Hack squats suck.

contingencyplan

And I don't mean that in a good "THEY HURT SO GOOD" kind of way.

I don't normally like to use machines at the gym because the way they force you to move along a guide rail typically leads to unnatural movements and less muscle activation as a result. Because of this, I have never used the hack squat machine at the gym before.

I go during peak hours (not really a matter of choice--there are no gyms near my neighborhood so the only time I can hit the gym is on the way home from work while passing through a busy section of town that has a few) so a lot of the time when I go all the equipment is tied up.

Yesterday I went to the gym for a session with my trainer and it was time to hit legs. Problem was the squat racks were tied up, the leg press was tied up, everything was tied up! Except for the hack squat machine.. So he decided to try to give me a leg workout using that. I got through my session doing variations of exercises you can do using the hack squat machine and at the end of the day I was feeling a lot of joint pain as well as pain in the arches of my feet. However my muscles did not in any way feel like I had worked them at all. I woke up this morning not feeling any muscle soreness anywhere in my lower body. The only pain I felt was, again, in my knees and in my feet. I texted my trainer about it and he responded by saying that this is a common complaint when people who are used to working with free weights use machines at the gym. They get used to being able to naturally move in the way their body is most comfortable through the ROM of the exercise, and that also happens to be where you get the greatest degree of muscle activation. Putting them back on a machine that removes the stabilization muscles and forces them to go along a specific (and very unnatural path) through the ROM leads to lack of muscle work and joint pain.