Squat: Front

87 Days to Memorial Day

The sign up for this week's Saturday Night Blowout goes up today at 2pm. stop into West River or contact me to reserve your spot.

FRONT SQUAT:

You've had the better part of a week to work on those squats now. How's it going? Remember one of the central concepts to performing a squat is to keep your spine in a neutral position like you're just standing there. All the movement happens in the hips, knees & ankles.

Body Weight Squat. Got it covered.

A lot of trainers are going to move clients right into a dumbbell squat first off. It seems simple, easy to understand, weights are safely held down and by the side.

I'm going to argue against that. The problem here lies in that for new squatters, as your hip flexes in the down phase and your torso angles forwards, those bells are going to pull your arms and shoulders down and forward, separate your shoulder blades and open you up to a potentially hazardous compromise of posture in your spine.

I'm going to start you in the front squat. Load the barbell across the front of your shoulders. Cross your arms so your hands are on top of the bar holding it to your shoulders. Keep the elbows lifted. This is going to create an active contraction in the back that will keep your shoulders rolled back, scapulae together and spine nice & protected.Just like in the body weight squat, keep the body somewhat vertical, shoot the hips back and down to where your thigh is around parallel to the ground, depending on your range of motion, push through the entire foot and come back up to standing with your sternum leading the way.

Pick a very managable & consertive weight & practice. As you get more comfortable with the high center of gravity & the flexibility challenge, begin moving up. Remember, feet flat the whole time, neutral spine and knees headed in the same direction as your toes.