Kettlebell Hack Squat : Learn How to Increase Strength and Mass

If you are wondering whether it is possible to do the hack squat using a kettlebell, you may find the answer in this post and you may find more than that so that some simple equipment such as dumbbells, kettlebell or even resistance bands can replace many machines, and therefore the important thing is whether Shall we get a workout of the same quality as the machine?

The hack squat is usually done using a hack squat machine, a Smith machine or a lever machine. All of these machines provide the perfect environment for you to do this exercise. You may be wondering, can a kettlebell really do the same?

In this post, you will learn how to do the kettlebell squat only, and you will learn how to hit your muscles and build the strength of the muscles of the lower body.

Let’s continue together!

What is a hack squat?

The hack squat is one of the squatting variants that target the lower part of the body so that it engages a group of muscles, including the quadriceps muscles, mainly, the hack squat is done mainly using the hack squat machine or barbell, and it can also be done with dumbbells or kettlebells if you do not have the necessary equipment.

Bodybuilders rely on the hack squat exercise to build the muscles of the lower part of the body, as it is a compound exercise and operates more than one joint and targets a group of muscles.

The hack squat depends on the force of pushing and pressure of the muscles of the legs and stimulates them to activity and growth. It also allows going with heavier weights, and this pushes the muscles to gain mass and achieve muscle hypertrophy.

What muscles does hack squat hit?

The hack squat exercise engages a group of leg muscles so that it mainly targets the quadriceps muscles because it is the muscle with which there is greater contraction and extension, and it also targets other muscles secondarily. We will discover a solution:

Target :

• Quadriceps

Synergists :

• Gluteus Maximus
• Adductor Magnus
• Soleus

Stabilizers :

• Hamstrings
• Gastrocnemius

Is a hack squat with a kettlebell effective?

Well, we must first know that before the advent of the hack squat machine, bodybuilders used to do it using a barbell, so that athletes hold the bar with a straight arm behind the back and squat, and that was very effective, this means that the kettlebell can be an alternative to the barbell in this case and There will not be much difference in terms of the quality of the exercise.

As long as you do the exercise correctly and know how to use the weight of the kettlebell to put pressure on your muscles, you will definitely get a great workout using only the kettlebell. 

There are many athletes who still do hack squats using the kettlebell today despite the availability of machines and so on.

The kettlebell will help you build strength, when you master this exercise you can use it to do more repetitions at a high level and this will help you build muscle endurance and make it more solid.

The only drawback that you may face with the Kettlebell hack squat workout is that you will not be able to carry heavy weights, so you cannot rely on it mainly to increase muscle mass and muscle hypertrophy.

How to do a kettlebell hack squat

The kettlebell hack squat is not a complicated exercise, but it needs some practice permanently because it is not that easy in terms of performance so you must make your muscles more flexible and more coexist with this exercise.

Mastering the movement is what will make you get some good results in the end, for this you can not stress yourself in order to master it from your first day. 

You can follow the steps that I will give you without weights in your first attempts and then after you do several repetitions in a proper way you can add some light weights And so on.

How to do a hack squat correctly

First, do some warm-up and stretch the muscles of the hips and thighs well before starting the exercise.

How to warm up: Do a few repetitions of kneeling squats without weights, do a few repetitions of squatting on the toes and leaning against the wall, extending the muscles down well.

then start:

• Place a kettlebell of a certain weight on the floor.

• Stand straight with the kettlebell between your feet, bend your back straight and carry the kettlebell on a deadlift.

• Hold the kettlebell in front of you, then pass it behind your back and hold it with both hands over your glutes. Pull it up a little so that there is some bend in your elbows.

• Keeping your feet close together, heels apart and toes outward at a 45-degree angle.

• Firm your grip on the kettlebell, push your shoulders to the sides and keep your chest pushed forward and your back straight.

• Gear up well and tighten the upper body muscles, and keeping your eyes looking straight ahead, squeeze the glutes.

• Then start squatting slowly, it will be like you are trying to put your knees on the ground without the help of your hands, and you are on your way to squatting, your knees will go out towards your toes, this will give you more space to go down to a good depth.

• On your way to a squat, slowly raise your heels and cross your toes, and try to make your pelvis fall directly onto your heels.

• Squeeze your muscles and then push up slowly and in a straight path until you are standing naturally, repeat again and so on.

Easy modification kettlebell hack squat for beginners

There are easy modifications to do the hack squat, I know it will not be easy for beginners during their first attempts, they will face the problem of imbalance so they must first do an easy variant of this exercise before moving to the exercise above.

Hack squat modification for beginners

First, do some warm-up and stretch the muscles of the hips and thighs well before starting the exercise.

How to warm up: Do a few repetitions of kneeling squats without weights, do a few repetitions of squatting on the toes and leaning against the wall, extending the muscles down well.

