For many males with limited gym experience, the standard version of the traditional lower body workout is the barbell back squat. As you go through reps, you may add a lot of weight to the bar and develop your large leg muscles. For a barbell front squat, however, switch up the load to the other side of your body and you’ll have an opportunity to strengthen your legs and engage your core.
The exercise gains even more technical components when you move the barbell to your front side. To maintain proper posture, you’ll need to learn how to brace your abdominal muscles in addition to learning how to hold the implement in place. Result: An advanced squat variation that challenges the anterior chain. This implies that you will need to focus especially on your form.
By guiding you through the intricacies of the exercise, Fit Bulk Fitness may help you avoid the negative habits preventing you from reaching your full fitness potential.
How to Do the Front Squat
Underneath the racked barbell, take a position with a bodybuilder or clean grip. In either case, your shoulders, not your collarbone or neck, should support the bar.
Exert the bar from the rack while contracting your core. Place your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and tip your toes outward while standing. Depending on your anatomy and range of motion, this will change, so discover the posture that feels best for you.
Inhale deeply and contract your core. This is even more crucial than it is for the back squat because with the heavy bar it will be difficult to keep your posture if you lose it. To maintain a neutral posture in your neck, look straight ahead.
Lower yourself into a squat by pushing your butt back until your thighs are parallel to the floor or even lower depending on your range of motion.
Squeeze your glutes and drive your feet through the floor to power back up.
Pay attention to these extra indications from Samuel to improve the form of your front squat:
Get A Grip… or Two
Fitbulk states: You’ll hear a lot about how one grip is “better” or “safer” for you than the other, depending on who you train with. Purchase none of it. Locate and apply a grip that suits your needs. Although the front squat works your entire body, you must be comfortable with how you’re holding the bar in order to receive the most benefit from it.
You’ll bounce at the bottom or accelerate your reps more than usual if you’re trying someone else’s grip and are overly focused on your upper-body placement. Practice using both grips to the best of your ability because you never know when you’ll need them. You may always end up needing to employ the bodybuilder grip for a few weeks due to a wrist injury.
Learn to Embrace Your Uncomfortable Situation
According to Fitlbulk, the bar will approach your neck, as it should, as that’s when it will rest on the fleshy area of your shoulders. It will feel less scary if it’s too far in front of you, but it will also put greater strain on your anterior delts—strain that those little muscles aren’t designed to bear. It will also be more difficult to relax.
Your fingers should be the only thing keeping the bar from striking your neck. This is also the reason that, regardless of the grip you’re using, it’s imperative to always have them wrapped around the bar.
Maintain Live Back Muscles
Says Fitbulk: Every single one. It’s crucial that you have some tension in your upper mid-back since it will support the safe positioning of your shoulders. The barbell rests on the muscle mass of your shoulder rather than the bone because you want to maintain some tension in that joint. Additionally, that tightness in your mid-back will prevent you from rounding forward at the bottom of the squat, which is a common mistake and an excuse to drop the barbell.
Maintaining the contraction of your lower back extensors can also help you avoid rounding out your lower back, which can cause problems down the road or necessitate dropping the rep.
Consider This
Fitbulk advises: Struggle to maintain an elevated chest and shoulders during the front squat. You’re sure to lose the rep if one of them starts to falter. Consider intentionally maintaining these body parts high; when you workout hard, in particular, they will naturally begin to descend.
Squeeze your lower back and midback muscles more firmly when that occurs, as they are the muscles that give out and cause your torso to collapse. During each rep, try to mentally check in with your body three times: at the very top, right at the bottom, and right as you start to power up from the hole.
Advantages of Front Squat
Compared to other squat variants, the front squat engages the core more. It could help you learn the appropriate form for squats if you’re a newbie. Because of the load’s position, you must brace yourself and contract your low back and core extensors.
If your goal is aesthetics, it can also be the squat version worth doing because of its emphasis on the anterior. With the correct program, you may use this exercise to increase strength and muscle much like other heavy compound motions.
Exercised Muscles in the Front Squat
The quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes—the major muscles of your legs—are what propel the front squat. As you brace to keep the weight from tipping forward, the load placement places extra strain on the anterior (front) side of the body, specifically the quads and abdominal muscles. To maintain the bar steady against the front of the body, some upper back activation is also required.
How to Include the Front Squat in Your Exercise Routine
The front squat is a powerful compound exercise that allows you to add a lot of weight to it. Because of this, you should aim to tackle the front squat with fresh legs by making it one of your first exercises during a leg day or full-body workout. Try to do three sets of eight to ten repetitions, but just once or twice a week.
Variations of the Front Squat
Goblet Squat
If you want to try the front squat workout but don’t have access to a barbell rack, or if you’re just starting out and need to work your way up to a barbell,The goblet squat is an excellent substitute. For this workout, you can use a dumbbell or kettlebell.
Method:
Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell at chest height in close proximity to your body. Similar to a barbell front squat, the very act of carrying weight in this exercise forces you to keep your torso upright.
Bend at the hips and knees and squat down to a depth that is either below or parallel to the floor depending on your range of motion.
Press off the ground and tense your glutes to stand back up and extend your hips.
Reps and Sets: 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 8 repetitions
As a seasoned content writer specialized in the fitness and health niche, Arun Bhagat has always wanted to promote wellness. After gaining proper certification as a gym trainer with in-depth knowledge of virtually all the information related to it, he exercised his flair for writing interesting, informative content to advise readers on their healthier lifestyle. His topics range from workout routines, nutrition, and mental health to strategies on how to be more fit in general. His writing is informative but inspiring for people to achieve their wellness goals as well. Arun is committed to equipping those he reaches with the insights and knowledge gained through fitness.