I am the absolute champion of the front squat, but it wasn’t always this way. I used to find front squatting incredibly difficult. It is a movement that is at first unnatural and uncomfortable to many people, and even more awkward for people who have a hunched over posture like me. Several years later, I have developed a nice upright posture, my front squats are my favorite exercise, and I’ve improved enormously in all other lifts.

If I could give some advice to anyone who lifts, and especially those who are brand new to Olympic weightlifting, it would be to prioritize front squats. In my opinion, a strong, comfortable front squat is the critical foundation for which the Olympic lifts should be built on.

Why front squat?

The front squat mimics a portion of the clean, so an obvious reason to front squat would be to improve your clean. But there are lots of other reasons. Something that I’ve found very interesting on my Olympic weightlifting journey is that the front squat has big carryover to the jerk, too.

A jerk requires a strong upright confident rack position, and the position of the front squat between squat reps mimics this. The weight that you can front squat is hopefully a lot more than your jerk, so getting used to having a heavy weight in the front rack position when you are front squatting can carry over nicely to that very important part of the lift between the clean and the jerk.

You also have to have the ability to hold this strong upright position during the dip phase. There are varying views on how the elbows should be positioned during the dip and drive, and of course every lifter has individual their own optimal positions, but what works best for me personally is to keep the elbows high – exactly what you have to do in the front squat.

Front squats not only build strong legs, they are a true core exercise, far more so than back squats. By ‘core,’ I don’t just mean the abdominal muscles, I mean all the muscles from the shoulders to the hips, that include the upper back muscles. Upper back strength is extremely important in the Olympic lifts. In the snatch, your upper back is used heavily in supporting the bar overhead. In the clean, your upper back enables you to maintain an upright position as you ascend from the squat. In the jerk, your upper back contributes to keeping you upright during the dip and drive, and then of course stabilizing the bar overhead at the end of the lift.

People sometimes miss cleans because their upper back collapses and the bar falls forward. Regular front squatting can help build upper back strength. People sometimes miss cleans because they abdominal muscles ‘fold’ in which can also cause the upper back to collapse. Front squats build excellent abdominal strength too!

I’ve also found that as soon as I started front squatting with good form consistently, after several months I found that I could easily do pull ups, whereas before I wasn’t able to do even one!

How to program front squats around the Olympic lifts

I’ve always had the greatest success following a simple 5x5 front squat scheme. Because I find front squats difficult, I prefer to do them on a training day separate to the Olympic lifts. I always do them first in the workout, because I find they require not just a large amount of energy but also a large amount of concentration. There are some exercises you can get away with slack form – but not front squats – and you shouldn’t try to. This exercise is one that is worth tending to with great detail and care to ensure excellent form, because the results are so worthwhile.

I’ve experimented with different rep/set schemes but the one that has had the best results for me has been the simple 5x5 2x/week, with no additional thinking into tempo or rest times. I am a big endorser of keeping things simple and, a lot of the time, simple works. I just focus on getting in 25 high quality repetitions.

Lower reps tend to be better for front squats, because it’s known that the upper back will fail before the legs do for higher numbers of reps.

Although I like to do my front squats on a separate day to my Olympic lifts, I have gone through phases where I’ve front squatted on the same day as snatching or clean and jerking. There are different views on where in the workout the front squats should be done. Some coaches advise to do the technical Olympic lift work first so that the nervous system is fresh, while other coaches think that doing heavy front squats before the Olympic lifts can make the Olympic lifts feel “lighter” and easier. So long as you are able to maintain excellent technique for the Olympic lifts, it can be an individual preference as to when the front squats are done. What you definitely don’t want to do is to sacrifice Olympic lifting technique due to not having enough energy because you’ve exhausted yourself by front squatting first!
5 essential front squat technique tricks

Fists

Matt Foreman recommends front squatting with a closed fist. If you are not used to front squatting in this manner, it might be worthwhile to lower the weight and get used to a closed fist technique. Once the grip is drilled in, you can increase the weight again.

Breathing

It’s worthwhile working out how to best breath during your front squats. I find that if I inhale/exhale incorrectly, I will miss the rep. I personally like to take a huge deep breath just before I descend, and I hold that breath until I’ve come up. I’ve noticed that the right breathing is critical for me during front squats.

Feet

In the starting position, your feet ought to be in the same position as your snatch/clean starting position. In the squat position, your feet ought to be in the same position as your catch position in your snatch/clean.

Elbows

Keep your elbows up!

Upper back:

Take the time to correctly ‘set’ your upper back before you rack the bar. Maintain this feeling throughout the set. I like to do this by following these two steps before I rack the bar:

1.     I stand in front of the bar with my arms straight out in front of me touching the bar in an overhand grip.
2.     I rotate my elbows so that the insides of my elbows are facing up. When I do this, I can ‘feel’ my back activating.

This little warm-up procedure helps me know how my back should feel during front squats. So when I proceed to rack the bar to do my front squats, I try to maintain this feeling in my upper back throughout the set.

Bottom line

I strongly believe that a lifter who can front squat well will experience excellent carryover to their Olympic lifts. In this day and age especially (when we’re all hunched over computers all the time meaning that many of us have suboptimal posture for the Olympic lifts!), front squats are even more important because they develop a much stronger upright position. This is good for Olympic lifts, and it’s good for general spinal health, too!