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Expert Tested: RitFit Sports AT02 Hack Squat Attachment REVIEW
This Creative Rack Attachment Will TRANSFORM Your Home Gym in 2024
by Alec Enkiri | 9/3/24
Use discount code RFENKIRI for 12% off your order
Looking for an easy and space saving way to do hack squats in your home gym?
The AT02 Hack Squat Rack Attachment by RitFit Sports fits the bill! This crafty little thing is designed to attach to 2x2 power racks so that you can do hack squats and crush your legs all right from your home gym without breaking the bank or occupying excessive amounts of precious home gym real estate.
Read on for a full review of this creative attachment: the different features of it, what types of exercises you can do with it, how the work actually feels on it, and what my overall impression of it is.
The really cool thing about this hack squat attachment is that you can get the feel of leg machine work, without the need for actually occupying precious home gym space with a bulky leg machine. It just clips onto the side of the rack through the safety pin holes, and then with that you get this sort of arcing hack squat exercise that has a feel similar to a reverse hack squat or even one of those fancy pendulum squat machines.
I've really been enjoying it so far! You can work hard on this and just absolutely trash your legs, and I will say right off the bat that once you find the right setup with it the work on here feels really smooth and really productive. Please note, that I have been financially compensated by RitFit as part of this review process.
SETUP & FEATURES
The AT02 Hack Squat Rack Attachment is pretty straightforward to use. It takes probably 20 or 30 minutes to unbox everything and get it all assembled. I think there were somewhere between 8 and 12 bolts that needed to be secured, if I'm remembering correctly. Then once it's all set up it latches onto the side of the rack via the safety pin holes.
So that means you can adjust the height of the apparatus up or down depending on your preferences and needs - although I do have a word of caution regarding the height of the attachment that I want to touch on a little bit later in the video.
Once you have the attachment secured to the rack there are 7 different height adjustment points that you can set it at depending on what you want the resting height to be. Those adjustment points also serve the dual purpose of acting as a safety so that you can create a safe bottom out point for the attachment while you're busting your butt under some heavy weights.
A cool feature of this attachment is that it has a pretty minimal overall footprint. When it's not in use it can simply be left folded down, and as such it really doesn't take up very much space at all. When it's standing up it protrudes out pretty far, like 3 or 4 feet away from the rack, so initially I thought I would have to take it off every time I was done with it. But since it folds down into a space saving fashion that's not necessary.
That's also a very welcome addition because it can be a little bit difficult to get the pins to line up into the holes when you're trying to get the attachment set up onto your rack. So having to take it on and off all the time would also start to feel a little bit cumbersome, which makes this feature really nice.
EXERCISES & FEEL
In terms of what exercises you can actually do on this attachment, well, it's really only designed for hack squats and calf raises, but I've actually gotten pretty creative with it! I've done hack squats, jump squats or loaded jumps, loaded ankle hops, strict overhead presses, push presses, and even chest presses as well! I'm sure that there are more movements that you could potentially do with something like this, but that's all I've been able to think of so far.
And most of that work has felt really good! Even though a lot of it is very unorthodox most of what I have tried so far has actually worked really well. Let's discuss the movements you can do with the RitFit AT02 Hack Squat Rack Attachment in a bit more detail! Below is a quick demo video showcasing these movements, and you can also see them in action in more detail in the video version of this review linked at the end of the article.
Quick movement demo
HACK SQUAT
Obviously this piece is best designed for the hack squat pattern. This is your bread and butter with this attachment, and once you get it set up correctly for your height and you figure out how to set your body up correctly around the attachment it works really, really well for this.
Like I alluded to in the intro it kind of feels more like a reverse hack squat or even a pendulum squat machine than it does a traditional hack squat machine (probably because the hips are able to move freely rather than being pinned against a back pad). Personally, I vastly prefer these types of movements as I think they feel much more natural than "true" machine hack squats, which are far too rigid for me.
LOADED JUMPS
Honestly, doing loaded jumps with this attachment also works out pretty well! I am able to get into a pretty good rhythm with my jumps and get some nice explosive action through my legs. I have always been jealous of those machines that I've seen pro athletes use where it's sort of like a pendulum squat machine but they perform an explosive leg press off of it that propels their body sort of backwards horizontally, basically with the idea of getting in some aggressive, explosive leg work. I think that the training effect that I'm getting here is probably pretty similar to that. It's a little bit unorthodox, but I think it has a lot of value overall and it feels really good.
