Exercise Face-Off: Back, Front, and Hack Squat

The Back Squat

Best For: Strength

“The back squat is the gold standard for this movement pattern,” says Angelo Poli, ISSA, creator of the MetPro App. “It allows you to move more weight than the front version, and more load means more adaptation.”

Theoretically, more weight means more muscular tension, more strength and more growth. Score. 

Application:

Squats affect the muscles differently depending on your unique proportions. Watch an experienced lifter perform back squats from the side: if their thighs are short and their torsos long, they’ll be able to keep their torso almost upright during the squat. But if their thighs are long and their torsos are short, they’ll have to lean significantly forward for their thighs to break parallel on the movement. That forward lean results in somewhat less action in the quadriceps, and more in the hamstrings, than in other forms of squatting, says a 2015 study from the Journal of Sports Sciences. 

Safety:

No question about it, you need a spotter—or at the very least, a solidly built squat rack—once you start squatting serious weight. Under no circumstances do you want to get stuck in the hole and have to dump the weight and herniate a disk in the process. Badass is one thing, dumbass is quite another. 

Catastrophic squat-fails aside, not everyone is built to squat. Long thighbones combined with a short torso, tight calves, or limited hip and shoulder mobility can make the move a low-back-straining nightmare for some people—so much so that some well-respected coaches have dropped the move from their athletes’ programs.

Depending on all these factors, you may be better off with another form of squatting.  

RATING:

Safety: 2/5

Strength Building: 5/5

Muscle Building: 4/5

The Front Squat

Best for: Muscle-Building and Functional Sports Training

Once you’ve mastered front squatting, few if any exercises will do as much to build your quads. And that rack position does wonders for your performance in any number of sports.

The study linked above found that front squats activated the vastus lateralis, and the rectus femoris—two quadriceps muscles—more effectively than back squats. Most lifters use less weight in the front squat than the back squat, but with less help coming from the hamstrings, you may nevertheless target the quads more effectively front-squatting than you would back squatting. 

Application:

The “rack” position (overhand grip, bar on the fronts of your shoulders) is a mainstay in many strength-training activities: Olympic lifting, kettlebells, CrossFit. Squatting with the bar in the front position therefore makes for a terrific sports-specific challenge.

It also requires you to keep your torso more upright than back squatting—which for some people means less strain on the lower back. Those benefits come at a price, though: “It’s the most technically demanding squat,” says Poli. “You have to practice this one to gain mastery.” 

The rack position puts the weight forward of your center of gravity, meaning the lower back has to work a little harder to keep you upright in the front squat than it does when you back squat. 

Safety:

As with the back squat, you need a spotter or a squat rack when you front squat. That said, it’s generally easier to dump the weight forward than it is backward.

Depending on the lifter, front squats may be more comfortable than back squats: some people feel fine in the rack position; others can barely get into it without pain somewhere.

Regardless, any time your spine is under compression with a hundred or more pounds of pressure, there’s a possibility for injury. Respect the front squat. 

RATING:

Safety: 2.5/5

Strength Building: 4/5

Muscle Building: 5/5

The Hack Squat

Best For: Bodybuilding and Preventing Injuries

Want to squeeze the most effort possible out of your legs? Hacks might be your best bet. Also, some research indicates that hacks may activate the quads more than back squats.

A study supports that with your back against the support pad, the supporting muscles of the trunk don’t have to work as hard on the hack squat. These features makes hacks a good choice for lifters with injured or weak lower backs looking who still want to get a good leg workout.

Application:

In the hack squat, you lean back against a padded surface, brace your shoulders under a pair of pads and your feet on an angled plate, and…squat. Simple enough—but the machine offers benefits you can’t get from barbells.

“Hack squats remove the stability component from the move,” says Poli. “That allows you to focus more directly on the leg muscles.” Without the lower back and core musculature limiting you, you’ll likely be able to lift more weight on a hack squat than you can with free weights.

Despite this, hacks are less taxing, psychologically and physically, than barbell squat variations, making them a great choice on workout days when you can’t bring yourself to get under the bar. 

Safety:

All strength-training exercises—particularly moves where you’re moving a fair amount of weight—carry risk, but in the case of hacks, that risk low is fairly low: the machines come with a safety catch—making it unlikely you’ll crumple beneath the weight—and with your back braced against a pad, your lower back is less at-risk than it is in front and back squats. 

RATING:

Safety: 4/5

Strength Building: 3.5/5

Muscle Building: 4.5/5