Front Squats Instead of Back Squats for Track and Field?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Christian Thibaudeau Coaching
1

I’ve been kicking around the idea of using front squats in my routine instead of back squats, and was hoping for some feedback. I train for general fitness, explosive strength, and with an emphasis on track and field (100 meters primarily). I generally don’t go into higher reps, and found I progress best doing singles, triples, and occasionally up to 5 rep sets on accessory work. I’m 39, 5’ 10", during sprinting season I end up around a shredded 191-195 lbs. I’ve noticed my posterior chain wears down towards the end of the season, which is one reason for this question.

The other reason is that back squats have always been a bit of a sticking point for me. No matter where I position the bar, or how I point my feet, or how my stance is, the movement has never felt quite ‘natural’. I can deadlift well over 500 lbs, and lifts that are biomechanically similar to back squatting (hex-deads for instance) I can pull close to 600. However on back squats I can never get past the very low 400s. It just doesn’t feel ‘right’, like I’m moving in a way that my body shouldn’t be. I don’t have the same issue with front squats. I have also come to realize that with the amount of sprinting work I do it may make more sense to focus more on front squatting…here’s my current routine:

  • Monday: Cardio ( 3 miles, 7 mph, ~25:43)
  • Tuedsay: Sprinting (lighter volume, focus on 50 meters, explosive starts)
  • Wednesday: Upper Body (focused on flat benching, rows, pullups/chinups, overhead pressing)
  • Thursday: Lower Body (back squats, lunges, snatch-grip romanian deads, some heavy carry variant, couple sets of direct core work)
  • Friday: Cardio ( 3 miles, 7 mph, ~25:43)
  • Saturday: Sprinting (heavier volume, 100s (or 110s), high effort, go max effort every few weeks to check time)
  • Sunday: Full Body (focused on Hanging Power-Snatches, Deadlift, incline benching, a couple sets of front squatting, maybe pullup/chinup variant, some heavy carry variant, couple sets of direct core work)

What I was thinking was taking front squats off of my full body day and moving them to the lower body day. I would be doing several sets more of them than I am now. It would also lighten the volume on my full body day by a bit too. Another bonus would be that it could give my posterior chain a bit of a break, seeing as I’m hammering it 3 other days during the week.

Any thoughts? I’m not sure if there’s a downside here, unless I’m completely missing something.

2

What I would recommend is doing a combination of two squats (on different days).

  1. Front squats, done with a full range of motion

  2. Partial back squats, squatting down to the knee and hip angles you need to emphasize in sprinting (I would recommend squatting down to a KNEE ANGLE of 90 degrees, or even 100 degrees… NOTE: 90 degrees is NOT parallel, its 90 degrees of knee angle. Which is a half or even quarter squat)

This will allow you to continue developing the lower body with the full range back squat, which is better for people with longer limbs relative to their torso (which I suspect is the issue).

And the partial squats are actually better to improve sprinting. A study looked at full, half and quarter squats and after 16 weeks of training the half and quarter squats training led to the greater improvements in vertical jump and sprinting speed.

study squats

The reason is because of what Zatsiorsky calls “accentuation”: essentially, you are using a partial movement to really overload the range of motion required in your sport. In a partial squat you will be able to use a lot more weight than in a full squat. This means that the full squat actually underloads the specific range of motion needed in your sport.

With the sprinting athletes I’m training (bobsleigh guys, but they are essentially 60m sprinters) we use a lot of partial squats. Either normal squats with a shorthened depth or partials from pins (or box squat). But we still keep some full range work in there.

I would personally drop the deadlift and use the partial squats there. Almost none of my athletes deadlift. I consider the neurological cost to be too high for the benefits you get, especially if you have romanian deads and hang power snatches in there.

2 Likes
3

Thank you so much, that makes complete sense! I remember a few years ago I worked in 1/4 pin squats for a few months and I got some great results in my performance…not sure why I laid off them. Thanks a ton!

4

Take a rest day on one day per week.
Consider switching some continous cardio to extensive tempo running. As well as using this for cardio development you can use it to concentrate on grooving good running form.