Belt Squat Machine Romanian Deadlift with V-Grip

StrengthPull

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Body Part: Gluteal

Description

Stand on the belt squat platform facing the machine and hold the V-grip with both hands. Set your feet about hip-width apart, keep your arms straight, brace your core, and maintain a neutral spine. Push your hips back while slightly bending your knees, lowering the load under control until you feel a strong stretch in your hamstrings. Drive through your feet and extend your hips to return to standing, squeezing your glutes at the top. Keep the weight close to your body and avoid rounding your lower back or turning the movement into a squat.

How to Perform

Set the belt squat machine to a light starting load and attach the V-grip handle to the machine’s designated lifting point according to the equipment design.
Stand on the platform facing the machine with your feet about hip-width apart, toes pointing forward or slightly outward.
Hinge at your hips and take the V-grip with both hands using a neutral grip, keeping your arms straight and shoulders pulled down away from your ears.
Stand tall to lift the load, positioning the handle close to your body with your knees softly bent, chest proud, and spine neutral.
Begin the repetition by pushing your hips backward while allowing the handle to travel downward close to your legs.
Keep your shins nearly vertical, maintain a slight bend in the knees, and lower only until you feel a strong stretch through your hamstrings without rounding your lower back.
Drive your feet into the platform and extend your hips to return to standing, keeping the handle close and your arms relaxed.
Finish with your hips fully extended and glutes squeezed, then repeat under control without leaning backward or jerking the load.

What Muscles Work

Primary Muscle:

Secondary Muscles:

Tips

Set the belt squat machine so the V-grip handle starts around mid-thigh height and choose a load that allows full control through the entire range of motion.
Stand with feet about hip-width apart, hold the V-grip firmly with both hands, and keep your arms long so they act only as hooks rather than pulling the weight.
Begin with a soft bend in the knees, then push your hips backward as if reaching your glutes toward the wall behind you.
Keep your chest open, spine neutral, and neck aligned with your torso; avoid rounding your lower back or looking excessively upward.
Lower the handle by hinging at the hips, keeping it close to your legs and maintaining pressure through your whole foot, especially the mid-foot and heel.
Descend only as far as you can while keeping your back position stable and feeling a strong stretch in the hamstrings and glutes.
Drive your hips forward to stand up, squeezing your glutes at the top without leaning back or overextending the lower back.
Keep the knees relatively still throughout the movement; this is a hip hinge, not a squat, so avoid allowing the knees to travel far forward.
Move slowly and deliberately, especially on the lowering phase, and avoid bouncing out of the bottom position.
Use lifting straps only if grip is limiting your hamstring and glute training, and reduce the load if you cannot maintain a neutral spine.

Common Mistakes

Turning the movement into a squat by bending the knees excessively instead of hinging at the hips.
Rounding the lower back as the torso lowers.
Overarching the lower back at the top instead of finishing with the glutes.
Letting the hips drift forward or the torso lean back at lockout.
Keeping the knees completely locked rather than maintaining a slight, stable bend.
Allowing the knees to cave inward during the hinge.
Pulling with the arms or shrugging the shoulders instead of keeping the V-grip arms straight and relaxed.
Letting the V-grip move away from the body, reducing tension through the hips and hamstrings.
Lowering only partway and failing to reach a hamstring stretch while maintaining a neutral spine.
Lowering past the point where spinal neutrality can be maintained.
Losing tension at the bottom or bouncing out of the stretched position.
Shifting weight into the toes instead of keeping pressure through the midfoot and heels.
Moving too quickly and using momentum rather than controlled hip extension.