Conquering The Front Squat

Of all the aspects that impact your success in the gym, your ability to choose which exercises to perform is probably one of the most critical. Furthermore, you need to know how to vary your training in a way that keeps pushing your body to adapt.

From a general perspective, the essence of variety in reality consists of two parts; varying the intensity level and/or varying the exercises. Personally, I believe that the first of these is the most important one, but that doesn’t mean we should neglect the latter. If you’re interested in reading more about a simple way to manipulate your intensity levels, I suggest you take a look at this post: (link to Understanding Overtraining).

When it comes to choosing your exercises, you need to apply some basic logic - don’t just mindlessly subscribe to someone else’s point of view (including mine). We are all individuals, with unique abilities, needs and goals. Yes, we are also all humans (well, most of us anyway) so there are of course some basic commonalities that we all share as well.

In this context, these commonalities consist mainly of the way our bodies respond to a certain stimuli. For instance, higher intensity naturally elicits another type of adaptation than lower intensity, and full body movements elicit another type of response than isolation exercises. Note that neither of these is wrong, or – as some people would have you believe - constitute some kind of heresy. So yes, you have my permission to do low-intensity triceps kickbacks – but if you do, just don’t expect to become any stronger.

In my opinion, one of the best variations of the basic squat is the front squat. Compared to the back squat, the front squat involves the quadriceps to a greater degree, but at the same time it takes away some of the effort from the hamstrings. So if you replace the back squat with the front squat, you might want to give some extra attention to the back of your legs by adding another exercise like the romanian deadlift - but for now, let’s focus on the front squat, beginning with a short overview of how to perform the movement.

How to perform front squats:

- The bar is placed in front of the head, resting on your shoulders and upper pecs close to your throat. This position may feel uncomfortable at first, but you’ll get used to it with a little practice. The grip is usually a bit outside shoulder width, depending on how flexible you are, and the elbows are pointed forward.

There is also an alternative grip that can be used when front squatting; the cross-armed grip. There is nothing inherently wrong with using the cross-armed variation, but I recommend that you only use this in a power rack, since your arms are placed in a way that makes it harder to drop the bar safely in the case of a failed lift.

- Feet – or, more specifically, the distance between your heels - are about shoulder width apart, or possibly a little wider. Let the toes point in the direction that is natural for you, meaning that if your toes are pointing slightly outwards when you stand or walk, this is the direction that your toes should point when you squat.

- Take a deep breath and hold it to maintain intrathoracic pressure during the movement, which makes it easier to maintain the posture needed to perform the movement safely. You need to focus on keeping your upper body upright the whole time. Contract your core and try to push your elbows upwards. This will help you keep the back straight.

- Squat down at a controlled pace as far as you comfortably can with good form, keeping the torso as upright as possible by contracting your core and keeping your elbows up. As is the case with all squats, initiate the movement by sitting down rather than bending your knees. Don’t pause at the bottom, focus on immediately pushing upwards through your heels.

As I mentioned above, there are basically two grip variations you can use for the front squat; the clean grip or the crossed-armed grip. Unfortunately, both these variations have their drawbacks. The cross-armed grip is somewhat unsafe in the case of a failed lift, and the clean grip can feel very uncomfortable if you lack the necessary flexibility or have relatively long forearms.

Since this discomfort can affect your focus on the most important part of the movement; in essence, keeping your upper body tense and upright, I recommend using straps instead. Using straps will relieve some of the tension in the forearms, without sacrificing the control of the bar, making it possible to maintain good posture and balance during the ascent.

Since I have relatively long forearms, using straps when front squatting made a significant difference for me. However, don’t become too dependent on the straps – if possible, use them as a way to progressively increase your flexibility. Also, don’t make this into some kind of weird triceps exercise, pulling too hard on the straps - just keep the straps tense enough to maintain balance and control of the bar. Focus on pushing your elbows upward, not pulling with your hands.

Besides working your quadriceps, the front squat will prepare you for further adventures in Olympic lifts or variations thereof, if you’re so inclined. The front squat is part of such lifts as the full clean and the clean and press. Good luck!

June 20, 2009 | Filed Under Training | Leave a Comment