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.

Programming Tips

The front squat rewards being treated as a main lift, not an afterthought. Program it early in a leg session for 3 to 5 sets of 4 to 8 reps, since upper back fatigue makes high rep front squatting sloppy long before the legs give out. It pairs naturally with back squat training across the week: one heavier back squat day and one moderate front squat day covers both patterns without burying your recovery.

Expect to lift roughly 70 to 85 percent of your back squat here; that gap is normal and not a weakness to fix. If mobility keeps you out of a clean rack position, use the cross-arm grip or straps looped around the bar as a bridge rather than skipping the lift entirely.

Common Questions

Why do I keep dumping the bar forward?

The bar rolls forward when the elbows drop. Fight to keep the upper arms parallel to the floor for the entire rep, brace hard before descending, and drop the load until you can finish every set with the elbows up.

Front squat or back squat for quad growth?

The front squat keeps the torso more upright, which shifts stress toward the quads and away from the hips and lower back. Both grow the quads well, but if quad size is the priority and your back squat turns into a good morning, the front squat is the better tool.

Does the bar hurt everyone's shoulders at first?

Mild pressure on the front delts is normal in the first few weeks and fades as you adapt. Sharp pain is not; check that the bar sits on the shoulder shelf and against the throat side of the delts, not out on the arms.