Front Squats....worth the investment?

[Spokeonawheel]

So I like to mix up my leg days and have been incorporating some front squats. (with the intention of more focus on quads and to keep program structure interesting. Im not doing olympic style lifting so there is no real need. However im hoping it adds something to quad shape for BB purposes.)
I completely suck at them and i find them uncomfortable as fuck. Im not flexible or have too much arm meat to flex at the elbows and keep the barbell in my hands. So, im crossing my arms and resting the bar on front delts and chest near collarbone. Even at lightweight i find myself struggling to maintain posture and keep the barbell seated.
I think some of my difficulty comes from trying to adjust from a low bar seating on back squats and i tend to lift more with ass and hammies on traditional squat. I max 390 on squat and rep 315 to 345 comfortably. ( which for me is good. good progress) Front squats if i put 225 for 10 reps on it im fighting the bar seating and posture and my lower back and after the set im barely feeling it in my legs.
So asking from someone with experience: is it worth it to invest the time to work on form for this exercise or should i just stick to hack squats, lunges, extensions? Is there something great about front squats from the standpoint of muscular development for BB or am I wasting gym time on novelty?

 

[Perrin Aybara]

I have the same problems keeping the bar up. Tried oly grip, cross armed grip, and using straps and nothing works for me. I just picked up this front squat harness last week and used it for the first time yesterday. It feels a little weird, but I was able to easily bang out a few sets of 10, which normally I'd have been struggling to not drop the bar by rep 5. I've never done them much in the past for this reason, but planning on adding them in now.



@gr8whitetrukker likes front squats and has insane quads, so maybe he can chime in on their effectiveness.

 

[Eman]

@gr8whitetrukker likes front squats and has insane quads, so maybe he can chime in on their effectiveness.

Pft, that's from bangin fat chicks at the truck stops... Not front squats.

 

[Perrin Aybara]

Pft, that's from bangin fat chicks at the truck stops... Not front squats.

No wonder my legs are only 26".

 

[Mac11wildcat]

Front squats are a great quad builder but if they’re a no-go there are substitutions. Nothing is an absolute, but you’ll usually find movements you suck at bring great growth as you master them.

Does your gym have a safety squat bar? If they do, flip that bitch around and I bet front squats become easier. Also consider changing your stance to allow your body to stay upright (for most people this means a wide-ish stance and dropping down in to the squat, not sitting back).

In the absence of front squats, hack squats and hex-bar deadlifts from a deficit can elicit the same effect.

 

[Strength and Power]

I have the same problems keeping the bar up. Tried oly grip, cross armed grip, and using straps and nothing works for me. I just picked up this front squat harness last week and used it for the first time yesterday. It feels a little weird, but I was able to easily bang out a few sets of 10, which normally I'd have been struggling to not drop the bar by rep 5. I've never done them much in the past for this reason, but planning on adding them in now.

View attachment 103228

@gr8whitetrukker likes front squats and has insane quads, so maybe he can chime in on their effectiveness.

I love front squats. I use them quite often. I use them at the beginning of my block accumulation training. Ill use 2 front squat sessions to every back squat session. Of course I use them less and less through the transition period, unless a weakness in my quads comes up. As far as size, my quads are always at their largest when I am really loading the volume up on front squats. Due to multiple injuries, I have lost the flexibility to use a proper front squat grip and use the cross arm method. I am fairly steady until I reach the mid 4's. At that point I get the dreaded droop. I have been looking at investing in a front squat harness. The one you posted really peaked my interest. What manufacturer is that?

 

[Perrin Aybara]

I love front squats. I use them quite often. I use them at the beginning of my block accumulation training. Ill use 2 front squat sessions to every back squat session. Of course I use them less and less through the transition period, unless a weakness in my quads comes up. As far as size, my quads are always at their largest when I am really loading the volume up on front squats. Due to multiple injuries, I have lost the flexibility to use a proper front squat grip and use the cross arm method. I am fairly steady until I reach the mid 4's. At that point I get the dreaded droop. I have been looking at investing in a front squat harness. The one you posted really peaked my interest. What manufacturer is that?

I got it from EliteFTS and it's a Rhyno Power brand, I think it's called. Like $160.

I haven't tried anything heavy yet with it. For me around low 300's I can't keep the bar in position. Oly grip I lose my right hand grip and cross armed I'm too far forward and drop the bar after a couple reps. Straps just feels too unnatural.

I'm hoping to improve my back squat by using them. I'm a really weak squatter in relation to my deadlift and I'm trying to start to fix that in 2019.

 

[Strength and Power]

I got it from EliteFTS and it's a Rhyno Power brand, I think it's called. Like $160.

I haven't tried anything heavy yet with it. For me around low 300's I can't keep the bar in position. Oly grip I lose my right hand grip and cross armed I'm too far forward and drop the bar after a couple reps. Straps just feels too unnatural.

I'm hoping to improve my back squat by using them. I'm a really weak squatter in relation to my deadlift and I'm trying to start to fix that in 2019.

I tried using the strap method myself on multiple occasions, but I just couldnt get the hang of it. It always felt much less stable than the cross arm method. Hell, I havent done front squats for quite some time but still sport some unusual looking callus's on my collar bones. lol. Keep us posted on your progress brother.

 

[Eman]

Here is a decent video on front rack technique. I don't do a lot of front squats lately but this helped me with elbow position back when I was trying to improve them.



