How to do a front squat
- Set the bar in the rack at about shoulder height, and the safety arms just below the depth you will squat to.
- Step close and rest the bar on the front of your shoulders, against your throat but not pressing on it.
- Choose your grip: a clean grip (fingertips under the bar just outside your shoulders, elbows pointing forward) or a crossed-arm grip (arms crossed, hands holding the bar on top of the opposite shoulder).
- Lift your elbows until your upper arms are about parallel to the floor. The bar sits on your shoulders, not in your hands.
- Stand up to lift it off the hooks, step back, and set your feet about shoulder width apart, toes turned out slightly.
- Breathe in, brace, and sit straight down between your heels, keeping your elbows high and your torso upright.
- Go as deep as you can while holding that position, then drive up, leading with your elbows.
Cues that help
- "Elbows up": the most important cue. If your elbows drop, your upper back rounds and the bar rolls forward.
- "Lead with your elbows out of the bottom": pushing them up as you rise keeps your chest up.
- "Sit between your heels": the upright torso lets you sit straight down rather than back.
- "Bar on your shoulders, not your hands": relaxed fingers are fine. The shoulders carry the load.
Common mistakes
- Elbows dropping as you come up. The bar pulls you forward and the rep turns into a fight. Lower the weight and think "elbows up" every rep.
- Holding the bar in your hands. It strains your wrists. Let the bar rest on your shoulders, fingertips just steadying it.
- Heels lifting. The front squat needs good ankle mobility. Lifting shoes or small plates under your heels help.
- Squatting without the safety arms set. If you lose the front rack, the safest way out is to push the bar forward off your shoulders and let it fall onto the safeties while you step back.
- Going deeper than your upright position allows. Depth that costs you the elbows-up position is not worth it.
Front squat or back squat?
The front squat keeps your torso more upright and puts more of the work on your quads; the back squat lets you lift more and shares the work more evenly with your glutes and hamstrings.
A study of 15 trained people compared the two. The front squat was as effective as the back squat for overall muscle recruitment, while producing significantly lower compressive forces on the knee and lower knee extensor moments (Gullett et al., 2009). The authors suggest it may suit people with knee problems such as meniscus tears.
You will lift less in the front squat than in the back squat. That is normal and does not make it the lesser exercise.
Sets, reps and weight
- For strength: 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 6 reps, resting 3 to 4 minutes.
- For muscle: 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 10 reps, resting 2 to 3 minutes. Above about 10 reps, holding the bar in position usually gives out before your legs.
- Leave 1 to 3 reps in reserve: your elbows are the first thing to drop when you are close to failure.
- Add weight when you hit the top of your rep range on every set, usually in steps of 2.5kg.
Variations and alternatives
- Back squat: the bar on your upper back. More weight, a little more glutes and hamstrings.
- Goblet squat: a dumbbell or kettlebell held at your chest. The same upright position with no bar to balance.
- Zercher squat: the bar held in the crook of your elbows. Hard on the arms, very demanding on the upper back and core.
- Safety bar squat: a padded bar with handles in front. A similar upright torso without the front rack.
- Leg press or hack squat: trains the quads with no balance or bar position to hold.
Tracking your front squat
PushBeyond logs each set's weight and reps, estimates your one-rep max from your best set with the Epley formula, and charts the history of the lift. Its muscle map counts the front squat for your quads, with glutes and core as secondary muscles.