The "why can't I get into a decent front rack" thread

[BenM]

Long forearms and a hunch back make front squats a misery for me.

I can do them with straps but they still suck. Probably I should spend some time developing my front squat on the theory that it's a weak point. Ugh.

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.

[strega]

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

[cwd]

Long forearms and a hunch back make front squats a misery for me.

I can do them with straps but they still suck. Probably I should spend some time developing my front squat on the theory that it's a weak point. Ugh.

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.

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.

[Hanley]

tutorial from Max Aita

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:

[PatrickDB]

tutorial from Max Aita

I thought this vid was excellent.

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.

[Hanley]

This is the first time anyone, ever, has said good things about my lifting unprompted.

You know you want to make the front squat your primary (only?) squat.




ignore the powerlifters

[TimK]

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.

Why not just use straps?

[Hanley]

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.

Why not just use straps?

You could. I don’t like them.

[perman]

This is the first time anyone, ever, has said good things about my lifting unprompted.

You know you want to make the front squat your primary (only?) squat.




ignore the powerlifters

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.

[Hanley]

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.

There are certain segment-length ratios that make front squats super difficult. Do you long femurs?

[perman]

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.

There are certain segment-length ratios that make front squats super difficult. Do you long femurs?

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.

[PatrickDB]

Mike T giving some rando a front squat clinic on IG:

[simonrest]

pin front squats. fuck. I don't want a big front squat that badly

[mbasic]

[augeleven]

the time @mbasic crafted a post that was worth putting in the shitposting hall of fame thread AND the put training quotes here thread.

[Fzt]

[ape288]

Just here so that the first reply will be someone who front squats with hands closed around the bar.
I think Hanley has said something about front rack grip being a symptom of upper back weakness?

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.

[windflower]

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.

Thank you, this was great to see.