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Barbell hack squat: the version without the machine

Also called: hack squat barbell, behind-the-back deadlift squat. All one movement, one page.

By

We compute it and we cite it. We do not test gear. How we know this.

Short answer

The old-school one. Bar on the floor BEHIND your heels, you squat down, grab it, and stand up. No machine required.

Pattern
Squat
Equipment
Barbell · Plates
Usual bar
45 lb / 20.4 kgOhio Power Bar, 45 lb

Barbell hack squat setup

  1. 01Bar on the floor directly behind your heels.
  2. 02Feet hip to shoulder width, toes forward or slightly out.
  3. 03Squat down and grab the bar behind you, palms facing back, arms straight.
  4. 04Chest up, arms stay straight the whole time — they are hooks, nothing else.

How to do a barbell hack squat

  1. 01Brace and drive through your heels and mid-foot.
  2. 02Stand up, keeping the bar close to the back of your legs.
  3. 03Lock out, then sit back down under control until the plates touch.

How to load the bar for the barbell hack squat

Before the barbell hack squat is a rep, it is a number on the bar. Plates go on in pairs, one per sleeve, and the bar itself is part of the total — a 45 lb bar with a 45 on each side is 135 lb, not 90. This animation walks the three loads you will meet most often.

Our own render, modelled to the IPF bar spec and the published plate spec table.An original 3D animation showing how the three most common barbell loads are built. A 45 lb bar starts empty; a 45 lb plate slides onto each sleeve to make 135 lb, a second pair makes 225 lb, and a third pair makes 315 lb. The running total and the plates-per-side count are shown throughout. This is an illustration of a class of equipment, not footage of a specific product.Original animation by BarWeight — an illustration of this class of equipment, not footage of a specific product, and not a demonstration of how to perform a lift.

Need a different number? Run it through the plate math calculator.

Barbell hack squat video demonstration

Reading the steps only gets you so far, and a render cannot show you what a human body does under a bar. This is the barbell hack squat demonstrated by a coach, not by us — we did not make this video, we do not host it, and we do not earn anything from it.

Demonstration

How to Perform Barbell Hack Squats - Big Quads Exercise

Buff Dudes

How to Perform Barbell Hack Squats - Big Quads Exercise — Buff Dudes. Embedded from YouTube; this site did not produce the video.Long-running strength/bodybuilding coaching channel (Brothers Hodgin) with a large back catalog of exercise-specific how-to demonstrations; used here because no verified video from a top-tier powerlifting/weightlifting channel covering this less-common movement was found.

Common barbell hack squat errors

  • Bending the arms and trying to row it up.
  • Letting the bar drift away from your legs, which pitches you forward.
  • Going too heavy too early — grip usually gives out first.

Barbell hack squat: muscles worked

Primary

  • Quadriceps

Secondary

  • Gluteus maximus
  • Erector spinae
  • Forearm flexors (grip)

How we know: Standard functional anatomy — which joints move and which muscles cross them. Convention and reasoning, not a measured EMG result.

Barbell hack squat: what the evidence does and does not say

This is a genuine gap, and we would rather say so than fill it in. No EMG study of the BARBELL hack squat was located. Almost all hack squat research uses the machine, which is a mechanically different movement with a fixed path and a back pad. The muscle list here is standard functional anatomy only. Anybody quoting you precise activation percentages for this specific lift is quoting machine data.

How to program the barbell hack squat

Training convention: a quad-focused accessory, typically 3-4 sets of 8-12. Rarely a main lift. Grip is usually the limiter, so straps are common.

Rep ranges are training convention. They are what most lifters and coaches do, not a measured result, and nothing on this page is medical advice.

Run the numbers

Knowing the lift is half of it. The other half is loading the bar correctly.

Questions people actually ask

▶Is the barbell hack squat the same as the machine version?

No. The machine fixes the bar path and supports your back; the barbell version is free, loaded behind your heels, and demands balance and grip. Research on the machine does not transfer cleanly to the barbell.

▶Where does the bar go for a barbell hack squat?

On the floor directly behind your heels. You squat down, grab it with palms facing back and arms straight, then stand up keeping it close to the back of your legs.

▶Why does my grip give out on hack squats?

Because your arms are just hooks holding a heavy bar behind you with no help from the rest of the body. Grip is usually the limiter before your legs are, which is why straps are common on this lift.

The kit this lift needs

Straight from this movement’s own equipment list. Each page below compares published specs across every model we have verified — no prices, no ratings, nothing we claim to have tested.

Same pattern, different lift

All barbell exercises

Sources

No study is cited for this movement because none was verified for it. The description above is mechanical instruction and standard functional anatomy. We would rather tell you the shelf is empty than put something on it.

How this page is built and what we will and will not claim: read the methodology.