How to Master the Front Squat for Leg Day Gains

THE BARBELL BACK squat is, for many guys with basic gym experience, the default version of the classic lower body exercise. You can load the bar up with lots of weight, and you’ll build your big leg muscles as you grind through reps. But flip the position of the load to the other side of your body for a barbell front squat, and you’ll have a chance to level up your leg day while getting your core involved, too.

Shifting the barbell to the front side of your body introduces even more technical elements to the exercise. The way you’ll hold the implement in place, for one—and you’ll also have to learn how to brace your abdominal muscles to keep your posture on point. The end result: A squat variation that pushes the anterior chain to the next level. That means you’ll have to pay special attention to your form.

Let Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. and senior fitness editor Brett Williams guide you through the subtleties of the movement, saving you from the bad habits that are keeping you from unlocking your fitness potential.

How to Do the Front Squat

• Position yourself under the racked barbell, using either a clean grip or bodybuilder grip. Either way, the bar should be placed on your shoulders, not your neck or collarbone.
• Lift the bar off the rack and engage your core. Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and your toes pointed out. This will vary given your anatomy and mobility, so find the most comfortable position for you.
• Take a deep breath and engage your core. This is even more important than during the back squat—if you lose your core, you’ll have a hard time maintaining your posture with the loaded bar. Keep your gaze straight ahead to keep your neck in a neutral position.
• Push your butt back and lower down into the squat, reaching a position where your thighs are parallel to the ground (or lower, depending on mobility).
• Drive your feet though the floor to power back up, squeezing your glutes.

Take note of these additional cues from Samuel to shore up your front squat form:

Get A Grip… or Two

Eb says: Depending who you train around, you’ll hear a lot about how one grip is “better” or “safer” for you than the other. Don’t buy any of it. Find and use a grip that works for you. The front squat is a total body move, but to get the most out of it, you need to be comfortable with how you’re holding the bar.

If you’re over-focused on your upper-body positioning because you’re trying somebody else’s grip, you’ll bounce at the bottom or speed up your reps more than is normal. Work to be proficient with both grips, because you never know when you might need one. You’re always an injured wrist away from having to use the bodybuilder grip for a few weeks.

Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable

Eb says: The bar is going to get close to your neck—and it should, because that’s when it’ll be on the meaty part of your shoulders. If it’s too far in front of you, it’ll feel less dangerous but it’ll also place more stress on your anterior delts, stress that those small muscles aren’t meant to handle. It’ll also be harder to sit back.

The only thing preventing the bar from hitting your neck should be your fingers. That’s also why it’s critical to keep them wrapped around the bar at all times, no matter the grip you’re using.

Keep Your Back Muscles Live

Eb says: All of them. You want some tension in your upper mid-back; that’s important because it’ll help keep your shoulders in a safe position. You want to keep some tightness in that joint, so the barbell sits on the meat of your shoulder muscles, not on bone. That mid-back tension is also going to help keep you from rounding forward when you’re at the bottom of the squat, a common flaw (and a reason to drop the barbell).

Work to keep your lower back extensors firing as well; this will help prevent you from rounding in the lower back, which can lead to back issues in the future, or force you to drop the rep.

Think Up

Eb says: Throughout the front squat, battle to keep your chest and shoulders up. If either starts to drop, then you’re cruising to lose the rep. Be intentional about keeping these body parts high and think about it; especially when you train heavy, they’ll start to drop by default.

When that happens, squeeze your midback and lower back muscles harder, because those are the muscles that fail and lead your torso to collapse. Think about mentally checking in with your body at three points on every rep: At the very top, at the very bottom, and as you begin to power up from the hole.

Benefits of the Front Squat

The front squat incorporates more engagement of the core than other squat variations. If you’re a beginner, that may be beneficial in teaching you proper squat form. The position of the load forces you to brace and activate your core and low back extensors.

Because of its emphasis on the anterior, it also might be the squat variation worth doing if your goal is aesthetics. Like other heavy compound movements, you’ll be able to use the exercise to build muscle and strength with the right program.

Muscles Worked by the Front Squat

The front squat is powered by the large muscles of your legs, meaning the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes. The positioning of the load creates more of an emphasis on the anterior (front) side of the body, mainly the quads and abdominal muscles, as you brace to keep the weight from tipping forward. There’s also some upper back activation to be able to hold the bar stable to the front of the body.

How to Add the Front Squat into Your Workouts

The front squat is a substantial compound movement, and you’ll also have the chance to load it up with heavy weight. Because of that, you’ll want to make the front squat one of the first lifts of your day in either a full-body or leg day workout so you can attack it with fresh legs. Do them only once or twice a week, aiming for 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps.

Front Squat Variations

Goblet Squat

If you’re interested in the benefits of the front squat but don’t have access to a barbell rack or if you’re a beginner and are still building your way up to a barbell, a goblet squat is a great option to turn to. You can do the move with a dumbbell or kettlebell.

How to Do It:

• Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell at your chest, close to your torso. Simply having the weight here, much like the barbell front squat, forces you to keep your torso upright.
• Bend at the knees and hips, squatting down to parallel or below parallel depth, depending on your mobility.
• Press off the ground and squeeze your glutes to stand back up, extending your hips.

Sets and Reps: 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 8 reps