Legs · Leverage Machine
Lever Vertical Squat
How to do the lever vertical squat, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Leverage Machine
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- Weighted reps
- Movement
- Squat
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Step into a vertical squat machine with the pads on your shoulders and feet set flat under your hips. Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower into a squat, then drive through your heels to stand back up under control.
- 1Quads and glutes working as you drive out of the bottom
- 2Hips sitting back and down rather than just dropping straight
- 3Solid contact through your heels on every rep
Common mistakes
- Letting your knees cave in or your heels lift off the platform
- Rounding your back or letting your chest collapse forward
- Rushing the descent instead of controlling it
Muscles worked
The lever vertical squat mainly works the quads and glutes, with the hamstrings, lower back, and calves assisting.
- QuadsPrimary
- GlutesPrimary
- HamstringsSupport
- Lower BackSupport
- CalvesSupport
- Upper AbsMinor
Kovo programs the lever vertical squat for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More quads exercises
- How to do the resistance band squat
- How to do the resistance band squat to press
- How to do the resistance band thruster
- How to do the resistance band squat walk
- How to do the barbell squat
- How to do the barbell bulgarian split squat
Last reviewed June 2026.