Good question. No, I am not competing in any sport. I just like feeling strong, like that one day where I felt super explosive, there’s no better feeling than that. I also feel like there’s something really empowering about having some (relatively) heavy weight on your shoulders and being able to just squat it. It’s just a goal I’ve somehow set for myself and I’m gonna stay relentless in achieving it.
Also, I’m not anti back squat, but unfortunately my anatomy is built in a way where it becomes more of a glute dominant exercise than a quad one. I have longer femurs and a shorter torso. I want the quads to be the primary focus, and if that means doing a front squat instead of a back squat then so be it. I also find fronts to be a lot more enjoyable than backs for me (even tho I complain about how I feel weak at times).
But yeah aiming for part strength part hypertrophy, just progressive overload when possible like any other lift I program.
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Your most efficient back squat with short torso and long femurs is low back and rather wide stance. You don’t need to go near as wide as sumo. That is how I squatted.
If you get the form correct for your structure, all muscle groups involved in the squat fail at about the same time. It isn’t a quad only focus exercise. It is a total lower body stimulator.
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So I dont have an answer to fixing your front squat, because I just dont understand the purpose of the movement if its not explicitly required or you have no other alternatives.
I use the same justification for bailing on all other powerlifts: if it doesnt suit my direct goals (hypertrophy and aesthetics, for me), then its wasted effort.
Moreover, for me these movements are very demanding for recovery and gym time… time and recovery that would be much better spent recovering from movements that work towards my goals.
If you’re in need of a quad dominant movement, why select a movement that is as technically challenging as a front squat when you can ugga dugga leg press, hack squats, pendulum squats, bulgarian split squats, etc. ?
There’s no real technique required and no anatomy/leverage understanding to get these to target the muscle you want. For me and my hypertrophy goals - this makes all the sense in the world. Maybe it makes sense for your goals too?
If you want to put heavy weight on your back and lift it, back squats will always trump front squats.
However you still want a quad dominant compound exercise… so do one.
Just my opinions as someone who spent way too many years chasing PRs on lifts I no longer care about.
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Whats your height @ 140lbs
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Totally hear you and I’ve come pretty far your way as I’ve gotten older… but there was also a time where I just plain cared about the lifts. I remember really wanting a 500# deadlift after I got hurt just because I did. I don’t know if it was the smartest goal, but it did give me something I cared about chasing and got me back into the gym.
I guess I’m totally agreeing that your actions should match your goals, but I’ll add the caveat that I don’t think your goals themselves have to make sense to anyone else. If you just like the front squat (or even the one-legged BOSU offset Turkish Getup + Kettlebell Side Raise), more power. I don’t think you’re saying any differently; just throwing it out.
It does get silly when folks will say their goal is to lose fat, but also have a billion reasons their calorie counter is correct (despite the scale/ mirror disagreeing) or they can’t meal prep or whatever.
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Im a currently enslaved to my app im using for my current fat loss phase myself.
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That makes sense! I do plan to revisit back squats eventually. The reason I started doing front squats in the first place was because I’ve heard they translate well into having a good back squat form. And, well, I got kinda hooked on them. But that’s good to now, I guess I always thought that low bar = glutes and high bar = quads. Thanks!
This is still true. But both work both.
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I totally understand where you’re coming from. If my goal was pure hypertrophy/aesthetics, then yes I would avoid exercises that (1) require good technique (2) require you to engage more muscles than the ones you intend to be targeted…in this case, the front squat requires a lot of upper back and core strength, not only leg strength.
However, my goals are both strength/power/explosiveness AND hypertrophy; I value both free weights and machines. Which is why - in addition to doing front squats in the low rep range - I also incorporate leg press in the 6-12 rep range and leg extensions in the 8-15 rep range. I mean, I suppose you can have explosiveness/power in ANY exercise; it doesn’t have to be just front squats. I guess I just like using them for that purpose.
