Barbell Front Squat

1. Set the bar in a rack at upper-chest height and step into it, placing the bar across your front delts against your throat's base.
2. Take a clean grip with fingertips under the bar just outside the shoulders and drive your elbows high so your upper arms are near parallel to the floor; use a crossed-arm grip if wrist mobility is limited.
3. Unrack by standing tall, step back, and set your feet about shoulder width with toes slightly out.
4. Take a deep breath into your belly and brace hard.
5. Squat down by bending knees and hips together, keeping your torso as vertical as possible and elbows up throughout.
6. Descend until your hips drop below your knees, or as deep as you can with a stable position.
7. Drive up through mid-foot, leading with the elbows and chest, and exhale near the top.
8. Re-brace at the top before every rep; the rack position falls apart faster than the legs fatigue.

Common Mistakes

• Elbows dropping: once the elbows sink, the bar rolls forward and the back rounds; cue elbows up on every single rep, especially out of the hole.
• Gripping the bar in the palms: trying to fully hold the bar wrecks the wrists; the bar sits on the shoulders and the fingers only keep it in place.
• Hips shooting back: turning the front squat into a hinge dumps the bar forward; sit straight down between your heels.
• Skipping mobility work: forcing the rack position with stiff wrists and lats leads to pain, not progress; build the position with lighter bars first, even an empty 20 kg bar.