I have also done a more ankle biased version of this exercise that I call a "loaded ankle hop," where the focus is on minimizing the hip and knee action and instead rebounding ballistically off the Achilles tendons. This movement also works quite well on this attachment.
STRICT OVERHEAD PRESS
I have also really enjoyed doing pressing work on this attachment. The most natural choice here is to just do a regular old strict overhead press, and what you end up getting in that regard is something similar to the feel of a machine overhead press, as the attachment is mostly a stable implement for you to press off of.
You can do these standing, you can do them kneeling, you can do them seated, or whatever your preference is. In some ways it kind of feels like a landmine press because the pressing angle is angled forward slightly, but there's no potential for lateral deviation like there is with a landmine so it's even a little bit more stable than that. The shoulder pads naturally encourage you to perform all these reps from a dead stop at the bottom which is also probably a good thing. The overhead press is solid.
PUSH PRESS
Taking the overhead work concept a bit further we can also incorporate some leg drive! Now we're looking at something that is more resembling push press type pattern on this implement, or even something similar to a Viking press, like what you see in strongman style training and competition. Obviously there are some differences because I'm pretty sure that in a true Viking press you are supposed to be facing away from the implement, and with this attachment you have to face towards the implement to be able to reach the handles properly. But either way this explosive, push press style overhead press work with leg drive feels really sharp and productive with this attachment and you can get in some really nice work this way.
CHEST PRESS
Getting a but more unorthodox again, lastly, I have also used this attachment as a chest press machine! I did this in two ways: the first way was top down and the second way was bottom up. If you're a little confused about how I pulled this off you can see video footage of me setting up the chest press in both these different ways in the video version of this review found at the end of the article.
Top down: this was a bit dangerous by myself because I had to release one of my hands in order to take the safety pin on and off to be able to get set up under the attachment and then actually open up the range of motion to be able to do the movement. So I kept it light here. But if you have a partner with you to take the pin in and out for you then this would be a really good way to use this attachment.
Bottom up: this way the safety pin was already set up at the deepest point of the press. There was no danger here because the implement was always bottomed out, but it was quite cumbersome to get in and out this way because, obviously, I'm using the attachment for something it's not designed for at all and I had to wedge myself underneath of it in a very awkward way. Still, the presses felt good here and since there was no danger of crushing myself I could also go a bit heavier this way.
In spite of using the attachment for something that's basically completely out of pocket these chest presses actually feel freaking amazing. They are super smooth and once I had the set up right I couldn't tell the difference between this attachment and an actual chest press machine!
Obviously the cumbersomeness of the setup is a pretty big deterrent here, but still, it was never designed for anything like this in the first place so being able to rig this up and basically get machine chest press work out of it too is a nice little bonus feature. The presses feel awesome as a pump finisher, and the work is very productive.
A POINT OF CAUTION
Now that we've covered all the features that this attachment has to offer, as well as all the different types of exercises that you can do with it and the quality and feel of those movements, I just want to touch on something to be cautious about when using an attachment like this: the potential tip risk. If you don't have your rack bolted down to the floor this is something you're going to have to be cognizant of when using this attachment or any other similar type of rack attachment.
If you're really working your legs hard and heavy, the attachment has a max load capacity of 350lbs, which is pretty good, but what I discovered is that once you get into the mid to high 200s you do have to take some precautions to ensure that the far side of your rack is not at risk of lifting off the ground and potentially tipping over.
In order to eliminate this risk obviously the best thing to do would be to simply bolt your rack to the floor. But that's not an option for everybody, and personally, I don't want to bolt my racks to the floor because I like to move them around sometimes.
The next best thing is going to be counter-loading the rack with a lot of weight. If you've got 200-300lbs loaded onto the attachment (and protruding out several feet away from the side of your rack), then you're probably going to want to put at least a few hundred extra pounds on to the opposite side of your rack as a counterbalance to be safe and greatly mitigate any tipping risk.
