Front squat problems (again)

Training
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Fellow long-femur, short-toso lifter here. I gave up back squats almost a decade ago now and have never looked back. I’ve been non-back squatting for years. A few ideas to consider to break up the monotony.

  1. One day front squats, one day zercher squats. Zerchers are a whole different level of hell that will really build up stability through your t-spine to better support front squats.
  2. Vary reps way more over the week. Seems like you’re just doing 5x5 every workout, which will get stale fast. 5x5 one day is fine, but maybe do the other day as 10x3 w/ speed focus, or something like 2x15 to build up endurance. Just mix it up.
  3. Vary tempo. I’ve found front squat technique can improve dramatically from dedicating one day to tempo work. I particularly like slow negatives, pause at the bottom, or if I’m feeling particularly masochistic slow negative + slow concentric. These are insanely humbling.
  4. Power cleans or box jumps BEFORE front squats. Great primer for the anterior loaded pattern in general.
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Thank you for these tips! I did try Zercher squats once, and yes, they were TORTURE. I’ll have to try those too.

I agree with varying the reps. Last week I did a 4x8 for front squats, and today I did 7x2. I was hoping to get 3-4 reps, but I also felt like I needed to get myself comfortable with the heavier weight and nail down my technique before attempting more reps.

On the varying tempo…have you ever done dead stop front squats? I programmed them a bit back for about 2 weeks, and they definitely helped me with getting out of the hole.

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OKAY, coming back to this real quick. Last week, I experimented with a lower weight and higher rep range (7-8 reps) to get myself re-accustomed to…idk, like a higher rep range I guess. I feel like the weeks before, I kept failing at that heavier weight I wanted to achieve, and I was getting super angry with myself, and I just needed to break it up - as people have suggested in the comments. Today, I went back to that heavy weight. I wanted to get 3-4 reps, but I also felt like I needed to perfect my technique at this weight before attempting more reps. So, this may have been a stupid idea, and it might have been a waste of energy, but I did a 7x2 scheme. I felt like I had a lot more control over the weight, and I also was able to get good depth. I also felt like I was able to engage my core and quads a lot more. My leg press kinda took more of a toll after that, which I am frustrated about. (I swear to god I can never do good on both - if I’m bad on front squats, I’m good on leg press. If I’m good on front squats, I’m bad on leg press).

I’m not a fan of doing only 2 reps - I feel like I’m not working hard enough (?). But now that I have a better feel for the weight and feel slightly more confident with it, I’m hoping that next week I’ll be able to get those 3 reps.

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That stands to reason since it’s all the same muscles, fuel source, etc. I’d probably lean into that - on days you want to push the front squat, just get some volume on the leg press without stressing too much.

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If you’re doing Heavy/ Light on the front squats, do way fewer total reps on “heavy” day. Like work up to 1 or maybe 2 heavy sets of front squat. Then do a bunch of leg press to make up the volume.

And on “light” front squat day, do the bunch of sets and high volume front squating you’re accustomed to. After that, do just a few sets on leg press so you don’t kill yourself.

That way you’ll still get the Volume and the Heavy Weights each week, and you’ll recover better workout to workout.

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I’m going to sound like a broken record.

The stress of missing a lift makes me hate lifting and feel like I’m regressing when I’m not.
It sounds like the issues you’re having are more technique related than strength related… but with enough strength, technique is kind of irrelevant.

Have you considered dropping the lift and going for a hypertrophy/power block for a few month then coming back to the lift with bigger muscles?

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That’s a good idea- thanks!

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Gotcha, thank you!

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I completely get that. I feel like shit when I can’t get my lift the way I want to…hence my original post. But in hindsight, I also think that that’s what makes the “successes” even better - you kept failing, but you finally got it. I finally got 3 reps on all my sets, and I’m feeling a lot more comfortable with that heavier weight. I say that now, but I’m bound to struggle again.

