Guys Im confused on the Front Squat technique. I heard your suppose to go up and down and stay upright on the front squat but if I were to execute that technique, I feel my knees would track too far forward. Arent you suppose to drop the hips back and remain on on your heels while staying upright because I tried that and at times make its difficult to stay upright. So how far do you drop your hips back on the front squat before you start to lean forward and make it a back squat.
Olympic shoes or some other means by which to raise your heels plus pushing your knees out will minimise the amount of knee travel past your toes.
If you’re going to hinge at your hips enough to prevent your knees from going forward, you may as well do a back squat.
Yeah I understand that. I wear chuck taylfor which are flats. Am I not suppose to drop my hips too far back and let my knees track more forward on the front squat because I have seen mix info on this
You posted this in the bodybuilding forum first, so I’ll answer with this in mind.
The objective of doing a front squat is to target your quads. If you end up executing it in a way that takes focus off your quads because of “optimal form”, you might as well do another exercise.
Just to piss dt79 off, try this one:
Yes, he does spend about 5mins talking about back squats, even in a video about front squatting.
[quote]dagill2 wrote:
Just to piss dt79 off, try this one:
Yes, he does spend about 5mins talking about back squats, even in a video about front squatting.[/quote]
Hey I like Rippetoe! He’s a funny guy.
Whoa! Rip has a Power and Bulk t-shirt?
I skimmed the video. Didn’t really pay much attention but regarding the bottom of the lift, it’s KNEES IN, THEN OUT because you need to initiate with the quads. This is not the same as “knees buckling”, which happens at the middle of the lift, which is where you need to spread the knees…
[quote]shiz wrote:
Yeah I understand that. I wear chuck taylfor which are flats. Am I not suppose to drop my hips too far back and let my knees track more forward on the front squat because I have seen mix info on this[/quote]
Old faithful: http://www.crossfitkinnick.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Screen-shot-2012-12-06-at-12.51.21-PM.png
There’s no way this hasn’t already been posted somewhere.
stick your hips as far back as you need to. Different people have different lever lengths so form on barbell exercises will vary from person to person. Don’t worry about it.
Staley advocates a ‘squat down between your legs’ approach, which has worked the best for me. Stance slightly wider than shoulder width, toes pointed slightly out, knees tracking over second toe (give or take, it’s not like you can measure this every rep to make sure it’s right where you want it, but I digress). Front squats are knee dominant, so break at the knees and allow them to spread out as much as your feet are pointed on the way down and back up - keeping them above your knees of course.
Had to demonstrate that for the wife for her to understand what I was saying, she was trying to push her knees out past her feet to either side. This helps keep you upright, which in turn helps keep your upper back upright on the way back up, especially when you start pushing heavier weights.
Never heard the ‘knees in, then out’ thing. Sounds painful.
[quote]boatguy wrote:
Staley advocates a ‘squat down between your legs’ approach, which has worked the best for me. Stance slightly wider than shoulder width, toes pointed slightly out, knees tracking over second toe (give or take, it’s not like you can measure this every rep to make sure it’s right where you want it, but I digress). Front squats are knee dominant, so break at the knees and allow them to spread out as much as your feet are pointed on the way down and back up - keeping them above your knees of course.
Had to demonstrate that for the wife for her to understand what I was saying, she was trying to push her knees out past her feet to either side. This helps keep you upright, which in turn helps keep your upper back upright on the way back up, especially when you start pushing heavier weights.
Never heard the ‘knees in, then out’ thing. Sounds painful.[/quote]
You don’t purposefully push your knees in. This happens naturally when you initiate with the quads.
Instead of worrying about where you knees and hips end up, focus on keeping your upper back tight, your abs braced and using your hips properly while keeping the weight loaded at midfoot - this should help align everything. If you sit back too much, you’ll find it difficult to keep the bar from dropping and it defeats the purpose of a front squat. If you sit forward too much, your hip flexors and/or hamstrings may not get enough work and it might irritate your knees. Everything should be doing something even if it’s a little bit.
[quote]dt79 wrote:
[quote]boatguy wrote:
Staley advocates a ‘squat down between your legs’ approach, which has worked the best for me. Stance slightly wider than shoulder width, toes pointed slightly out, knees tracking over second toe (give or take, it’s not like you can measure this every rep to make sure it’s right where you want it, but I digress). Front squats are knee dominant, so break at the knees and allow them to spread out as much as your feet are pointed on the way down and back up - keeping them above your knees of course.
Had to demonstrate that for the wife for her to understand what I was saying, she was trying to push her knees out past her feet to either side. This helps keep you upright, which in turn helps keep your upper back upright on the way back up, especially when you start pushing heavier weights.
Never heard the ‘knees in, then out’ thing. Sounds painful.[/quote]
You don’t purposefully push your knees in. This happens naturally when you initiate with the quads. [/quote]
Huh?
[quote]shiz wrote:
Guys Im confused on the Front Squat technique. I heard your suppose to go up and down and stay upright on the front squat but if I were to execute that technique, I feel my knees would track too far forward. Arent you suppose to drop the hips back and remain on on your heels while staying upright because I tried that and at times make its difficult to stay upright. So how far do you drop your hips back on the front squat before you start to lean forward and make it a back squat.[/quote]
How far is too far foward? And what is wrong with forward knee tracking?
Also, keep in mind you’re asking impossible questions. Without knowing your structure and precise measurements of your femurs, arms, torso, curvature of your spine, etc. etc. (or just a video lol) we can’t tell you what your optimal front squat will look like.
[quote]jskrabac wrote:
[quote]dt79 wrote:
[quote]boatguy wrote:
Staley advocates a ‘squat down between your legs’ approach, which has worked the best for me. Stance slightly wider than shoulder width, toes pointed slightly out, knees tracking over second toe (give or take, it’s not like you can measure this every rep to make sure it’s right where you want it, but I digress). Front squats are knee dominant, so break at the knees and allow them to spread out as much as your feet are pointed on the way down and back up - keeping them above your knees of course.
Had to demonstrate that for the wife for her to understand what I was saying, she was trying to push her knees out past her feet to either side. This helps keep you upright, which in turn helps keep your upper back upright on the way back up, especially when you start pushing heavier weights.
Never heard the ‘knees in, then out’ thing. Sounds painful.[/quote]
You don’t purposefully push your knees in. This happens naturally when you initiate with the quads. [/quote]
Huh? [/quote]
watch how the lifter pushes himself out of the hole. There is some debate on if this is the safest way to squat but a lot of lifters find they have a lot easier time getting out of the bottom like this.