Another thing you can do is set the attachment up a little bit lower down on the rack (closer to the floor). Initially I set it up right about shoulder height, roughly 4 and a half feet off floor, so that I could easily get underneath of it, unrack it, and start squatting. But this is the height where I noticed that there was a potential for the opposite side of the machine to come off floor because that actually happened to me right at the end of my top set the first time I used it!
The higher setup caused my rack to tip the first time I used the implement.
So next time I attached it lower on the rack and added more weight to the rack for greater stability.
So the next time I used the attachment, for hack squats specifically, I simply lowered it down and attached it on to the rack about a foot closer to the ground. This makes it a little harder to unrack because now the weight sits a little bit lower at the resting position so you have to squat down deeper to get underneath the attachment.
But fortunately it actually makes the arcing hack squat pattern feel a lot better and a lot more natural because now the farthest part of the arc in the pattern is around the midpoint of the rep instead of at the top of the rep like it when the attachment is situated higher up off the ground. As well, this setup also substantially reduces any risk of your rack coming off the ground even if it's not bolted to the floor or heavily weighted down since the attachment itself is much closer to the ground.
The only real downside to doing this is that you can't store the attachment in the stowed away, folded down position because, due to its length, it hits the ground before being able to fold all the way down. But that's a trade-off I'm willing to make! It makes the primary exercise that you use this attachment for (hack squats) feel better and it drastically improves the safety profile of the attachment as well.
And to be very fair to RitFit, they mention this potential tip issue in their FAQ on the product description page. They aren't ducking it. They simply tell you to make sure your rack is weighted down properly to ensure it doesn't wobble or tip during heavy hack squats. I just felt that this point was important enough that I needed to make mention of it anyway.
IMPROVEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS
Before I give my final rating and close out the review I just want to briefly mention a couple points for improvement that I think will take RitFit's 2.0 version of this attachment to the next level!
Provide more margin. If they can provide a little bit more margin with the attachment clips so that it's easier to secure the unit to the rack that would be amazing. As it is, it can be a little bit cumbersome getting the attachment situated the right way to secure it to the rack, which makes adjusting it up or down mid workout to perform different exercises on it kind of a pain. Making that process a little less cumbersome will go a very long way!
Make it truly multi-functional. This might be a pipe dream, but if they can engineer some kind of dual function for the attachment that turns it into a proper pressing attachment as well, that would just be freaking amazing. That way you could do the overhead press work and the chest press work that I described in this review and the setup issues I talked about here would be gone. Turning it into a proper multi-functional piece would really increase its overall value.
Switch the attachment point. Lastly, I would also recommend that RitFit consider switching the design mechanism so that the attachment is made to secure to the front of the rack, as opposed to the side because the rack. Most racks, including their M1 rack shown in this article, are much more stable from front to back as compared to laterally. So if the unit is attached to the front, as opposed to the side, you'll get much less wobbling on the rack while you're working hard on it. I think that would be a very important improvement.
FINAL VERDICT
Overall, all the exercises on this attachment feel really great, and you can actually do a lot of different, productive things with this it and get a lot of mileage out of it even though it's supposed to be a somewhat niche piece.
So for a home gym owner something like this can be a very valuable addition to your space because for a small investment and with a minimal footprint now you get a hack squat machine, an overhead press machine, a Viking press, and even a chest press machine. These are all movements that are typically sorely lacking in a home gym environment so gaining access to them with an attachment like this can be really beneficial for a lot of lifters.
RitFit also told me that they're already in the process of expanding production of this attachment to fit 2x3 and 3x3 racks as well (instead of just 2x2 racks like the attachment I have here). So once those models become available soon then this attachment will be compatible with pretty much any type of squat rack. So be sure to be on the look out for that!
Anyway, I really like this thing and I plan to put in some big work on it! Overall I give the RitFit AT02 Hack Squat Rack Attachment 4 out of 5 stars! I really like the attachment for what it is, and what it allows you to do, as well as how all the movements feel on it. I only docked it the one star because of the tip risk that currently exists, but if they get that sorted out I will happily rate a future model a perfect 5 out of 5.
So if you're interested in grabbing this cool hack squat attachment or any other piece of RitFit Sports equipment for yourself then be sure to check out RitFit sports website and be sure to use discount code RFENKIRI for 12% off your order!
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This article in video format on my YouTube channel!
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