Front Squat

Following my post earlier today for the squat, I have decided to make another one for the Front Squat. This exercise is great when used in conjunction with squats in your program as it target the same general muscles as this previous exercise, yet it hits them in different ways than a normal squat which will shock your muscles and stimulate into quicker and greater growth and strength.

The muscles it works: It targets the front quads more than a normal squat would. It also works all the muscles that a normal squat would hit upon (although to a lesser degree than it hits upon the quads) including glutes, hamstring, calves, and lower back.

How to perform: Use a squat rack for safety if available. There are two main stances for performing a front squat (choose whichever you feel is the best for you)-

1. Hold the bar as if you are powercleaning - To do it this way, put your hand on the bar at shoulder width. Then, rest your hands on your shoulders while clutching the bar so your palms are pointed up towards the ceiling. By doing this, the bar should be in your hands while your hands are on your shoulders and your elbows should be sticking straight out in front of you (with your arms parallel to the floor).

2. The traditional front squat stance - To do it this way, place the bar resting on you shoulders and upper chest. Your upper arms should be under the bar with your elbows pointed straight out in front of you, but you should cross your forearms over the bar (at around the wrists) and place your open hands over the bar around your shoulder. This might be somewhat hard to envision if you have not seen this stance before so just stand up now and stick your arms straight out in front of you. Then, bend your elbows so your forearms are at a 90 degree angle to the rest of your arms (and now parallel to your chest). Next, place one of your forearms directly on top of the other. Slide both of your hands across your biceps until they both reach your shoulders. Keep your arms in the exact same position they are in, but make sure both f your hands are now on top of your shoulders. That is the arm position you will use with this front squat stance.

Now that you are familiar with the two stance, pick one and then proceed to front squatting. The motion is exactly the same as squatting (all that is different is that the bar is now in front of your body instead of behind it). To reiterate how to perform a squat, I will copy and paste the motion from my previous post on how to squat :)

To actually begin the exercise, keep your torso as straight and still as possible while lowering your body between to legs. To do this, you will bend your legs at the knees and the hips until your quads are parallel to the ground. Now, push your torso back up to the starting position by reversing to downward motion (to do this, you will push your feet against the floor so that you can stand back up)

And easy way to visualize this motion (and even practice it) would be to site down in a chair while keeping your torso straight and still. Then, stand back up into the starting position (again, without bending your torso). Many coaches even like to teach squat by starting with a chair this way, and I recommend that you should try this too while just using the bar (without weight) if you have never squatted before in order to practice the correct motion of squatting.

Tips: The amount you front squat should be significantly less than the amount you squat, especially if you are doing it after several sets of squats. You should probably start out with an easy amount of weight (maybe even the bar), and then work on the motion until it feels natural. After that, you should continue to increase the weight you are front squatting until you feel that you have reached a plateau on which you can only increase the weight you are using by getting stronger (and not just by getting used to the front squat motion)


Conclusion: I would recommend that you become familiar with a regular squat until you attempt the front squat. However, if you decide to try this one first, you should use the same chair trick I mentioned in the post for squat (basically, you sit down into a chair and then stand back up without moving or bending your torso).

Also, which front squat stance should you use. Ultimately, the decision should come down to whichever is the most comfortable and beneficial to you. For most people, that is the traditional front squat stance. With that being said, I use the power clean stance, because I don't only front squat to gain leg strength, but I also do it to get extra practice with the power cleaning motion which helps me gain strength in the powerclean. If you are also training for a powerlifting competition or just wish to do powercleans in your workout routine, then you might want to seriously consider this alternative stance.


Addendum- This exercise for speed training: You can easily turn this exercise into one which targets the hamstring; thus, you can use this to increase your speed. By going past parallel while performing this exercise puts great emphasis on your hamstrings which will do wonders in strengthening them. When you run, the strength of your hamstrings are a big factor in how fast you can go; therefore, I greatly recommend performing front squate past the parallel mark (to the furthest extent your body can handle) to any athletes who are lifting to gain an advantage in their sport. Speed kills, and this is a lift that can greatly enhance your performance. However, you should never go past parallel until you are completely comfortable performing this lift at its normal range (parallel) and are sure that your motion is perfect (as the risk of injury caused by improper lifting technique is enhanced by bringing this techniques past its intended range)