speech balloons for teh lolz.
nice vid steely. thats a monster of a front squat.
I hate front squats cause I suck at them. Hence, I’m working hard on them. I’m hoping that getting better at front squatting will allow me to stay more upright when back squatting.
Front squats have done wonders for my quad development. I had a major disc herniation about 2 years ago, and I worked up to heavy front squats. Those were the only things that didn’t stress my back. Now after doing those and strengthening my core, I am back to heavy back squats with no pain.
I utilized the plate technique, heavy low rep sets, etc. They all work in different ways for development.
[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
I hate front squats cause I suck at them. Hence, I’m working hard on them. I’m hoping that getting better at front squatting will allow me to stay more upright when back squatting.[/quote]
Same here
Oh and nice job on the fronts MM and SteelyD. that’s some damn grown man weight there.
Most I ever got up to was probably 350 range (since I never maxed on them, did 315 for reps tho). I am shootin for 400+ this spring/summer.
I know taking a narrower stance will emphasize the quad sweep more, but from everyone’s experience, will even a wider stance (not sumo by any means) still hit the quads harder than the other major leg muscles?
I hate the Front Squat, but I do it anyway. I have trouble keeping my elbows up.
[quote]DeltaOne wrote:
I hate the Front Squat, but I do it anyway. I have trouble keeping my elbows up.[/quote]
by the look of it you have a lot of tricep mass. have you tried stretching those puppies before front squatting? it could be as simple as tight tris pulling your arms down a bit.
Love 'em. I do them olympic style (or my bastardization of that), but I think I’m going to give cross-arms a try again today. Like many others, they were my segway back into squatting after destroying my knees for years with bad back squatting.
[quote]DeltaOne wrote:
I hate the Front Squat, but I do it anyway. I have trouble keeping my elbows up.[/quote]
i had the same problem and I took the advice of H4M and tried front squatting with my arms straight out in front of me. I didnt actually hold onto the bar and just rested it in the gap behind my front delts. it worked great for keeping myself upright.
I started doing front squats cause they were hard and I sucked at them. I turned my deficiency into a masochistic thrill. It was on this day that I became a man.
These days, I dont do any exercises that I like, and my workouts have never been more fun.
My favourite squat!
How about some motivation?
Warrick Brant, 770lb front squat. Probably the heaviest front squat ever.
[quote]actionboy wrote:
[quote]DeltaOne wrote:
I hate the Front Squat, but I do it anyway. I have trouble keeping my elbows up.[/quote]
by the look of it you have a lot of tricep mass. have you tried stretching those puppies before front squatting? it could be as simple as tight tris pulling your arms down a bit.[/quote]
[quote]gregron wrote:
[quote]DeltaOne wrote:
I hate the Front Squat, but I do it anyway. I have trouble keeping my elbows up.[/quote]
i had the same problem and I took the advice of H4M and tried front squatting with my arms straight out in front of me. I didnt actually hold onto the bar and just rested it in the gap behind my front delts. it worked great for keeping myself upright.[/quote]
Gonna give both these tips a try, thanks, never thought of those.
[quote]SteelyD wrote:
[quote]actionboy wrote:
steely, you’re a pretty beastly guy. any front squat tips?[/quote]
Yes. Listen to everything Maraudermeat has to say about front squatting 
When I blew my back out a few years ago, I had to start squatting again with bodyweight, then holding dumbbells. I finally got to a bar (45#) and just kept rehabbing with front squats. I didn’t even load my back until I was front squatting 200 or so. For awhile my front squat was higher than back squat.
As far as real weight goes, keep head up, chest high and stay on your heels. The biggest thing is not losing it forward.
The second biggest thing for me is keeping my breath. I hold the bar in place just under my neck (crossed arms versus olympic grip). It pins my neck and with a lot of weight (3-400+) once you let that breath out it’s hard to get enough air in to keep supporting the weight for more reps. Still working on that with some words from MM.
Working up to 405x1 (ignore the dipshits in the video)
awesome front squat!! youa are also look’n huge steely.
[quote]JaseHxC wrote:
I know taking a narrower stance will emphasize the quad sweep more, but from everyone’s experience, will even a wider stance (not sumo by any means) still hit the quads harder than the other major leg muscles?[/quote]
the wider you go the less stress there is on the quads. the stress is transferred more to the hips.
Also a fan of front squats. Maybe you guys can help with something.
What’s the best way dump a front squat with the cross arm grip when you can’t make the lift?
Do you dump the bar from what ever height you’re at when you fail or do you descend down to the safety pins when you dump it?
Ex. You’re about as high as 1/4 squat but just can’t make it.
I guess I’m kind of nervous of dumping it on the safety pins and it bouncing back up toward my face or neck. I might not be warranted but is just something in the back of my mind when I’m doing a near max effort squat.
[quote]sam_sneed wrote:
Also a fan of front squats. Maybe you guys can help with something.
What’s the best way dump a front squat with the cross arm grip when you can’t make the lift?
Do you dump the bar from what ever height you’re at when you fail or do you descend down to the safety pins when you dump it?
Ex. You’re about as high as 1/4 squat but just can’t make it.
I guess I’m kind of nervous of dumping it on the safety pins and it bouncing back up toward my face or neck. I might not be warranted but is just something in the back of my mind when I’m doing a near max effort squat.
[/quote]
Here’s me failing on the third rep in a rack. I don’t think the weights really bounce that much regardless of the height, plus its going to fall forward when it comes off you anyways.
Edit: not quite as high as a 1/4 squat when failing, I imagine if I failed that high I’d probably end up dropping down with the bar onto the pins and letting go like in the video at the last moment.
Front squats FTW!
[quote]trav123456 wrote:
[quote]sam_sneed wrote:
Also a fan of front squats. Maybe you guys can help with something.
What’s the best way dump a front squat with the cross arm grip when you can’t make the lift?
Do you dump the bar from what ever height you’re at when you fail or do you descend down to the safety pins when you dump it?
Ex. You’re about as high as 1/4 squat but just can’t make it.
I guess I’m kind of nervous of dumping it on the safety pins and it bouncing back up toward my face or neck. I might not be warranted but is just something in the back of my mind when I’m doing a near max effort squat.
[/quote]
Here’s me failing on the third rep in a rack. I don’t think the weights really bounce that much regardless of the height, plus its going to fall forward when it comes off you anyways.
Edit: not quite as high as a 1/4 squat when failing, I imagine if I failed that high I’d probably end up dropping down with the bar onto the pins and letting go like in the video at the last moment.[/quote]
Thanks for posting that Trav. I’m probably over thinking it. When I do finally fail, it probably will not be a concern after that.