Pendulum Squat

HOW TO DO PENDULUM SQUAT

1. Shoulders under the pads, feet on the platform where the arc lets you keep pressure through the whole foot.
2. Unrack, brace, and sit into the machine’s path. The pendulum wants a more upright torso than a back squat.
3. Descend until the hips are as deep as a squat you would count, without the low back peeling off the pad.
4. Drive up through the mid-foot. Re-rack with the hands on the stop, not a dumped lockout.

COMMON MISTAKES

• Feet so high it becomes a glute press. Fine if that is the point. If you wanted a squat, bring the feet down so the knees can travel.
• Logging it as a hack squat. Different machine, different arc, different PR. The tag on the pendulum should open this slug.
• Bouncing the lever at the bottom. The pendulum stores energy. A crash-and-rebound is not a quad set. Pause or control the last third.
• Riding the toes. If the heels lift, the foot placement does not match the arc. Move the stance, do not shrug and keep loading.

VARIATIONS

• Machine hack squat — Linear sled if the gym has no pendulum.
• Smith machine squat — Guided bar squat when you want a rail, not a lever.
• Standard leg press — Seated sled, still machine quad volume.
• Barbell back squat — Free-weight version of the pattern.

PROGRESSIONS

1. Light pendulum to a full, quiet bottom.
2. Add load when the back stays on the pad for every rep.
3. Pause reps if you are using the lever’s bounce.
4. Narrow stance or a slower eccentric once the groove is automatic.

PROGRAMMING NOTES

Quad-biased primary or second squat: 3–4 sets of 6–12. These often feel easier on the back than a bar squat at the same effort — log them here anyway. If you rotate pendulum and hack squat in the same mesocycle, that is two lifts, not one “machine squat” row.

EQUIPMENT ALTERNATIVES

• Machine hack squat — Default swap in gyms that never bought a pendulum.
• Belt squat — Unload the shoulders entirely if the pads are the problem.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS