What are your thoughts on this subject? do you train it before or after the olympic lifts? Any routines that you enjoy or have been effective? I know that perhaps this has been discussed several times, but I’d like to approach it not from an “information” point of view but from a general view of what have you done in the past regarding your front squat, what has proven to work and what has not.
Personally I like to aproach this with routines like the Russian Squat Program. 2-3 times a week of squatting with many sets and low reps(2-4).
I usually train Front squats, or any squats really, after Olympic lifts. Mainly because you want to be fresh(er) for the more technologically involved lifting. Do squats after the lifts, then any other assistance stuff after that (pulls, presses, etc).
However, if your front squats need some specialization, there’s nothing wrong with doing them first for 6-10 weeks or so (such as running them on the Russian Squat Program). Just be aware that you will not be able to push your Olympic lifts while doing this.
For the past 2yrs I’ve always front squatted first. Most olifters that are any good will be limited by strength IMO. I’m not talking beginner self taught lifters. I’m talking about coached lifters with good technique. Doesn’t matter how good your tech is, or how efficient you are if you can only FS 130kg you aren’t going to out lift anyone reasonable.
I’m with olylifter106 on this one. As important as squats are, they are still an assistance exercise to the main lifts, and as such should be done after your snatch/clean and jerk in your workout. Or on separate days, depending on how your program is structured. If you want to run the Russian squat program or something similar and put the emphasis on squats for the short term I think that can potentially be a good thing, but jacking up your squats doesn’t do you any good if you’re not seeing any carryover to the lifts, and that carryover is not automatic. There’s not always a correlation between squatting gains and gains in the main lifts.
[quote]TheJonty wrote:
I’m with olylifter106 on this one. As important as squats are, they are still an assistance exercise to the main lifts, and as such should be done after your snatch/clean and jerk in your workout. Or on separate days, depending on how your program is structured. If you want to run the Russian squat program or something similar and put the emphasis on squats for the short term I think that can potentially be a good thing, but jacking up your squats doesn’t do you any good if you’re not seeing any carryover to the lifts, and that carryover is not automatic. There’s not always a correlation between squatting gains and gains in the main lifts.[/quote]
There can be a huge advantage to training the snatch and C&J with fatigued legs.
What about the grip? Do you grab the bar tight(I mean white knuckles) or just let it rest there with your hands/fingers? I’ve been testing a couple of hand positions and found that with relatively high loads (+130Kg) it’s better to grip the bar (helps upright torso for me) and not just hold it with your fingers, but i’m interested in what you have to say.
