The Front Squat and Its Importance for Athletic Development
Walking into a public gym today, many young athletes will see average gym members only performing back squats to train their lower body, which is understandable, but there is a common misconception of the back squat being the king of lower body movements. This can be credited to the higher activation of the posterior chain, recruiting more hamstring and glute involvement, as well as allowing the opportunity to lift heavier weight. Though the back squat is an important lower body exercise, it should not be the only movement in a training program to improve athletic development.
The front squat is an often neglected and overlooked barbell movement. It provides great strength development for young athletes to improve across multiple sports such as track sprinters, football players and even swimmers. As the front squats allows greater recruitment of the quadriceps and abdominal muscles, it can generate stronger force output through their lower body to gain speed, endurance and reduce the likelihood of injuries by improving your mobility.
A young athlete shouldn’t jump straight into barbell front squats, however. A foundation should be created through proper body weight squats and progressing to dumbbell goblet squats then to barbell freehand front squats and finally performing a front squat.
To properly perform a front squat: place your hands just wider than shoulder-width, step in close by lowering into a quarter squat underneath the barbell and touching the top of your chest and front of the shoulders, bring your elbows forward and up as high as possible throughout the entire exercise. Next drive up to take the bar away from the rack and take one step back, position your feet shoulder-width apart with your toes pointing slightly diagonally away from each other, take a deep breath to keep your chest up and torso strong, then hinge your hips back while bending your legs to lower yourself into a squat. Keep your knees wide apart and heels down, keep lowering your body until your legs are at least parallel with the floor, then drive back up to the original start position.
These steps will provide you with solid form as well as allow your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and abdominal muscles to adapt to heavier loads. Incorporating the front squat more frequently will build a balanced foundation in an athlete’s journey toward a stronger frame that can be easily translated to any track, court, diamond or field. With all of this being said, the goal is not to get rid of the back squat entirely, but to provide more variety in a training program.
