Intermediate

Wide-Stance Hack Squat

The hack squat machine fixes your torso so you can push a wide stance hard without balance limiting you, driving heavy load into the adductors as they help extend and stabilize the wide hips. It is one of the better ways to add real inner-thigh loading on a leg day. Treat it as a machine-based cousin of the sumo squat with a bigger quad share.

Equipment
Machine
Body part
Quads, Thighs
Type
Strength
Browse by movement
Squat
Muscles worked
Target
Adductor Magnus, Adductor Longus
Secondary
Vastus Lateralis, Rectus Femoris, Gluteus Maximus

How to do it

  1. 1

    Set your shoulders and back against the pads of the hack squat.

  2. 2

    Place your feet high and wide on the platform with toes turned out.

  3. 3

    Release the handles and lower under control, letting your knees track out over your toes.

  4. 4

    Descend until your thighs are about parallel, keeping your back flat on the pad.

  5. 5

    Drive through your whole foot and press your thighs apart to stand.

  6. 6

    Stop just short of locking out and repeat.

Tips

  • Push the knees out in line with the toes; do not let them cave under load.
  • Keep your whole back and hips pinned to the pad to protect the low back.
  • A slightly higher foot placement increases the adductor stretch and involvement.

Variations

Common mistakes

  • The stance goes as wide as the platform allows, and past a certain width the feet cannot stay flat, so the set finishes with you standing on the inside edges of your shoes.
  • Depth stops early because the inner thighs feel tight, which is the exact tissue you came to load; open that range up across several sessions rather than in one.
  • Load carries over from your normal hack squat stance, but a wide stance puts the adductors on a long lever, so the first few sessions should be noticeably lighter.
  • The hips shift toward one side under the pad because one hip is tighter than the other, and the load quietly stops being even; watch the knees and end the set when one drifts.
  • Bouncing out of the stretched bottom position is tempting once the inner thigh is loaded, and the adductor tendon at the groin is the wrong tissue to test with a rebound.

Frequently asked

How many sets and reps for the wide-stance hack squat?
Start with two sets of ten to twelve at a load that feels easy, because adductor soreness after a first session is genuinely unpleasant and lasts. Build to three or four sets of eight to twelve over a few weeks, once a week alongside your usual quad work. Keep the descent slow and stop at the depth where the inner thigh is stretched but the hips are still square on the pad.
What can I use instead of a wide-stance hack squat?
A sumo goblet squat with a dumbbell at the chest covers the same stance without a machine. A wide foot placement on the leg press loads the adductors much the same way with the back supported. Cossack squats give more range per side and need no equipment at all, though they ask for more mobility and give up the heavy loading a machine allows.
What is the wide-stance hack squat good for?
It is one of the few ways to load the adductors heavily with the spine supported, which serves inner-thigh development and the groin durability that skating, cutting and kicking sports ask for. It is a poor choice while a groin strain is still sore, since the muscle is loaded at length. If the quads are the target, keep the feet closer together and lower on the platform, because a wide stance moves work away from them.

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