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Front Squat

intermediate · squat

Front Squat

Setup

Set the bar at chest height in the rack and put the safety pins at your standing hip height, a little below where the bar stops at the bottom of your squat; take one rep with an empty bar to be sure the pins actually catch it. Rest the bar in the groove between your front shoulders and collarbones, lift your elbows to shoulder height, and let your fingers support it lightly instead of gripping hard.

Execution

  1. Un-rack by standing straight up, take two steps back and set your feet shoulder-width apart.
  2. Lift your elbows high and keep them there, because a dropping elbow is what makes the bar roll off your shoulders.
  3. Inhale, brace your abs, then lower straight down with your torso noticeably more upright than in a back squat.
  4. Go until your hip crease is level with your knee or below, as long as your lower back stays flat.
  5. Exhale, push the floor away and drive your elbows up and forward so your chest does not drop.
  6. At the end of the set walk the bar back into the rack. If one rep fails, drop your elbows and let the bar roll off the front, away from your feet.

Breathing

Breathe in at the top, brace on that breath as you lower and exhale as you drive up. If you have high blood pressure, heart disease, a hernia or you are pregnant, do not hold your breath: exhale on the way up and use a lighter load.

Quick cues

  • Elbows up to shoulder height.
  • Stay tall through the torso.
  • Push your knees out.
  • Fingers support, do not grip hard.
  • Failed rep: dump it forward.

Common faults

  • Fault: The elbows dropping so the bar rolls toward the wrists

    Fix: Switch to a cross-arm hold or straps, and start every descent with one drive of the elbows upward.

  • Fault: The wrists bent back and sore from trying to grip the bar

    Fix: Open your hand so only two or three fingers sit under the bar, and stretch your wrists and triceps before the session.

  • Fault: The chest folding forward on the way up so it becomes a good-morning

    Fix: Lower the load and use 3-second paused squats to learn to hold the elbows high under load.

  • Fault: Not knowing what to do on a failed rep, so fighting to hold the bar

    Fix: Practice with an empty bar first: drop the elbows, push the hips back and let the bar slide off in front.

Equipment

barbell, squat_rack

Muscle groups

legs, core, glutes