I’ve been working on a 2x bodyweight (405) front squat for some time now. This is a long term goal i wish to have by spring of next year. I’ve tried just working out of the “hole” for awhile, tried heavy singles to heavy triples, rest/pause method, breathing squats. Any idea’s that could help?
You could try Partial reps. Anderson Squats would probably work for the front squat.
I would start looking at advanced programs for squatting. You are past the intermediate phase, so you can get away without a ton of volume and most likely use ramping sets vs strictly volume. And as always, sleep well and eat good.
Good luck.
Have you tried cluster sets? I.e., do 1 rep, rest 10 secs, do 1 rep, rest 10 secs, and so on until you reach a total of 5 or so reps. And then you repeat this for a few more sets.
Or wave loading? I.e., 6/4/2/6/4/2, which is 6 total sets. And on the last wave of 6/4/2, you use slightly heavier weights than you did on the first wave of 6/4/2 (like 10 more pounds).
Thanks guys. I’ll try to work these idea’s in, in the next few weeks.
Im working towards that goal as well. For me, my weakness is just holding the weight when it starts to get that heavy. So for me, rack work (anderson squats) are going to be a big part of my program. Im also working zercher squats in a power rack.
For the lower portion of the lift, out of the hole, im just training backsquat with a widestance at various box heights. I know the lift is slightly different, but the I figure if I raise my back squat by 50lbs while also training for front squats, then my front squat should go up.
Good luck.
Smolov.
[quote]For the lower portion of the lift, out of the hole, im just training backsquat with a widestance at various box heights. I know the lift is slightly different, but the I figure if I raise my back squat by 50lbs while also training for front squats, then my front squat should go up.
[/quote]
is widestance squatting not geared towards ham development so by training wide you wont be strengthening the quads as much which play a bigger role in front squatting?!
feel free to absolutely slate me if im wrong but thats how it seems to me?
would it not be better to use stuff like deadstop squatting from your sticking point out of the hole?
once again im more than happy to be corrected so let me know!
[quote]viper27 wrote:
I’ve been working on a 2x bodyweight (405) front squat for some time now. This is a long term goal i wish to have by spring of next year. I’ve tried just working out of the “hole” for awhile, tried heavy singles to heavy triples, rest/pause method, breathing squats. Any idea’s that could help?
[/quote]
I would say getting your olympic high bar squat to 405x8 and a 405 front squat will be cake after some practise 
[quote]CoolColJ wrote:
viper27 wrote:
I’ve been working on a 2x bodyweight (405) front squat for some time now. This is a long term goal i wish to have by spring of next year. I’ve tried just working out of the “hole” for awhile, tried heavy singles to heavy triples, rest/pause method, breathing squats. Any idea’s that could help?
I would say getting your olympic high bar squat to 405x8 and a 405 front squat will be cake after some practise :)[/quote]
How would you go about that?
smolov for front squat would be killer in the first phase. the intense cycle wouldn’t be so bad tho. you could do smolov for back squat and that would carry over. that is, unless you have an injury that prevents normal back squating
[quote]beanboy502 wrote:
For the lower portion of the lift, out of the hole, im just training backsquat with a widestance at various box heights. I know the lift is slightly different, but the I figure if I raise my back squat by 50lbs while also training for front squats, then my front squat should go up.
is widestance squatting not geared towards ham development so by training wide you wont be strengthening the quads as much which play a bigger role in front squatting?!
feel free to absolutely slate me if im wrong but thats how it seems to me?
would it not be better to use stuff like deadstop squatting from your sticking point out of the hole?
once again im more than happy to be corrected so let me know!
[/quote]
I dont really know, because I haven’t been doing it long enough to see the results. But I dont think front squats are all quads. Sure they may involve more quads than a back squat, but the hams and glutes are still are large part of a front squat. For me at least, it seems that the real limiting factor for front squts is keeping your body upright with the heavy load. I could be wrong as well, but I think if you can back squat 400+ and can support 400+ in a front squat rack position with some ease, then you are on the right track to front squatting 400+
work your abs and lower back hard. Keeping upright with a heavy front squat takes alot of torso strength
Blimey! I can only DREAM of a x2 BW FSQ, I started about 4 weeks ago, and I’m not repping 0.5xBW yet! Ha ha.
Mind you I haven’t SQ’d at all for over 10 years (Back probs) But I’ve started again and, hopefully I’ll be back squatting in a few months.
I’m at BW reps front squat right now 
I’m doing it just for increased vertical, so I hope at 2xBW there will be some increase… There should be
How much do you guys figure it would take to get to a 2xBW? A few years? I’m thinking 3-4 of gradual increase…
Hmmm, I am at a 1.6xBW, and it takes me about 4 weeks of ‘solid perfect’ lifting/eating to get a 10% increase without going up in weight.
I am sure if you didn’t take breaks of half arsing yourself you could get from BW to 2xBW within 2 years considering diminishing returns. If you gained 10kg over those 2 years you could probably make it faster.
Just guessing here, comparing to my own gains.
[quote]matko5 wrote:
I’m at BW reps front squat right now
I’m doing it just for increased vertical, so I hope at 2xBW there will be some increase… There should be
How much do you guys figure it would take to get to a 2xBW? A few years? I’m thinking 3-4 of gradual increase…[/quote]
I went from low 200’s to 270 doing Dan John’s 40 day program, but I was only doing the 3 week version. These were AMAZING gains and I dont expect to be able to continue them. Im doing westside now, and haven’t maxed out since I started training back squats, so I’ll give it a try this week on my ME day and see what its up to.
I think for me, getting to 315 or so wont be too hard, but that last 85lbs is going to require a lot of core strength.
[quote]Bloobird wrote:
CoolColJ wrote:
viper27 wrote:
I’ve been working on a 2x bodyweight (405) front squat for some time now. This is a long term goal i wish to have by spring of next year. I’ve tried just working out of the “hole” for awhile, tried heavy singles to heavy triples, rest/pause method, breathing squats. Any idea’s that could help?
I would say getting your olympic high bar squat to 405x8 and a 405 front squat will be cake after some practise
How would you go about that?
[/quote]
get your legs, hips and back bigger and stronger 
[quote]CoolColJ wrote:
Bloobird wrote:
CoolColJ wrote:
viper27 wrote:
I’ve been working on a 2x bodyweight (405) front squat for some time now. This is a long term goal i wish to have by spring of next year. I’ve tried just working out of the “hole” for awhile, tried heavy singles to heavy triples, rest/pause method, breathing squats. Any idea’s that could help?
I would say getting your olympic high bar squat to 405x8 and a 405 front squat will be cake after some practise
How would you go about that?
get your legs, hips and back bigger and stronger
[/quote]
Such speficity, I don’t how you manage it!
I have one piece of advice that I dont think anyone mentioned.
For front squats, I find that sets of 1-3, maybe 1-5 are best. I know in training for max strength, you are going to be doing this anyways with most exercises, but I think front squats its even more so.
So you could be maxing out on:
Front squats
Deficit deadlifts (using your legs more, with your but down)
Box squat
Back squats
etc.
And then throw in some repetition work for higher reps with:
Rack squats
zercher squats
Split squats
stepups
etc.
And then a really important thing to incorporate from time to time is some heavy holds or 1/4 front squats. If you are going to attemp to front squat 300x1, you should get comfortable holding 315-350 in the rack position for about 10 seconds.