There’s a lot of information out there about what rep ranges build the most muscle, what exercises are best for hypertrophy, which are best for strength. One source might say that 3-6 reps are just as hypertrophy-stimulating as 8-15 reps; another source might say 12+ reps is pointless and too “fatiguing.” One source might say free weights like the front/back squat can build as much muscle as machines, another source might say machines are superior for this purpose. I just do both because I think they all serve a purpose.
Maybe I will reach a point where I get sick of front/back squats, maybe not. I appreciate your take on this, as it really gets you reflecting on what exactly your goals are and what you can do to achieve them as efficiently as possible!
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The core of all my leg training was back squats and two different foot placing on leg presses. My ultimate goal has always been competitive bodybuilding.
But I did go through a phase of powerlifting where I competed in powerlifting to build a more solid foundation to perfect a physique from. I also just loved competition. I soon found that max singles were a total waste of time. I did reps of 3 to 5 in the three powerlifts to improve strength. IMO, single maxes do very little to improve strength. All thigh assistance exercises I did for 10 reps.
To perform heavy back squats effectively you need to completely understand and perform bracing before descending into the squat. The heavier the weight, the more important the bracing. I am sure the same hold true with the front squat.
Until you have perfected the most efficient form, your 1 rep max will never be the maximum weight that you have the strength to do. When I started doing squats my form was so inefficient that it felt like three sequential movements doing the positive movement of the squat. Once I perfected the most efficient form, the squat felt like one continuous movement. The weight on the bar increased much more than 100lbs with about the same strength. My leg press strength stayed about the same.
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I agree that max singles are a waste of both time and effort. I’ll note that when I program front squats, I never aim for singles. Unfortunately, on this particular day I overestimated my strength and couldn’t get more than 1 rep on my last two sets. Believe me, I was trying my damnest to get more than 1.
That’s a good point regarding form. Like you hinted at, unless your bracing is on-point, then your squat max is not reflective of your actual strength.
Wait, what do you mean when you say “the weight on the bar increased much more than 100 lbs with about the same strength”?
I am decently strong on bulgarians, leg extensions, and leg press. Every machine is different and has different starting resistances, but I’d like to think that I’m okay on it…?
When I first tried powerlifting I was doing narrow stance back squats because I believed that they best targeted my quads for growth. But my long femurs and short torso made the move out of the hole was my hips rising. Followed by a Good Morning to get my shoulders up. And finally a lockout. My best meet squat was 490lbs (while I could meet deadlift 650lbs.)
[I built most of my hip and thigh strength doing leg presses.] I widened my squat stance and squat “back” a little more than just straight down. I was squatting once per week doing 5 sets of 5 reps to get stronger. Within a few months I reached what was my training load that I used going forward. I gradually warmed up to 495lbs where I did 2 sets of 10 reps with about 2 reps in reserve. My patella tendons were very tender. That is the reason for the slow warmups and less than 500lbs limit (I arbitrary chose 500lbs as my squat max believing that I would not rupture my patella tendons by not increasing the weight any further.)
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He’s saying he was able to improve his technique enough that he added 100+ lbs. just from finding the squat style that fit his body (rather than because he added new tissue or the oft-mentioned “CNS improvements”).
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This is precisely why i bailed on powerlifts.
Idgaf about my technique, i just want to look good naked and fuck shit up.
Technique is not required for either.
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That makes sense - thank you for the explanation. Last time I programmed back squats, I had the exact same experience of hips rising first, essentially turning into a good morning.
Got it, thanks for the clarification!
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Fair enough. I’m continuing to get frustrated with front squats, but I’m unfortunately stubborn and won’t let myself give it away that easily. After going through the comments, I’ve decided I’m going to do one “heavy” day in the 3-6 rep range and one “moderate” day in the 6-10 rep range. Maybe that will help instead of always going heavy.
I totally get the bailing on powerlifts, though. The temptation is strong for me.
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