The Front Squat
Much like the Back Squat has ‘High Bar’ and a ‘Low Bar’ there are also a few ways to perform a Front Squat… Zombie, Cross Armed, SSB, Front Rack with Straps, or the regular old Front Rack.
Obviously I’m not going to cover them all and instead, because this is linked to my Weightlifting Technique Series, I’ll be focussing on what most people think of as a Front Squat and concentrate on the (in my own words) ‘regular old front rack’ variant.
For the record, while its a staple in most Olympic Weightlifters training arsenal, I don’t feel like its utilised enough by Strongmen where it can help with Stones, Log, Sandbags and general leg strength as well as all of the benefits that come with anteriorly loading a barbell.
The Deep Squat
This next bit is exactly the same as the Overhead Squat article, except I’ve changed ‘Snatch’ for ‘Clean’. I’ve not even changed the picture!
It’s all pretty universal and finding the stance for a deep squat specific to you doesn’t change based on the version of the squat you’re performing.
So yea, onto ‘finding your stance’. If you’ve already read it for the Overhead Squat, either skip it, or use it to jog your memory.
Finding Your Stance
There are lots of ways coaches use to find what stance you should squat in. Much like finding your grip in the Snatch, a lot of coaches overcomplicate it. Some have you jump up, or broad jump using where your feet land as a starting point for your Squat. Dan John takes it a step further and has you do 3 jumps with the 3rd being your stance for that day, or at least thats what he said in a recent video.
Ultimately, whatever method you use it has to facilitate finding a squatting stance that will let you hit maximal depth rather than maximal weight due to the nature of the Clean and Olympic Lifting in general.
Personally, I’m not keen on overcomplicating it and like the Greg Everetts method the best. Quite simply, sit down into the deepest ‘Resting Squat’ that you can. If you’re unsure, a resting squat is a squat where your knees are completely bent and your upper body is relaxed. So don’t worry about some rounding in the back for the time being.
From there, have a wiggle around. While keeping the knees in alignment with the foot, find the foot position where your hips feel loosest. It will most likely be a more narrow stance than you originally think if this is your first time doing it.
From there stand up, then perform a bodyweight squat maintaining tightness through the whole range of motion. You won’t get as deep as you did in the resting squat, but you won’t be far off. Once thats completed, you now know your baseline in terms of squatting stance when it comes to maximal depth.
The Rack Position
The front rack is the position you take with the barbell resting on top of the anterior delts and chest with the elbows high and pushed out.
There’s two ways to get into position… Either you can Clean it, which we’ll not cover here because this article is about the Squat rather than the Clean (I’ll be covering the clean later down the line) or you can take it out the rack, which is what we’ll cover as a step by step.
Set the rack to the right height. You shouldn’t have to get on your toes to unrack and rerack it. Its pretty obvious to seasoned athletes, but a lot of beginners do this so thought I’d mention it.
Take a grip just outside of the shoulder width, your hands shouldn’t be pinned to your shoulders. If you’re an olympic lifter match your Front Squat grip to your Clean.
Next you want to pull yourself under the bar while pushing the elbows up and out and pushing your chest to the ceiling, this should create a ‘shelf’ for the bar and from there you’re ready to unrack it and Squat.
A picture of a version of the butchers block… done in my own home.
Do it like this, prone, while bracing the core or with thoracic extension on a stool or block, without a stick, or with a stick to push the shoulders into external.
Mobility
Upper body mobility is what people usually struggle with in terms of the Front Squat and specifically the front rack position with the limiting factors being anything from Thoracic mobility through to the mobility of your Lats, Rear Delts, or even the Triceps.
I’m not going to prescribe anything to fix any of these specifically as everyone needs different things, but its good to be aware of what might be limiting you.
As a general rule the ‘Butchers Block’ with a little PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation) in both thoracic extension and with an active brace of the core is a pretty good place to start and mobility exercise to look to progress as a broad ‘treat all’ type of cure for a tight front rack position.
Theres loads of variants which I’ve described in the picture to the right. Just pick the one that suits you the best. The only real hard and fast rules are that:
If you have a stiff thoracic spine, then do it in thoracic extension.