Might be a fun time to try and work on this... I have been kicking around the idea of trying to perform a pistol squat. I saw Martins Licis doing several in a row and made me want to try... (Martins is well over 300lbs).

 

[Endure]

IMO absolutely as are overhead squats. Both nail my core harder than typical back squats etc. I consider them a greater core builder.

 

[Been There Done That]

I tried using the strap method myself on multiple occasions, but I just couldnt get the hang of it. It always felt much less stable than the cross arm method. Hell, I havent done front squats for quite some time but still sport some unusual looking callus's on my collar bones. lol. Keep us posted on your progress brother.

Felt the same way with the strap. I was getting way more lateral movement than with the cross arm method, which has plateaued the weight I'm pushing

 

[Spokeonawheel]

but you’ll usually find movements you suck at bring great growth as you master them.

I will watch some vidoes and work on form. May try and widen stance a bit as last time my stance was far narrower than what i usually use for back squat.

Im not concerned with how easy something is or comfortable (barring the kind of discomfort that causes injury). I think ill look at my struggle with this exercise as a challenge and see where i can get with it.
I think enduring some hardship and embracing a struggle for growth is what i like about the gym anyway.

Thanks to all that replied.

 

[gr8whitetrukker]

Front squats are hard. Thats the reality. Requires alot of abdominal strength and is a knee dominant exercise. Unlike BS which can mask all these weaknesses with the larger glutes taking most the burden and that lean most squatters take to leverage the weight. Lean like that in a FS and your dumping it. Its far less forgiving and cant be leveraged as easily.

FS are taxing on muscles most never work. Along with that the lats and rear shoulders tend to tire in long winded sets. Resulting in poor form and too much front lean. FS are best used in the 3-5 rep range due to these reasons. Hell the whole reason i started FS was because my notorious lower back injuries. I found with a tight core and upright posture i took no lower back strain. Despite all my lower back struggles i can still muscle up 405 for reps asshole to the ground. I never did get a clean 495 but was pretty close. I like to focus on keeping the bar on my upper pecs and "getting underneath it" if that makes sense. So the bar stays in a path more along with the center of my groin if one was to draw an imaginary line. If its heavy itll pull you forward out of the desired path.

I like narrow width piston style light FS for hypertrophy purposes as well. Just load up a light 225 and pump em out as fast as possible while creating as much knee flexion as possible.

The problem im having with heavy FS these days is the extreme light headed feeling due to the strain of keeping abdominal pressure during the reps. Ive actually blacked out before. Kinda scary stuff

 

[Mayne]

Depending on your back squat, front squat would be either optimal to incorporate or nearly whatever really if you squat olympic (high bar upright angle narrow atg) they are very akin to each other in regard to quad involvement. If you squat low bar wide parallel and more diagonal than keeping an upright angle they are very different in regard to quad workload. I only squat olympic and do front squats also just because I enjoy it greatly and my numbers are <10% away in each. If you wanna master the front squat just watch material by olympic weightlifting champion A Torokhtiy (Oleksiy Torokhtiy) on youtube it will improve your understanding. A worthwhile investment is a pair of weightlifting shoes personally I like Nike Romaleos 2 more than any it is readily available in the USA at a great price right now after the new model is out but believe me 2 are the best by an enormous margin.

 

[Test_Subject]

I never go too heavy on front squats, but light 10 x 5s with 225 on the bar are money for quad development and core strength.

 

[TideGear]

Front squats are a great quad builder but if they’re a no-go there are substitutions. Nothing is an absolute, but you’ll usually find movements you suck at bring great growth as you master them.

Does your gym have a safety squat bar? If they do, flip that bitch around and I bet front squats become easier. Also consider changing your stance to allow your body to stay upright (for most people this means a wide-ish stance and dropping down in to the squat, not sitting back).

In the absence of front squats, hack squats and hex-bar deadlifts from a deficit can elicit the same effect.

I never thought to do those from a deficit. Sounds brutal and effective

 

[Mac11wildcat]

I never thought to do those from a deficit. Sounds brutal and effective

Even level they’re brutal if you don’t touch every rep. The deficit is just for more knee flexion. Guess it depends on your body ratios whether deficit is needed or not.

 

[TideGear]

Even level they’re brutal if you don’t touch every rep. The deficit is just for more knee flexion. Guess it depends on your body ratios whether deficit is needed or not.

I'm not close to 90 when I do them so I could definitely use some elevation, I could see it being crazy difficult

 

[Spokeonawheel]

Thanks for all the replies. Watched several suggested vids. Swallowed my pride and started just with the bar and finding where i seemed to be engaged and where the right posture and balance were. Loaded a very small amount of weight and just focussed on my quads and thinking with the muscle during the exercise.
Plan on increasing the weight week by week as long as i feel in control of the movement.
Ive been in and out of the gym since i was 19. And very dedicated the last 10. However, with something new I had to realize i cant always assume i know what im.doing.

 

[Mac11wildcat]

Thanks for all the replies. Watched several suggested vids. Swallowed my pride and started just with the bar and finding where i seemed to be engaged and where the right posture and balance were. Loaded a very small amount of weight and just focussed on my quads and thinking with the muscle during the exercise.
Plan on increasing the weight week by week as long as i feel in control of the movement.
Ive been in and out of the gym since i was 19. And very dedicated the last 10. However, with something new I had to realize i cant always assume i know what im.doing.

Awesome stuff.

Just one thing to keep in mind, NO MOVEMENT is worth injury or dysfunction. So if it goes sideways, ditch it. We’re not all made for every movement.