5 Ways To Make Front Squats More Efficient

By Maurice Bright
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Updated: August 12, 2017

By Maurice Bright – I’ve been front squatting for about 2 and a half months now and although I’m still a beginner in the eyes of the almighty front squat elite, I still make quality progress week in and week out. I’ll admit I do continue to make mistakes here and there but for the most part, I’m steadily adapting to making my front squats more efficient in both safety and muscle growth. I’m going to share 5 ways with you all that I myself learned through trial and error to make YOUR front squats more efficient. Hope you utilize these tips and hop on the fast, but safe track to gain city!

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Be in-tune with your body – This doesn’t strictly apply to the front squats to be honest but I’ve found in my own experience that it’s more emphasized in this exercise than most. If your squat rack isn’t facing a mirror you can use to ensure proper feet placement in your stance, you must be in-tune with your body enough and its natural guided movement to set your base “blindly” so to speak. Do NOT look down at your feet to make sure they’re spaced apart or stacked evenly when the weight is un-racked amid a front squat, this can potentially lead to you toppling over and experiencing a horrible mishap. Practice setting your base just by feel without the bar applied or use the bar without weight loaded onto it, this will translate to successful placement among your feet when you do go about your working sets.

Don’t stress bar placement – I’ve seen individuals place the bar in front of their delts and ON their delts while front squatting so whichever way you’re comfortable with, go for it. Some people have this notion that things HAVE to be done one way to get accomplished, I don’t agree. Just like it’s necessary to have variety among your workout routines in order to maximize muscle development, the philosophy is the same with placement and grips. If one way causes you pain and instability, try the other and if both are not working, I’d suggest going back to the drawing board in terms of bar placement and find out what does work for you.

Remain calm – Being that back squats are more common than front squats, a lot of people don’t know how to go about performing an effective front squat. This will lead to your first few tries resulting in either the bar creeping forward during sets or your posture diminishing in the same sense, this is perfectly normal. I’ve found that remaining calm when things begin going “haywire” is the best way to deal so no matter what’s going on, just ease your mind and handle the situation accordingly. For instance, if the bar begins rolling forward off your delts in the middle of reps simply re-rack the weight, regain your composure and go at it again. This isn’t about quitting, it’s about ensuring your safety and allowing you to fight another day.

Progressively overload – Every two weeks I’ve been adding about 2.5lbs to 5lbs to the bar as I get more comfortable front squatting. Do NOT smack on 2 45lb plates and try to go beast mode without any practiced stance, foundation built and etc., this will result in inevitable injury and failure. I know we’re all trying to gain muscle as fast as possible and want to assert our dominance in the squat rack but just as you strive to train hard, train smart as well. There are 3 things you’ll need in the gym; work ethic, brains and heart, apply all equally.

Keep your eyes forward – This technique has helped me a great deal during my front squats. Before I begin a set I lock my gaze on the wall in front of me and keep it there throughout all my reps, this in a way helps me keep my posture erect without favoring either my front via looking down or my back via looking up. By favoring I mean potentially toppling forward or falling backward, something like this is very possible during squats in general but in my opinion, since most aren’t use to front squats, it can happen more so during them rather than back squats. Keeping my eyes beamed forward at the wall also helps with my focus. It’s hard not to focus on the task at hand when you’re staring at a blank wall rather than surveying the gym worried about what the next guy or gal is up to. If you DO happen to have a mirror in front of you rather than a wall, find something straight ahead to focus on and keep those eyeballs fastened to it. Imagine you’re front squatting in a peaceful, flowery field where there’s nobody but you within miles and all you hear is the soothing melody of a harp being plucked. THAT’S where your focus should take you!

Maurice Bright is an ISSA certified personal trainer who also manages his own health and fitness website, mauricebright.com in hopes to inform, educate, motivate and inspire whenever possible.