Take a look at weightlifters, who are doing front squats in every clean and jerk that they do, and you will have your answer.
In addition, while most weightlifters will work in back squats as an assistance exercise, front squats are a staple of every program.
Sorry, with all respect to Mr. Carter, the notion that front squats are a bad choice for quad mass is one of the crazier things I’ve heard. In fact, they’re probably the best choice if quad mass is your priority.
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This guy too. Bulgarian weightlifter Ivan Stoitsov.
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Lol, his knees look like tourniquets.
Squatting and targeting the quads is highly linked to biomechanics.
The guy on the left will say that the squat is very good for quads (torso more upright) while his friend on the right will recruit way more posterior chain.
So, if you are the guy you should maybe add a wedge under your feet to allow the knees to go further.
Last one, front squat position, more quad dominant than the back squat (easy to see why…). Maybe you’ll use less weight on your bar but it will be use more by your quads than your glutes, hamstrings, etc.
There is a lot of information in the Delavier and Gundill’s books about bio mechanics.
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To be honest I kiiiiinda get where PC’s coming from. He doesn’t want the limiting factor in the squat to be anything except for quads (target tissue), and thus because front squats are limited a lot by the rack position and upper back, they may not be the 100% most optimal.
Does that matter for 99.99% of people though? Absolutely not, especially considering front squats allow people to load into a deeper knee bend, with less hip bend (as many have pointed out).
Besides, if you continue to extend PCs point you would essentially arrive at the conclusion that the leg extension is the absolute king of quad hypertrophy exercises, which I know he doesn’t believe to be true either.
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It feels like he’s an angry toddler when on social media a lot of the times. He’s put out some great stuff but his attitude is odd. I don’t follow him anymore.
I’m on team Stu (this is meant as a joke btw).
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I can understand how bodybuilders can get big quads off machine work alone, but the results from these big front squatters are undisputed.
Personally, I opt for SSB
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The logarithm is strong here. I saw that very same piece on facebook about 90 seconds after my last post. I didn’t read it. I did however fall into a youtube rabbit hole and ended up watching some light weight (under 105) strong man training. And those guys have huge quads. And 90% of them seem to treat the front squat with a lot of respect. And back squat as accessory at best. Personally I give credit for systemic growth and mind muscle connection.
If you do a load of front squats and you fell it in your quads - then you’ll get big quads.
If you do a load of front squats and DON’T feel it in your quads, you might be doing them wrong.
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I remember that debacle. He got annoyed because Stu pointed out most top natty BBers, including himself, are high-volume lifters in the low-volume thread PC had going.
I erased my previous comment here because although I didn’t intend to bash PC, I said his attitude has grown tiresome, and I don’t want to come across as bashing people. But now that I think of it, pointing out his glaring compulsion to insult people isn’t bashing. I believe Someone who insults and lashes out at people that much might have a personality disorder and/or is driven by shortcomings, frustration and/or failures.
Anyway, all quad exercises are good. Same goes for all other body parts. What matters is if it’s fitting for ones situations. In fact, some people had success with quad growth from from front squats after not getting desired results from back squats. If I recall correctly even that was the case for Dan Green.
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This was kind of my point. I just see a ton of insecurity here - which is the case anywhere someone’s way has to be the only way.
I think the “this is how you do it” attitude in lifting tends to come from folks that don’t have diverse athletic backgrounds; you get a little more stuck in your own world in the gym because you’re competing against you (as most of us should). As an example - let’s compare Drew Brees and Peyton Manning: two obvious Hall of Famers with entirely different throwing mechanics. If there isn’t “the way” to perform the primary action at the highest paid position in pro sports, why would there be with picking up metal?
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Look at this post, and the comments…
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CJkFwqahBx5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
I looked, but I have to admit I don’t know what I’m looking for. I just see a bunch of “praise this” emojis
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The more I think about it I question if he is truly like that in real life… or if it is some on line persona he adopted at times.
If he is in real life… I would have to agree with your assessment.
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With all respect to Mr Carter (big fan of his), my personal experience in olympic lifting does not congrue with his theory.
First, I believe that the upright position and weight distribution of the front squat actually leads to a greater range of motion hence knee flexion compared to the back squat and even greater compared to the low bar squat. I even know trainees that claim they feel the hips sore after front squatting while they don’t feel them working during the back squat. How would be that possible according to the mechanics? The answer would be due to the greater range of motion.
Now the front squat is a staple in olympic weightlifting training, because apparently it has greater carry over to the clean and jerk. I have competed in crossfit and olympic weightlifting and once I incorporated front squats I saw quite a difernce in my quad development even though I had been training heavy (and often) back squats for many years. It even feels different on the quads after a heavy set.
I have also trained with athletes of the Greek national weightlifting team and I dare to say that even though their whole legs are extremely well developed, their quads are slightly more developed compared to their posterior.
One drawback bodybuilding wise is that it might not be the smartest option since the front load makes breathing difficult and higher rep sets often required in hypertrophy are quite unconvenient compared to the back squat. Most oly lifters rarely train more than 3-4 reps.
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In the world of Mark, front squats don’t help squats but squats will make you a faster distance runner than running will… Go figure.
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Exactly my thoughts from reading through that Instagram thread. My money is on petulant borderline personality.
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A few posts down from this post he says during your row/pulldown to stop your elbow when it reaches your body to target the lats.
I tried this today and it is gold. Don’t know if it will make lats bigger yet but I definitely feel it better.
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Personally I think each person is different from the next and each individual would need to spend a few months specializing in the front squat while adhering to the weight used, the sets and reps properly.
Keith10.
“Personally I think each person is different from the next and each individual would need to spend a few months specializing in the front squat while adhering to the weight used, the sets and reps properly”
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