Exactly the same as me, Charlie. It sucks doesn't it. I dread doing them almost as much as back squats but I do them (with straps) anyway.
The "why can't I get into a decent front rack" thread
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Re: The "why can't I get into a decent front rack" thread
- strega
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Re: The "why can't I get into a decent front rack" thread
I don't front squat but I use the Elite Lifts Yoke Bar. It targets the quads more than low bar squats. I don't know how much it replicates front squats but for sure you can feel the load shift compared to normal squats. Seems good enough for an old man with flexibility issues.
Not cheap but it's pretty darn solid and I don't feel cheated on the $$.
https://www.elitefts.com/elitefts-ss-yoke-bar.html
Not cheap but it's pretty darn solid and I don't feel cheated on the $$.
https://www.elitefts.com/elitefts-ss-yoke-bar.html
- cwd
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Re: The "why can't I get into a decent front rack" thread
I promise I'll work them into my program again at some point. Kyphosis means that holding mid/upper-back extension is harder, which is another way of saying that we hunch-backed people ought to develop huge back muscles.
Maybe with enough pulling and front squats I can look like a ninja turtle. Or Quasimodo. That guy was hella strong.
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Re: The "why can't I get into a decent front rack" thread
I thought this vid was excellent.
Yeah, I've got long forearms. My grip and elbow position are not pretty. If I do a really wide grip, my upper back feels weak and sorta vulnerable. So, I grip narrow and only have 2-3 fingers on the bar. It works.
Here's an @10 rep I did a while ago:
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Re: The "why can't I get into a decent front rack" thread
Seconded. I did all the shit he says my first time front squatting (last week) and all the olympic lifters were complimenting my form. This is the first time anyone, ever, has said good things about my lifting unprompted.
The only additional advice they had for me was to keep my chin up. This gets the bar off the throat and lets you get a bigger breath (and keeps the chest up). The cue they used was to imitate Snoop Dogg's mugshot pose. Seriously, I think "Snoop Dogg mugshot." It works.
Thinking about it now, I should probably raise my chin a bit when taking in air on the back squat to help me breath and brace better. I notice a lot of powerlifters tip their head up to breath.
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Re: The "why can't I get into a decent front rack" thread
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Re: The "why can't I get into a decent front rack" thread
Front squats are pretty miserable though. There's something akin to the pain of hook gripping, no matter how much I've improved my rack position, they've never not become uncomfortable for me at least.
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Re: The "why can't I get into a decent front rack" thread
There are certain segment-length ratios that make front squats super difficult. Do you long femurs?
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Re: The "why can't I get into a decent front rack" thread
Nah, I have short legs. Though whether the femurs themselves are long for short legs, I don't know. My rack itself isn't half-bad, I just find the lift very uncomfortable under big weights or long sets, warm-ups are a breeze.
Did 7s yesterday (put them instead of 10s of tempo squats, tried 10s first and just instantly hated them at low warm-up weights). I mentioned hook grip earlier because it feels similar to how hook grip for long sets starts to become unbearable.
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Re: The "why can't I get into a decent front rack" thread
Mike T giving some rando a front squat clinic on IG:
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Re: The "why can't I get into a decent front rack" thread
pin front squats. fuck. I don't want a big front squat that badly
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Re: The "why can't I get into a decent front rack" thread
the time @mbasic crafted a post that was worth putting in the shitposting hall of fame thread AND the put training quotes here thread.
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Well, this is super easy to identify. If you can zombie squat a decent amount of weight but you can't hold a proper front rack while moving into a full squat position then it's not upper back weakness, but rather mobility that's holding you back. In my experience the most likely culprits in terms of mobility tend to be the lats and thoracic spine.
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Re: The "why can't I get into a decent front rack" thread
Thank you, this was great to see.perman wrote: ↑Sat Jan 13, 2018 2:20 am I found this tutorial from Max Aita about a good rack position better than Rip's descriptions:
I think Max's emphasis on the subtleties of where to keep the elbow is more useful than Rip's simplification of higher elbows being better if you struggle with a good rack. It certainly helped me.