QuadsMachineBeginner

How to Do a Pendulum Squat

By Bryan Alger, Co-Founder of Gravitus

· Updated Oct 1, 2026

A pendulum squat is a squat on a machine whose back pad and shoulder pads swing on a lever arm. With your back on the pad and feet shoulder-width on the platform, bend your knees as deep as your heels stay down. It mainly trains the quads, with the glutes and adductors helping. Most lifters do 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 12 reps.

Sets x reps 3-4 x 8-12

Median 10-rep weight 9542.5 lbkg men 5525 lbkg women

Muscles Quads, glutes, adductors

Setup Feet shoulder-width, mid-platform

1Top. Shoulders under the pads, back flat on the pad, feet shoulder-width in the middle of the platform. Stand until your knees are almost straight.
2Bottom. Bend your knees and let the arm swing down until your hips sink below your knees, heels flat, then drive through your whole foot to stand.

Watch 3 video demonstrations

Video 1 of 3

Find more video demonstrations in the Gravitus app

Technique

How to do a pendulum squat

Step onto the platform and set your shoulders under the pads with your whole back on the back pad. If the pads or platform adjust, set them so the pads sit on your shoulders without you shrugging.
Place your feet shoulder-width apart in the middle of the platform, toes turned out slightly.
Stand up to take the weight, then release the safety catch or depth stop.
Bend your knees and let the arm swing down under control. Let your knees travel forward over your toes, and go as deep as you can with your heels flat and your back on the pad.
Drive through your whole foot to stand, stopping just short of locking your knees. Set the safety catch before you step off.

Setup

Pendulum squat foot placement

Lower on the platformMore quadsMore knee bend. Needs ankle mobility, so your heels stay down.

Higher on the platformMore glutesMore hip bend and less knee travel. Hamstrings barely change.

Wider stanceMore glutes and adductorsTurn the toes out with it. Quad work stays the same.

Narrower stanceNot more quadsA narrow stance does not target the quads harder. Use it only if it feels better.

No study has tested foot placement on the pendulum squat itself, so these come from leg press and squat studies. On the leg press, low feet drew more quad activity and high feet more glute activity in heavy sets (Da Silva 2008). In squats, stance width changed glute and adductor activity but not quad activity (McCaw 1999, Paoli 2009). Start shoulder-width in the middle, then move your feet lower for quads as far as your heels stay flat.

Range of motion

How deep to go on a pendulum squat

Go as deep as you can while your heels stay flat and your back stays on the pad. On most pendulum machines that is well below parallel, and that is the reason to use one.

Many guides stop you at parallel. The evidence says go further. Over 12 weeks, deep squats to 120 degrees of knee bend grew the front of the thigh 4 to 7% more than shallow squats to 60 degrees (Bloomquist 2013). Full and half squats grew the quads by the same amount, but full squats grew the glutes (6.7% vs 2.2%) and adductors (6.2% vs 2.7%) 2 to 3 times as much (Kubo 2019). A review of 16 studies found full range of motion built more leg muscle than partial reps (Pallarés 2021).

Knees past toes

Knees travel past the toes on a deep pendulum squat, and that is fine. In a squat study, blocking the knees at the toes cut knee torque by 22% but raised hip torque more than tenfold (Fry 2003).

Gravitus data

How much weight should you pendulum squat?

On Gravitus, the median man lifts 95 lb (42.5 kg) for 10 reps on the pendulum squat, and the median woman 55 lb (25 kg).

Men, typical 95 lb for 10 reps

Most lift: 60 to 155 lb
Top 10% lift: 235 lb or more
Starting out: under 60 lb

Women, typical 55 lb for 10 reps

Most lift: 35 to 90 lb
Top 10% lift: 135 lb or more
Starting out: under 35 lb

Men, typical 42.5 kg for 10 reps

Most lift: 27.5 to 70 kg
Top 10% lift: 105 kg or more
Starting out: under 27.5 kg

Women, typical 25 kg for 10 reps

Most lift: 16 to 40 kg
Top 10% lift: 60 kg or more
Starting out: under 16 kg

One-rep max / 10-rep weight, rounded to 5 lb (2.5 under 40). From 1,809 men and 447 women who log the pendulum squat on Gravitus, computed Sep 30, 2026 (Brzycki). Methodology
Percentile	Men	Women
25th	80 / 60 lb	45 / 35 lb
Median	125 / 95 lb	75 / 55 lb
75th	205 / 155 lb	120 / 90 lb
90th	310 / 235 lb	180 / 135 lb

One-rep max / 10-rep weight, rounded to 2.5 kg (1 under 20). From 1,809 men and 447 women who log the pendulum squat on Gravitus, computed Sep 30, 2026 (Brzycki). Methodology
Percentile	Men	Women
25th	37.5 / 27.5 kg	22.5 / 16 kg
Median	57.5 / 42.5 kg	35 / 25 kg
75th	92.5 / 70 kg	52.5 / 40 kg
90th	142.5 / 105 kg	80 / 60 kg

Pendulum squat numbers do not transfer between brands. The plates hang on a lever, so where the pivot and plate horns sit on an Arsenal, Atlantis or Panatta machine changes how heavy the same plates feel, and each arm has its own empty weight and counterweight. This page pools every lifter who logged the generic Pendulum Squat, so it mixes brands. Compare yourself to your own log on the same machine.

