Front squats: Worth the pain?

[whacked]

Originally Posted by Philosoph

This is too ridiculous not to post somewhere:
DO NOT SQUAT LIKE THIS GUY

Well to be honest, backsquatting 1,000lbs with ****** technique is way more impressive than backsquatting 500lbs with perfect technique. Assuming everything else is equal of course, which is often not the case.

 

[nextlevel]

try crossing your arms over each other and hold your shoulders... that and the grip you are trying are the only grips people use for front squats. people tend to like one over the other.

 

[Threadbearer]

Originally Posted by lefty

Approach the bar in the rack with your arms extended in front of you.
Set the bar on your shoulders across your clavicle.
Raise your arms slightly so that they're above parallel, say about 10-15 degrees.
Unrack the bar. If it doesn't move forward, that's the right position.
Squat, keeping your arms extended.

This guy has one finger loosely touching the bar. He's FSing 500 for reps.
That's a good suggestion. I think I'll try the arms-extended method next. It makes me nervous, though, to have a lot of weight on or around my clavicle. Just watching that video clip made me think mine was about to snap like a twig.

 

[Threadbearer]

Originally Posted by nextlevel

try crossing your arms over each other and hold your shoulders...
I can't picture what you're describing here. Got an image you can attach?

 

[lefty]

Originally Posted by Threadbearer

That's a good suggestion. I think I'll try the arms-extended method next. It makes me nervous, though, to have a lot of weight on or around my clavicle. Just watching that video clip made me think mine was about to snap like a twig.

After a while you'll find that you'll be able to control the position of the bar simply by raising or lowering your arms. Once you find the best bar position for yourself in terms of comfort and balance, you can then work on bringing your hands back and under the bar in the clean position.

If you're too inflexible, start with the forefinger and work from there. You'll get the entire hand on in no time.

You can also just work the clean position by racking and unracking a loaded bar. Weight helps here, but it's better to try that after your squats as you'll blow your hands and wrists out pretty quickly.

Good luck,

lefty

 

[Philosoph]

Originally Posted by whacked

Well to be honest, backsquatting 1,000lbs with ****** technique is way more impressive than backsquatting 500lbs with perfect technique. Assuming everything else is equal of course, which is often not the case.

True. But as someone said in the comments on the video, this may be a feat of strength, but it's definitely not a squat. The demonic swaying alone was pretty weird.

Originally Posted by Threadbearer

I can't picture what you're describing here. Got an image you can attach?

Go to google, search for Zercher Squat.

 

[gvibes]

Originally Posted by Threadbearer

I can't picture what you're describing here. Got an image you can attach?
Something like this maybe? Arms are crossed, at least. Here too, maybe: Not sure exactly what he meant.

 

[lefty]

A zercher squat is different than a crossed arm front squat.

This is a crossed arm FS:

The bar rests on the shoulders.

This is a zercher squat:

The bar rests in the crook of the arms.

lefty

 

[Philosoph]

Huh. I could have sworn that I'd seen the arms-crossed FS captioned as a Zercher squat. My bad.

 

[beasty]

Originally Posted by smw356

Holding the bar across your clavicles is not going to kill you.

Hmm. Lets see. A solid steel bar with weights totalling 300 kg pressed against your larynx. In an extreme situation, the thing falls infront of you. If not, it falls on top of you landing on your throat. Yup. Not extreme at all.

 

[beasty]

Tried it with arms in front last nite.
When squatting down, could feel the damn bar dropping on the floor.
So decided to scrap front squats again.

Actually a better option will be smith or universal bar lunges.
If it can work for Ronnie and Jay, it will work for everybody.

 

[smw356]

Originally Posted by beasty

Hmm. Lets see. A solid steel bar with weights totalling 300 kg pressed against your larynx. In an extreme situation, the thing falls infront of you. If not, it falls on top of you landing on your throat. Yup. Not extreme at all.

If it falls its going to fall in front of you (and if you hold the bar right this wont happen unless you want it to), not fall up you and crush your neck, and you aren't front squatting 300 kg.

 

[beasty]

Originally Posted by smw356

If it falls its going to fall in front of you (and if you hold the bar right this wont happen unless you want it to), not fall up you and crush your neck, and you aren't front squatting 300 kg.

I meant to say 300 lb although I am sure Ronnie can do 300 kg.
Anyway the way the bar is held, I think its a high possibility the bar would drop.
I could feel it slipping when I did my front squats and when squatting down.

 

[Philosoph]

If you want to learn front squats, you're going to have to drop the weights a bit to get the form down and increase your wrist flexibility. It's really not that hard to hold the bar in your hands across your clavicle, it just takes some practice and time to increase flexibility. But once you've got it, the bar is not going to drop, and if it feels like it is, it means your back is rounding as you near the bottom.

 

[beasty]

Originally Posted by Philosoph

If you want to learn front squats, you're going to have to drop the weights a bit to get the form down and increase your wrist flexibility. It's really not that hard to hold the bar in your hands across your clavicle, it just takes some practice and time to increase flexibility. But once you've got it, the bar is not going to drop, and if it feels like it is, it means your back is rounding as you near the bottom.

Dude, the bar was unloaded and the bar was not even the standard universal bar. Think for a proper quad workout, I will stick to incline legs, squats and leg curls and if I got anything left, lunges. Front squats are too difficult for me.