I agree that with enough strength, technique doesn’t matter as much. And that my problems with the front squat have absolutely been related to technique rather than strength.

I have considered dropping front squats multiple times…until I truly reach a point where I’m at the same exact weight and same exact reps for an entire month, I’m going to stick with it.

I will say that my leg press has been taking a toll over the past month…granted I’m doing leg press in the same session as front squats, but I’ve been doing it that way for over 8 months and it has never plateaued/regressed to this extent before. I’m considering replacing leg press with hack squat, and the purpose of it would be the same (to get higher rep ranges and more stability compared to front squat, less of a “technique” focus). I feel that doing both hack squat and front squat might be redundant in a single session, but hopefully the higher rep range and greater stability that comes with the hack squat will be enough to get a different kind of muscle activation, like the leg press.

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Do you have access to a dragging sled?

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Yes, I do!

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I would consider dragging that backwards as a form of additional quad muscle training. It’s lack of eccentric will make it easy to recover from and allow you to accumulate a significant amount of training volume. It also will have less psychological impact compared to missing training lifts.

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Pkay so I recommend something different than most would. You need to train to grind, so I would have a day where DE is 5x5.

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Good idea - thanks! They’ve always looked kinda fun

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I’m sorry, what is DE?

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Its what we call dynamic effort. We work explosive work on a separate day.

I would say waves of 5x5 with band tension = 75/80/85 will jelp if your gpp can handle it

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My 2 cents and a bit different from other suggestions: front squat more if you want front squat more. I’m not being sarcastic. This may be "apple vs orange " but maybe it will help.

I reached my best front squat of 355 lbs (just over 161 kg) in the 165 lbs (also my best clean and jerk) and was also at my strongest while competing in Olympic lifting.

Not great lifts by many measures but I got there employing what most would call the Bulgarian method made famous/infamous by the Bulgarian weightlifting team.

I guess I was kind of doing that. Just autoregulation with focused work.

In this case, I was front/back squatting, clean and jerking/snatching almost exclusively 5-7 days/week.

I started practicing the front squat more, ratio-wise, over back squat. Probably 75/25. I have decent torso/leg ratio for upright squatting however: I’m built like a Sasquatch. All femur, short lower leg.

Essentially, it was a go-by-feel approach. I could work up to a heavy single, double, or triple. If I felt froggy, maybe I’d do 2-3 top end sets. Or not. But I never programmed, considered set numbers, etc.

And sometimes, I’d go for broke and maybe have to bail. Great if you have bumpers otherwise…

Not saying do that but THAT was what got me over the “fear” of that PR weight. Just going for it but I knew I could bail if things went bad.

But overall, when I looked back, a lot of my lifting was in that Goldilock zone of 75-85% of 1RM with decent volume. And most of the time, NOT grinding out every lift.

When I transitioned to powerlifting, I took the same approach and I did my best in that sport.

I really second the replies suggesting staying at the same weight longer than expected. “Own the weight” before moving up.

Great topic.

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Stretching the muscles you are about to use loses power. Stretching is good for dynamic movements, that is why athletes use them. For lifting, you want to stretch your muscles on days you don’t do that lift. The stretching will counteract the natural muscle binding that gives you the flex at the bottom

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Im also gonna jump in (late), and piggyback off of some of the things mentioned. If you’re prone to being a numbers/strength chaser, you HAVE to let your CNS catch up. Deloads look different for some, but around that 3-5 week mark, its best you not move anything even remotely heavy for some days or even a week.

Id also suggest reigning in how many reps you do for the work up. I think someone else also mentioned that so im saying x2. If its not a working set, dont give too much effort to it.

Im not sure if you’re a lady, but I assume you are, id also sync your training up with your menstrual cycle if you still have them. For some ladies the week before blood flow can be downright awful, and some can experience higher risks of injury.

Lastly, for me personally, what helped the front squat was actually higher rep backseat. Go figure lol. Also some good mornings, and reverse hypers.

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Got it thank you!