Then sart:

• Choose a pair of kettlebells with a lighter weight to suit your fitness level.

• You will also need a roller because we will support the back on the wall, so you will need a roller to help you roll down and up.

• Stand with your back against the wall, place the roller between your lower back and the wall.

• Carry two pairs of kettlebells with straight arms at your sides, or carry a kettlebell in your arms in front of your chest.

• Push your hips forward and keep your back straight and neutral.

• Keeping your feet close together and facing straight ahead, try to put them slightly away from the wall (your knees should be at a 90-degree angle at the end of the squat).

• Then start squatting slowly and stop when your knees are at a 90-degree angle.

• Squeeze your leg muscles and slowly get back up to the previous position.

Pro tip to improve your performance with kettlebell hack squat

It’s best to learn some balance techniques and test your toes endurance, especially if you’re going to do squats without wall support, because balance is important in this exercise.

Try to keep your muscles engaged throughout the exercise, squeezing them and keeping them tense, you should take advantage of the weight of the kettlebell in order to get a workout that exhausts your muscles.

Always drive with the hips and squeeze your leg muscles, extend your knees correctly. If you want to get the maximum stretch for the quadriceps muscles, you should keep your knees out because this allows the hips to fall down more and thus expand the thigh muscles in a larger area.

Common mistakes people make during performing a kettlebell hack squat

Making mistakes may not get you satisfactory results, and doing the movement in a wrong way can happen worse than that. You may get injured in the knees or elsewhere, and recovery may take longer.

We don’t want this to happen to you, and we don’t want you to throw the towel on your first attempts, so there are some mistakes to avoid and things will be fine with you.

1- Going with heavy weights before learning to do the movement properly.

This can lead to a tear in your knee and injuries that occur at the level of the knee can expose you to the possibility of injury in the same place.

Therefore, it is necessary to master the movement first before integrating some weights, because it is a simple exercise and it will be effective if you master it well, that will be useful for the muscles and safer.

2- Don’t take advantage of your range of motion.

This happens when you do not achieve a full stretch of the thigh muscles, so that you do not use the space you have to stretch your muscles well, so many beginners stop in half the movement and return to a standing position again, this may also happen due to weak knees or you may suffer from a previous injury.

If you don’t suffer from injury or can’t go down to a certain depth, try to put a challenge in front of you and every time you do a hack squat try to go deeper.

3- Excessive bending of the back.behind

This mistake is made by many, so that some beginners tend to bend their back while squatting, and this puts more weight on the knees and can lose your balance or put the knees in front of the possibility of injury.

Keep your back straight and lean forward while your hips going down, and while squatting try to drive your hips down perpendicular to your heels.

4- Your muscles are not well integrated.

Many people tend to squeeze the toes and try to stretch upwards while ignoring the muscles of the thigh and hips, and this makes these muscles somewhat in a comfortable position, yes you will feel the tension of the quadriceps muscles, but not that enough.

While returning from the squat, try to raise your body with the help of the buttock muscles, the quadriceps and the leg. Try to squeeze them all.

5- Do not point your toes to the sides.

Also avoid making this mistake, you may not be able to squat and take advantage of your range of motion if you don’t point your toes out, because this allows you to integrate the muscles of the adjuster and also get the strength to lift your body again.

You can spread your feet more and keep your toes out in case you can’t find perfect balance with feet close together.

How to make kettlebell hack squat more challenging?

There are some ways that can make the hack squat more challenging, but you have to be professional in doing it and you can’t add challenges unless you become doing it easily and you feel like you need something more challenging.

• Try to squat to the depth well, then do a half rise and return to squatting again and then slowly get up to the normal position, (that is, you will squat and a half with each repetition).

• You can add some weight, this will help you increase the intensity of the exercise and make it more challenging, but you must go with weights that suit your fitness level.

• You can also wrap a resistance band around your neck and stabilize it below your heels in order to add more intensity. This will be more of a challenge.

Kettlebell hack squat benefits

You can get several benefits if you get used to doing the penetration squat exercises:

• You will increase the size and strength of your muscles.

• It stimulates your muscles to grow.

• It makes the knee and hip joints more flexible and improves their mobility.

• Protects you from the possibility of injury to the knee muscles (if you do it correctly).

• Helps build lean muscle mass.

• Improve your performance with other compound exercises such as the deadlift or other variants of the squat.

Hack Squat Muscle Effect

Useful Links

Here you can find more lower body exercises and more squatting exercises. These links will help you learn more about compound exercises and isolation exercises for the lower body muscles, and will help you achieve your gains, whether related to increasing muscle size, strength or endurance.

The most powerful compound exercises for legs

Target your leg muscles at home without much equipment

15 best cable machine exercises for legs

Get the best lower body training at home with bands only