Legs · Smith Machine
Smith Hack Squat
How to do the smith hack squat, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Smith Machine
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Logged as
- Weighted reps
- Movement
- Squat
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Stand inside the Smith machine with the bar across your upper back and your feet set slightly forward of your hips. Unrack the bar, descend by bending your knees until your thighs are at least parallel, then drive through your heels back up the track.
- 1Quads and glutes loading as you push the bar up
- 2Heels driving into the floor with knees tracking over toes
- 3Controlled descent without locking out hard at the top
Common mistakes
- Letting your knees cave inward
- Rounding your back or coming up onto your toes
- Bouncing out of the bottom
Muscles worked
The smith hack 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 smith hack 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.