I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: The front squat is a superior exercise to the back squat. I don’t mean that you should never back squat. If you’re one of those individuals who doesn’t feel back pain while doing them, can do them with an erect torso, and doesn’t wimp out by cutting your depth short, then go ahead and back squat ALSO. But, the front squat should be your bread and butter.
Over at EliteFTS they give 5 reasons why you should front squat:
- Front squats are more quad dominant, bodybuilders like this that are paranoid about getting their butts too big.
- Front squats are easier on your back because your torso is more erect and obviously less weight is being handled.
- If you go forward on a front squat you lose the weight, so it’s impossible to lean forward too excessively.
- Front squats are also a good tool to teach someone to back squat with an erect torso.
- Front squats offer great transference to jerks, push presses and Olympic lifts. More core stabilization is required.
The idea that front squats are more quad dominant is slightly misleading. The average Olympic lifter has a bigger butt than the average powerlifter who does tons of the (supposedly more ass-dominant back squat). I’ll tell you why.
When you only go to parallel, the front squat is quad dominant. But when you go to rock-bottom, you have no choice but to use your butt. A deep front squat stretches the glutes massively and while under tension, they then have to work hard in this stretched state to get you back up again. The result: lots of muscle growth.
The second reason is the Oly lifters often bounce out of the bottom position, this type of stretch reflex has been speculated to also result in muscle gain. (Yes, I just said that if you want big muscles DON’T lift slow, lift fast.) Even if you don’t bounce out of the bottom, the work your butt has to do to decelerate the bar will aid you in muscle growth down there in your nether-regions.
Check out this video of (strongman) Travis Ortmayer doing some very heavy back squats (with solid form). Note that even with his very good form, the back squat forces certain anatomical realities. Namely, that your back is your weak-link.
Now in contrast, check out Vencelas Dabaya, from France, doing some front squats. In the bottom position, your glutes become a prime mover.
Of course, in theory you could back squat exactly the same as you front squat with only a slight forward lean to make up for the bar being on your back. But, in reality this almost never happens. And as a result, the glutes get taken down a notch as major players.
So if you front squat only to parallel, then you’ll keep your glutes out of the picture. But, if you want a butt to be proud of, keep going down. (Assuming you can do so without rounding your back, of course!)
That is a great observation with the depth in the front squat being relevant to muscular development. I’ve come to the same conclusion in my training and only use back squats for higher rep assistance work on occaision. Solid advice
Thanks, brother. That’s basically what we do. Front squat heavy, and don’t back squat for anything less than about 5 reps or more. But, even then, a lot of my lifters do better without ever doing back squats. The torque on the low back is too much for some people.
And, besides, the world is far too devoid of muscular butts. Nothing looks funnier than a muscular guy with a flat butt!
You say do better? How so? Better recovery, low back stress etc? Do you apply this to the athletes you train as well? Personally, I keep up with my vertical and it seems to be directly proportional with my front squat strength and my back squat doesn’t really relate to my front squat so well, hence the reason why I dropped it except for weight gain cycles(10+ reps).
how do you feel about front box squats(parallel or inch below? do you feel they also work the glutes well?
Actually I’ve never gotten serious about front box squats – or any box squats for that matter. So, I don’t know from experience.
My assumption is that they might if you are focused on sitting far back onto the box – farther than you’d be able to without the box.
It’s worth a try. Let me know how it goes!
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Hi Nick, this question may sound stupid, but what is the distance between your feet when you talk about front squatting?
I’m assuming it’s the olympic squat stance, but I’m more comfortable at getting deeper with a slightly-wider-than-shoulder-width stance.
Your foot distance is a pretty individual thing. I’m usually a bit outside of shoulder width myself. I don’t have any problem with that. If you pay attention to how many of the worlds best Oly lifters catch their cleans (a front squat!), you’ll notice that they often squat the same way.
You’re good!
Hey Nick, was led here this time by Reddit. What’s up?
So I’ve gotten into lifting, and I’m doing SS for the last four months. It’s going well. I had a training session at my gym on a lark and the trainer had me do front squats with high reps and low weight. If you were me how would you work the front squats into your workout? As per the trainer, or instead of my SS back squats?
Also, your blog rocks.
lol that’s funny ya know ? olimpic lifters always say that front squats are better than back squats (or olimpic backsquats are better than low bar back squats) but these are JUST EXERCISES WHICH HELP IN PARTICULAR DISCIPLINE, there are NO SUPERIOR exercises for generall populations. Of course that front squats will be better for olimpic weightlifters, but they may be not good for powerlifters . Again this is JUST exercise, and should be treated as such, it is A TOOL. Its better to have big toolbox with a lot of tools and use them as they are needed, instead of focusing only on two and preach. that they are superior cos you happen to do discipline in which they help (catchin position of clean/ equp. powerlifting squat or sumo deadlift ) .