Before telling my story, here are some lifting stats of mine :
Best deadlift : 455x1
Best box squat to parallel : 385x1
Best good morning (chest to thighs) : 315x3
Age : 20
Height : 5’11
Weight : floating from 226 to 232
%BF : 18 +
I don’t think I have decent numbers, but I simply love lifting. As for my problem, I’m convinced that I have a muscular unbalance, I can’t front squat properly. When I do, I go down ATG, start moving up correctly, but mid-way through the movement, my back slows down while my legs continue to lift in a constant speed.
When I lock out my knees, my back is about 20 degrees inclined forward and I do a sort of a front squat good morning to finish the rep.
This is very annoying, I sometimes have mid back pain and it discourages me from front squatting.
I’m convinced that this is caused by my backsquat style (powerlifting style), where I primarily use my back and glutes to push the weight.
Glad to hear you love this shit!! Don’t worry about poundages- strength is relative.Your GM-ing the weight up is a classic signg of pushing with your quads first and rounding your back. Out of the hole the first thing you should do is to push your head back kind of like you should be doing in a back squat. Sounds to me like your posterior chain isn’t as strong as you may think it is. The “pain” you speak of in the middle back is probably from a weakness. Are you pushing your ass back like in a back squat? You shouldn’t do that so much in a front squat. You should break more in the knees but still push back a little to hit the bottom. A video would really help diagnose your squat form and be able to pin point form issues. Without it I’m just guessing to be completely honest.
Suggestions to help correct this based on my guess of your form. Wear a ball cap backwards. Look up until the bill of the hat touches your traps/upper back. This will keep your head up. (where the head leads the body will follow) Don’t sit back as in a back squat. Lower the weight till you get the form down.
if you feel your posterior chain is too strong (not sure if it is or not) then keep going with the front squats and maybe do some more single leg quad work.
[quote]Adou wrote:
I don’t think I have decent numbers, but I simply love lifting. As for my problem, I’m convinced that I have a muscular unbalance, I can’t front squat properly. When I do, I go down ATG, start moving up correctly, but mid-way through the movement, my back slows down while my legs continue to lift in a constant speed.
When I lock out my knees, my back is about 20 degrees inclined forward and I do a sort of a front squat good morning to finish the rep.
This is very annoying, I sometimes have mid back pain and it discourages me from front squatting.
I’m convinced that this is caused by my backsquat style (powerlifting style), where I primarily use my back and glutes to push the weight.
So yeah, anyway to correct this??[/quote]
IF this is a muscular imbalance, it sounds more like your low back isnt strong enough to maintain posture (stay upright) as you drive through the lift. It could also be a technique thing
[quote]KBCThird wrote:
Adou wrote:
I don’t think I have decent numbers, but I simply love lifting. As for my problem, I’m convinced that I have a muscular unbalance, I can’t front squat properly. When I do, I go down ATG, start moving up correctly, but mid-way through the movement, my back slows down while my legs continue to lift in a constant speed.
When I lock out my knees, my back is about 20 degrees inclined forward and I do a sort of a front squat good morning to finish the rep.
This is very annoying, I sometimes have mid back pain and it discourages me from front squatting.
I’m convinced that this is caused by my backsquat style (powerlifting style), where I primarily use my back and glutes to push the weight.
So yeah, anyway to correct this??
IF this is a muscular imbalance, it sounds more like your low back isnt strong enough to maintain posture (stay upright) as you drive through the lift. It could also be a technique thing
[/quote]
Sounds like your lower back is just rounding. You probably have tight hip flexors. Fix those and do some glue activation work, and you’ll be squatting better in no time. Hammys are probably tight too, but fixing the hip flexors should correct this.
Post a pick of yourself, or answer this question - When you put on a belt, (if you look at yourself from the side) is the front of the belt (the buckle) lower than the back of the belt?
If I was working with somebody who was doing what you describe I would likely decide they were training with weight that was too heavy and lower the weight until their form looked reasonable.
I would then take a more volume based approach to training the movement, at lower percentages, until the work capacity is built up.
You can have all the discussion you want around which muscle groups are suspect but at the end of the day you just need to lighten the weight, work on your form, and build your work capacity.
[quote]apwsearch wrote:
If I was working with somebody who was doing what you describe I would likely decide they were training with weight that was too heavy and lower the weight until their form looked reasonable.
I would then take a more volume based approach to training the movement, at lower percentages, until the work capacity is built up.
You can have all the discussion you want around which muscle groups are suspect but at the end of the day you just need to lighten the weight, work on your form, and build your work capacity.
[/quote]
Quit making so much sense. That stuff takes too much time. Give us some quick fixes dammit!
[quote]Hanley wrote:
apwsearch wrote:
If I was working with somebody who was doing what you describe I would likely decide they were training with weight that was too heavy and lower the weight until their form looked reasonable.
I would then take a more volume based approach to training the movement, at lower percentages, until the work capacity is built up.
You can have all the discussion you want around which muscle groups are suspect but at the end of the day you just need to lighten the weight, work on your form, and build your work capacity.
Quit making so much sense. That stuff takes too much time. Give us some quick fixes dammit!
[/quote]
What? Shouldn’t this guys stop front squating, and just do one legged band box squats to activate is maxumus squatics muscle? All this cazy talk of buckling down and improving technmique is just so passe! lol
[quote]StrengthDawg wrote:
Glad to hear you love this shit!! Don’t worry about poundages- strength is relative.Your GM-ing the weight up is a classic signg of pushing with your quads first and rounding your back. Out of the hole the first thing you should do is to push your head back kind of like you should be doing in a back squat. Sounds to me like your posterior chain isn’t as strong as you may think it is. The “pain” you speak of in the middle back is probably from a weakness. Are you pushing your ass back like in a back squat? You shouldn’t do that so much in a front squat. You should break more in the knees but still push back a little to hit the bottom. A video would really help diagnose your squat form and be able to pin point form issues. Without it I’m just guessing to be completely honest.
Suggestions to help correct this based on my guess of your form. Wear a ball cap backwards. Look up until the bill of the hat touches your traps/upper back. This will keep your head up. (where the head leads the body will follow) Don’t sit back as in a back squat. Lower the weight till you get the form down. [/quote]
i would also suggest training for more pilliar strength which the core wall will keep you more upright and tight.power wheel roll outs are good
