Nothing ground breaking for anyone else I fear. For me it was important to a) start controlling the descent more and slowing it down (before I kind of dive bombed) and b) I have no perception of depth with front squats. With back squats I know when I have reached about the depth I want. With front squats I unintenionally squat too deep.
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I hope that I will have this effect too! You’re absolutely right about it beating the shit out of you, haha.
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P.S: I am embarrassed that I used less weight on front squats than I did on bench press. This was literally the same weight I used for log press 5 x 5. Damn I suck ;D
This cycle of 531 I’m using the SSB and Football bar and I had to drop my TM’s significantly. Yesterday I did all my squat work with a shade over what I’d use for a bench TM. It’s a tough pill to swallow.
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If light weights on an exercise can make you strain, plus reveal ways to improve technique, without having to use heavier weights, That’s Great!
Keep that tightness, control the descent.
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This is the reason for rotating exercises. To find stuff you’re not good at, and exercises that challenge you.
If you struggle with controlling depth and descent, that means you struggle to use the muscles involved in that movement. They are behind everything else. That means you probably can’t use those muscles very well in other movements.
If you can front squat properly, every correct rep Forces you to use those lagging muscles. Every proper rep teaches you to recruit them better. When you increase the weight your can Properly front squat, the lagging muscles will be stronger.
Then, when they have Caught Up to your other strong muscles they will automatically contribute more in other lifts. Theoretically, Fixing a weakness makes everything go up.
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Especially front squats. They suck, but they’re such a useful exercise to diagnose and fix weaknesses.
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How so? Please explain…
There’s not a lot of room to hide with front squats. If your abs are weak, you’ll pitch forward and lose the bar. If your upper and middle back is weak, it’ll round over and you’ll lose the bar. If your lower back is weak, you’ll pitch forward no matter how hard you brace and you’ll lose the bar. If your quads are weak, you’ll have a hell of a time coming back up.
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So what I am hearing is, there is a deadlift PR coming? Just joking but what you say is very true. I always favoured back squats because I am much more proficient and therefore the exercise feels better.
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This was my thinking as well and therefore I came up with the following: I use a cross grip for my front squats although I could use kind of a clean grip ( atleast with 2 or 3 fingers). When I use a clean grip I feel like I can move more weight because if I lean too much forward I can correct the bar drifting to a degree with my arms. I can’t do that if I am using a cross grip.
I don’t know if this makes any sense but this is why I currently use a cross grip. It makes the movement harder.
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Yes! That’s Exactly Right! Deadlift PR coming! The front squat is a Tool to fortify yourself for a bigger deadlift.
The front squat is a means to an end. Not the end, or goal itself. Don’t chase the heaviest front squat, do the best strict, useful ones you can. Then, after weeks of good work, the Deadlift PR comes easily. Theoretically.
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I hope so! I think I really made progress within that last session from the first to last set. I will post them later. I will continue to focus on form.
I’m not absolutely sure front squats makes a deadlift PR.
If they do, I’ll start front squatting 
But I get the theory, and I do front squats as part of my back squat warm up. Maybe I should be doing them on a separate day
Everyone is different. For Mort, maybe the magic lift is defecit deadlifts. Or zercher squats. You won’t know until you find it.
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Me neither but it is a stone unturned. Like the heavy upper back work with the barbell rows I did.
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I have done SG DL before, I think they were good for my DL.
And agree with you Farmer, the magic lift is different for everybody.
Set 2 or 3
Set 5
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06.04.
1 SSB box squats (in briefs, no sleeves)
152 kg x 3
162 kg x 3
162 kg x 3
2 hang power cleans (80 kg was too heavy for reasonable form)
2 x 2 @ 80 kg
3 x 2 @ 75 kg
3 strict press
2 x 3 @ 70 kg
1 x 2 @ 70 kg - missed 3rd
1 x 3 @ 65 kg
1 x 3 @ 67,5 kg - this would have been the perfect weight
4 pendlay row (t&g + rest pause)
3 x 10 @ 90 kg
5a lat pull down
2 x 10
5b crunch machine
2 x 20
Notes:
- this was not at all planned. I wanted to take today off and hit events tomorrow. Schedule worked out better this way and an extra rest day was a good idea. However my girlfriend wanted to train this evening together with me. She couldn’t make it earlier and I had to be there for her training anyway. So it came pretty spontaneous for me to train today and to not do events.
- Body felt surprisingly good. Well all muscles are shot and such but Joints aren’t in bad shape
- gf forgot to bring my knee sleeves
- tried to sit back further but not sure If I did a good job of that
- GF had a killer session! Her prep had it’s up and downs due to time constrains but I hope we can still meet her goals
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08.04.
1 Log lift (Clean once)
3 x 2 @ 85 kg
1 x 2 @ 87,5 kg
1 x 2 @ 90 kg - PR!
2 Sumo deadlift (t&g)
3 x 3 @ 165
Notes:
- would have liked to hit 170 kg but this was plenty. My hamstrings were pushing really hard for this. Felt like bracing was in point here
- planned to do farmer’s and conditioning afterwards but gf wanted to Spende time with me and it is a gergeous day, so weit made plans. Sometimes there are more important things than training
- awesome training day. Hitting a PR under this faigue was surprising. Especially as the fifth set.
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