If You’re Not Front Squatting You Really Should Be — Here’s Why

Squats are one of the best exercises a person can do in the gym. They are consistently referred to in the same breath as deadlifts for the title of ‘King of All Exercises’.

But for as great as squats are, many people consistently ignore one of the best squat variations out there: the Front Squat.

While the back squat gets all the love, the front squat is equally as beneficial when it comes to muscular development, increased power, strength gains, and increasing mobility just to name a few.

I asked my buddy Eric Bach, C.S.C.S., of Bach Performance about some of the benefits of front squatting and why everyone should consider including them in their programming.

“Like any exercise a risk: reward analysis is necessary to determine what’s the best tool for the job.

That said, the front squat is everything you need in the gym with less overall joint stress than back squats.  In addition, front squats hold the heavy load in the front of the body, forcing the upper back to stay extended to reinforce good posture. In addition, the anterior load forces the anterior core to work extra hard to keep the body vertical.

Leave you’re ego at the door and focus on your front squat— they’re likely the missing link to fixing weak legs and caveman posture with less joint stress than back squats.”

*Sidenote: Eric has a fantastic free ebook available all about front squatting. Grab your copy here.)

Like Eric said, the benefits of the front squat are too great to ignore. For one thing, front squats actually allow most people to achieve greater depth than back squats. This increases the activation of the glute muscles and can help you increase the depth of your back squat as well.

Also, we all know that squats are great for increasing abdominal strength. But due to the load placement on front squats, the abdominal muscles are stressed more and forced to work harder to prevent the body from tilting forward. Therefore, front squatting can help strengthen your abs to a greater degree than back squats.

Lastly, because of the muscles involved with the front squat, it really sets the stage for building total body strength. The front squat builds phenomenal strength in the core, glutes, hips and legs; all areas that are involved performing nearly every other movement in the gym, sports, or life.

How To Front Squat

Like the name implies, the front squat is done with the bar placed across the front of the body. The bar sits under your chin, against your neck, while your shoulders and chest work to create a shelf to help keep the bar in place.

There are three ways to hold the bar:

The clean grip

The clean grip with straps

Crossed Arms Grip

Of all the grips, the clean grip is the most advanced because of the wrist mobility required, but it also has the most carryover to the catch portion of the clean. Using straps is great for people with limited mobility while still staying in control of the bar. The crossed arms grip is fine if you have severely limited mobility but will make it harder to control the bar as the weight gets heavier.

Once you have your grip and the bar in place, its time to prepare to squat. To execute the front squat properly, you need to keep your elbows up and your abs braced. This will help keep you in a proper upright position as you move through the exercise.

After you are properly braced with your elbows in position, it’s time to squat. Sit back in your heels slightly and descend to the deepest depth you can while still keeping a vertical spine and then explode back up, all while keeping the elbows high and your abs braced.

Here’s how the front squat should look:

The front squat is an underutilized, but extremely effective exercise, no matter what your goal is. Give it a try today and take your gains to the next level.