Anatomy

Muscles worked

QuadricepsStraighten the knee. They do most of the work, and grew the same from full and half squats (Kubo 2019).

Primary

GlutesExtend the hip. They work harder with higher feet and grow more with deeper reps.

Secondary

AdductorsExtend the hip at the bottom of a deep squat, more with a wide stance.

Secondary

HamstringsSteady the knee and hip. They did not grow from full or half squats (Kubo 2019).

Stabilizer

Calves and coreHold the ankles and trunk steady. The back pad does most of the trunk work.

Stabilizer

Compare

Pendulum squat vs hack squat vs leg press

Attribute	Pendulum squat	Hack squat	Leg press
How it moves	Pads swing on an arc	Sled slides on a straight track	Sled slides away from you
Load on the spine	Through the shoulder pads	Through the shoulder pads	Little, you sit
Easy depth	Deepest, well past parallel	Past 90 degrees	Set by the seat and your hips
Best for	Very deep quad work	Deep quad work, heavy	Most leg volume

Verdict

No study has compared them, so pick the one you can load and take deep without pain. Over 8 weeks, full squats on a machine and with free weights grew the quads the same amount (Hernández-Belmonte 2023), and rotating hack squats and Smith squats into leg press training gave the same thigh growth as leg press alone (Kassiano 2025).

Programming

Sets, reps and progression

3-4Sets

8-12Reps

1-2Reps left

Stop each set 1 to 2 reps short of failure. Sets taken close to failure build muscle across a wide range of reps (Schoenfeld 2021), so pick a range where you can keep full depth.

Add reps first. When every set reaches 12 clean reps, add 10 to 20 lb (5 to 10 kg) and go back to 8.

Form

Common mistakes

Stopping at parallelThe machine is built to go deeper. Take the weight down until you can sink well below parallel with your heels flat.
Heels liftingYour feet are too low for your ankles. Move them up the platform until your heels stay down at the bottom.
Back peeling off the padYour hips have run out of room. Stop just above that point and move your feet a little higher.
Knees caving inPush your knees out over your toes on the way up. Go lighter if they still drift in.
Bouncing out of the bottomLower under control and stand without a rebound, so your legs do the work and not the swing of the arm.

Variations

Pendulum squat alternatives

Hack SquatThe sled slides on a straight track instead of swinging. The closest machine if your gym has no pendulum.

Leg PressSeated, with no load on the spine. The easiest way to add leg volume.

Smith Machine SquatA fixed bar path with your feet set forward.

Barbell back squatFree weight, so your trunk and balance work too.

Leg ExtensionQuads alone, with no hip movement. A good finisher after pendulum squats.

FAQ

Questions people ask

Is the pendulum squat the same as hack squat?

No. On a hack squat the sled slides on a straight track. On a pendulum squat the back pad and shoulder pads hang from a pivot and swing on an arc. Both train mainly the quads with your back supported.

Is pendulum squat better than hack squat?

Not proven either way; no study has compared them. Both are machine squats, and machine and free-weight squats grew the quads the same amount over 8 weeks (Hernández-Belmonte 2023). Pick the one you can take deepest without pain.

Is pendulum squat good for glutes?

It helps, but the quads do most of the work. Go deep and put your feet higher on the platform. Full squats grew the glutes 6.7% vs 2.2% for half squats over 10 weeks (Kubo 2019).

How deep to go on pendulum squat?

As deep as your heels stay flat and your back stays on the pad, which is below parallel for most lifters. Deep squats grew the thighs more than shallow ones (Bloomquist 2013).

Is pendulum squat bad for knees?

Not for healthy knees. Your knees will pass your toes at the bottom, which is normal; blocking them moves the load to your hips and back (Fry 2003). If a knee hurts, move your feet higher or stop a little shallower.

What is pendulum squat starting weight?

It depends on the brand. The arm, pads and any counterweight set the empty resistance, and it differs between Arsenal, Atlantis, Panatta and others. Check the label on the machine, and log the same way on the same machine every time.

Is the pendulum squat harder at the bottom or the top?

It depends on the machine. Where the pivot and plate horns sit changes how the load feels through the rep, and brands place them differently. Do a set on the empty machine to feel where yours is hardest.

How much weight should I pendulum squat?

For 10 reps, the median on Gravitus is 95 lb (42.5 kg) for men and 55 lb (25 kg) for women. The strongest quarter lifts 155 lb (70 kg) and 90 lb (40 kg) or more.

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References