And if you have stiff lats, rear delts or triceps, then do it while bracing the core.
Allowing the hands to open
In an ideal world you’d have the mobility and proportions to keep hold of the bar in the rack with a full grip, and you’ll often see complete beginners attempting to do this. Unfortunately the world and the human body, while being incredible, is often flawed in some way when it comes to the barbell, which is why theres ‘textbook technique’ and individual variants that go along with it.
Basically, just allow the hands to open up a little until you acquire the positions and ability to keep a full grip, as attempting to without the mobility necessary can lead to elbow and wrist issues.
If you really struggle allow it to slip onto the finger tips and focus on acquiring the mobility needed to improve the rack position over time.
The (Front) Squat - Balance
Firstly, just so its covered now, balance is important in any squat and the rule is that the bar needs to be inline with and stay directly over the midfoot.
If you’re unsure about where the midfoot is and want something more specific, its the area of the foot thats just in front of the ankle as shown in the diagram.
The Descent
So, you know your stance and now you know how to set the front rack correctly, or at least start working towards it. From here, much like in the Overhead Squat article, all you’re doing is ‘sitting down.’
I’ll elaborate, but much of the cues from here are the same as the Overhead Squat, with the only real difference being the obvious change of the bar position…
Take a bracing breath then hinge at the hip slightly to initiate the movement. From there I like use one of two different cues and I just pick the one that works the best for that lifter.
Either ‘sit down onto the heels’ or ‘squat into the shins.’
For me, while you can train different physical qualities dependant on the squat variant, a squat is still a squat at the end of the day and as long as the thoracic spine and lower portion of your body has the required mobility and movement patterning, everything to do with the upper body is just details and usually pretty quick to pick up.
The Bottom Position
The bottom position of a front squat when talking about the Clean will be when the knee joint is completely closed and will look a lot like a high bar back squat with a slightly more upright torso.
Your knees WILL travel over your toes!
I say that because I had that question the other day from someone who was struggling to Squat deep, so it seems the misconception of the knees going over the toes being a bad thing is still flying around. Personally I thought it had gone.
The Ascent
Once you’re at full depth, stand back up making sure the chest and hips rise at the same time maintaining the angle of the torso. A lot of coaches cue ‘elbow up’ at this point and it can be a decent cue, but I prefer ‘lead with the chest’ as I find it helps maintain posture out the hole a lot better.
If it helps, I like to get my athletes to imagine that there is a thread attached to their upper chest with a giant pulling them straight up by it.
Cueing & Fixes
So, cueing is important as along with mindful practice. Its what fixes technique problems. Its also vast and varied from coach to coach, so I’ll cover the main things I see and the main cues I give.
If you tip forward on the way out the hole make sure you’re keeping your head up and eyes fixated on something just higher than straight ahead. If the head drops, so does the chest and the bar will follow.
If you still tip forward on the way out the hole imagine that giant with a thread I spoke about earlier.
If you tip forward and you’re doing both of those then your balance could be out, so press your big toe into the ground, as it could be because of an inactive foot causing balance issues. Also read up about the ‘Tripod Foot’ at Squat University if you want to know more.
If your upper back rounds think about pushing the elbows out as well as up. If the elbows collapse inwards, the upper back will round and lose position.
If you struggle with Mobility do pauses in your bottom position as well as the butchers block described earlier to supplement your Front Squat work. Mobility to do a movement is the culmination of specific and mindful practice of the movement along with targeted mobility work. Its not a case of one or the other.
Summary
To finish I’ll do a quick step by step summary just like on the Overhead Squat article to try and help bring it all together.
Adjust the Rack to the right height.
Take your Front Squat grip and push your elbows through and up while pushing your chest to the ceiling to create your ‘shelf.’
Take a bracing breath, pick a spot in front and just above you to focus on and unrack the bar.
Once stable, take another bracing breath start to squat down either aiming to sit down onto the heels, or by squatting into the shins.
Remain balanced through the whole movement by keeping the bar over the the midfoot.
Coming out of the hole, the hips and chest should rise at the same time and torso angle should be maintained until fully stood up.
And thats about it!
I’ll start writing about the Clean next, so keep your eyes peeled.
Adam Johnston, 17th August 2020