I’ve covered squatting in my two-part guide previously, but the front squat offers enough distinct challenges (and benefits) that I thought it was worth going over it separately.
The front squat, as the name suggests, is a way of squatting with the bar on the front of the body as opposed to on the back. This alters the weight distribution of the exercise, which typically leads to a more upright, knee-dominant squat compared to a back squat.
Introduction
This is one of my favourite lifts. It trains lower body strength through a large range of motion, and also challenges the muscles of the back to remain upright with a weight bearing down on your shoulders. In my opinion, this makes it a useful exercise for a myriad of sporting and “real-world” tasks that require you to keep a rigid trunk (core), as well as carrying things – not to mention the act of squatting itself.
The front squat will also improve certain specific exercises such as cleans.
It’s not all good news, though. Because the muscles of the back are loaded significantly during a front squat, they will usually be more of a limiting factor than they are on a back squat. This can be less than ideal if you want to focus on leg strength or leg muscle development.
Also, while the Olympic-style front squat is pretty stable, the other front squat variations can be harder to load because they may be harder to hold onto. No matter what technique you use, if you find yourself tipping forward on a front squat you will have a hard time keeping the weight on your shoulders.
The potential obstacles to front squatting mean many of us have to work hard to get strength and mobility in the front squat. That’s what this article is for.
Patience is key – most people don’t magically hit a perfect squat first time. It requires a good deal of mobility and control, which takes time. Be patient, and take a number of weeks before you decide whether it is for you.
Step-by-Step Guide
Let’s start by breaking the exercise down into each stage. I will talk through the Olympic-style squat, because I think this is the “ideal” variation. That being said, I have used other variations with clients, and the same principles apply to those.
- Rack height – when adjusting your squat rack, you have two aims. 1) To do the minimum amount of squatting to lift the bar off the rack. 2) To avoid tiptoeing to get the bar off the rack. This usually results in a bar height around armpit to shoulder level.
2. Unracking – with the bar at the correct height, you should move under the bar in a way that looks as similar to your front squat as possible. Take a deep breath and straighten your legs to unrack the bar. Take one to two steps back. Let your breathing return to normal and prepare to squat.
3. Preparing to squat – Set your feet outside hip width. Imagine you’re standing on a clock, and point your toes at 10 and 2*. Lift your elbows, stick your chest out. Imagine you’re going to squat underwater: take a deep breath, and hold it for the duration of the rep.
*This will need to be adjusted depending on how well you hit bottom of your squat. If you tip over or excessively round your back, this could mean your feet need to go wider or narrower.
4. The squat – Bend at knees and hips together. Keeping the chest as upright as possible, aim to get the crease of hips parallel to your knees. You may be lower or higher than this depending on your individual abilities – what’s important is that this is comfortable for you, and that every squat is similar.
Drive up out of this bottom position, leading with the chest and keeping the elbows high. Release the breath you were holding, take a few recovery breaths. When you’re ready to squat again, repeat the preparation sequence: lift elbows, chest out, deep breath and hold.
Front Squat Video Guide
I appreciate that there’s a lot of written instructions to take in there. I’ve condensed it into a short video to sum it up.
Now that we’ve covered the benefits of the front squat and how to do it, in part 2 we’ll be examining how to improve mobility and technique for the front squat.
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