Do not stop at the bottom. Immediately push upward so your knee straightens. Push from your heels rather than your toes. Continue to move upward until your knee is just a few degrees from straightening completely, then immediately go into the descent. This action is a lot like a modified piston with smooth movements that never stops. This will maintain the constant tension on the thighs throughout the entire set. It will also really begin to etch the grooves between the muscle bellies. It will also become somewhat fatiguing and painful because the muscle is accumulating a lot of metabolic by-products and it is oxygen-deprived during the constant tension set.
Important Tips
It's important to obtain and keep a fluid smooth motion in both directions. Do not rest at the top of the exercise, or this will eliminate the constant tension on the muscles and the weight will be transferred away from your muscles and to the thigh and leg bones. Never bounce into the bottom position; it's playing with fire to even do this exercise, especially with heavy weights, if you have a prior knee injury. However, if your knees are healthy and you would like the middle sections of your thigh to begin to take on a shredded look with clear delineation between each of the muscle bellies in the thigh, try adding three or four sets of the hack squat for a few months.
Most people won't feel the need to wear a weight belt because their backs will be supported by the padded slide. However, the belt will improve your trunk stability and perhaps even improve your muscle power, because more effort can go into each lift rather than toward stabilizing your body.
This is a very tough exercise, especially when it's completed with constant tension throughout the set. It can also be very painful. As you work through each set, your thighs will scream for oxygen-saturated blood. Nevertheless, as you become mentally tougher, you'll ignore their plea for mercy and continue to pump and shock your thighs repetition after repetition. Do not expect this type of mental toughness to arrive overnight, but it will come. Start out with only a couple of sets, but if you really want to shock your thighs, try doing four or five sets of 15 or 20 repetitions in a constant tension style. Do these after your heavy squats and don't strive for any strength records. Beware, though- the shock value is proportional to the pain of the exercise; but then, so is the separation in the muscles.
References
Blazevich AJ, Gill N and Newton RU. Reliability and validity of two isometric squat tests. J Strength Cond Res 16: 298-304, 2002.
Caterisano A, Moss RF, Pellinger TK, Woodruff K, Lewis VC, Booth W and Khadra T. The effect of back squat depth on the EMG activity of 4 superficial hip and thigh muscles. J Strength Cond Res 16: 428-432, 2002.
Ebersole KT. Housh TJ. Johnson GO. Evetovich TK. Smith DB. Perry SR. MMG and EMG responses of the superficial quadriceps femoris muscles. J Electromyog & Kinesiol. 9(3):219-27, 1999.
Escamilla, R. F. (2001). Knee biomechanics of the dynamic squat exercise. Med.Sci.Sports Exerc., 33, 127-141.
Kouzaki M. Shinohara M. Fukunaga T. Non-uniform mechanical activity of quadriceps muscle during fatigue by repeated maximal voluntary contraction in humans. Eur J Appl Physiol & Occup Physiol., 80(1):9-15, 1999.
McCaw ST. Melrose DR. Stance width and bar load effects on leg muscle activity during the parallel squat. Med & Sci in Sports & Exerc. 31(3):428-36, 1999.
Ninos JC, Irrgang JJ, Burdett R and Weiss JR. Electromyographic analysis of the squat performed in self-selected lower extremity neutral rotation and 30 degrees of lower extremity turn-out from the self-selected neutral position. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther, 25: 307-315, 1997.
Wallace, D. A., Salem, G. J., Salinas, R., & Powers, C. M. Patellofemoral joint kinetics while squatting with and without an external load. J.Orthop.Sports Phys.Ther., 32, 141-148, 2002.
Zink AJ, Whiting WC, Vincent WJ and McLaine AJ. The effects of a weight belt on trunk and leg muscle activity and joint kinematics during the squat exercise. J Strength Cond Res, 15: 235-240, 2001
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