[quote]BarneyFife wrote:
It seems like here in the last six months or so there has been a huge explosion of people front squating, do zercher sqauts and doing overhead squats. I know that i may be ignorant, but why does it seem like back squating has gone out of favor and everyone has had an exodus to front squats?
When will there be a revolution amongst deadlifters?[/quote]
I’m not sure if this is the case, but with long legs I perfer zerchers and front squats(body building style not olympic, cause I can’t touch the bar to my upper chest)as for the deadlift, it hits my hams and gluts hard like a ATG backsquat would. So the point is for me they hurt and I feel off balance, maybe weak quads?
I’ve grown to prefer front squat to back squat. I still back squat dont get me wrong, but I feel that making front squat and deadlift the staples of lower body lifting you get a better balance between quads and PC. There is a lot of crossover between the back squat and deadlift, and doing them in the same week frequently gives me recovery issues in the lower back.
[quote]BarneyFife wrote:
hmm. I have toyed around with the hack squat machine at the gym. I just don’t have any motivation to train my legs all that much. I love training everything else, but I don’t ever really feel motivated to train my legs. I always wear pants.[/quote]
A well done, worthwhile, balls out set of any major leg excersize is, to me, about as much fun as being dragged by a mule naked through a thick patch of prickly pear… in the mojave desert… at 2 pm in July. I do it though, because the results are worth it, period. There is a sort of mental satisfaction having another leg workout behind you. Working legs hurts… alot if done right. I’m not particularly fond of pain and would much rather be able to grow a meaty lower body playing HL2 on my computer, but ain’t happnin.
If you haven’t squatted much it’s easier to do front squats–especialy if you’re tall. You won’t bend forwards as much as doing back squats. Add in some good mornings (make sure you’re on the heels and drop the ass WAY back) and you’ll: (a) get stronger and (b) set yourself up for some good back squat form
Got this from Pavel and it worked great. I used to struggle with 165 on back squats–always felt crazy awkward. Then I took off several months from back squats and did fs and gm (and a crapload of deads) Finally tried back squats one day and nailed 225 easy, 245 easy, 275 felt light and got up to 315 for 3 reps.
Front squats make you support the weight you are lifting in a much better way than back squats, Yes it takes midsection strength to back squat properly, but alot of that weight is supported by your bony structure in my opinion. Front squats require you to basically support muscularly, the weight you are lifting. Just look at where the weight is positioned. It is on your clavicle and you do not have bony support structure on the front side of your body, after your ribs its muscle until the pelvis.
Secondly, why would you start a post questioning front squats then say you dont like to train legs, which basically says you dont know what you are talking about when it comes to training legs?
[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
I’m not particularly fond of pain and would much rather be able to grow a meaty lower body playing HL2 on my computer, but ain’t happnin.
–Tiribulus->
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You could if you had a mini leg press set up under your computer! Think outside the box mate!
Below is piece of CT’s article that pertains to squatting…
…
The Gironda System: Modern Applications
I first want to make it clear that I don’t agree 100% with Gironda. For example, he was against regular squats for the most part. I’m not. It wasn’t the exercise itself he disliked, but rather its efficacy for most trainees.
He felt that most men had a structure that led to more development of the glutes and hips rather than quads when using regular squats. For those individuals he recommended avoiding the regular back squat, but he was still “for” certain variations of the squat like the front squat, sissy squat, and frog-style squat.
He also felt that some male bodybuilders had a structure that allowed them to perform regular back squats without building-up the hips and glutes too much (Sergio Oliva was among them). Generally, this “squatting friendly structure” involved a naturally small waist and hip structure, a relatively long torso, and short legs. Gironda believed that the exercise was thus okay for them. Finally, he believed that regular back squats were a great exercise for women to build firmer, perkier butts. -CT
I don’t always plan on front squats, but I often turn to them when the squat rack is tied up. Actually, today I did a clean and jerk so I could back squat (clearly my squat is weak), but that left me with a bar on my back and nowhere to set it down (it’s a very cramped gym so I couldn’t just drop it lest I kill a nerd). So I meekly push-pressed it from behind my neck and let it down in front of me…clearly I won’t be doing that again.
I like doing front squats early in a workout then some lunges or splits later. It really hits everything well.
[quote]Go heavy fool wrote:
Shortest Straw wrote:
Aren’t you the dude who want to build his ass? I thought you cant deadlift or squat at your gym?
hehehe
That still cracks me up.
“ass exercises” for a guy… and I thought I had heard it all.[/quote]
I was a bit taken aback by this, but you gotta give the guy credit for his honesty though I think his info on the ass/thrusting thing was flawed. I sure as hell don’t know everything about women, but you’ll turn most of em on more by listening to them and being genuinely interested than wiggling your thrustmaster ass in their face. This may seem overly basic, but they’re different n us.
[quote]BarneyFife wrote:
squeezer wrote:
BarneyFife wrote:
I always wear pants.
I know it’s not fair to quote you without the preceding context, but that line just cracks me up every time I read it.
I dont honestly even own a pair of shorts. I don’t fully understand why that line is so funny.[/quote]
OK, now I mean this in all sincerity. Lotsa guys woulda been so thin skinned and defensive by now, cryin and moanin how “everybody’s makin funna me” . You sir are a good sport and will probably live longer because you are able to let a little goofin around roll off your back. Seriously dude, there’s a valuable lesson here and you’re teaching it well though I doubt you even know it. Hats off to ya.
Although the back squat is by far the superior exercise for overall strength, the front squat serves many purposes.
Olympic Weightlifters utilize it to help recover from the clean and help leg drive for the jerk or push press as well because it is a more pure leg exercise than the back squat.
For some, ATG back squats are not a possibility, espacially those with long legs and short torso’s like myself, I can do them, but it remains very hard to keep the lower back arched, I know, I’ve slipped a disk doing them. I use a medium stance and drop a few inches below parallel in IPF powerlifting style. Front Squats however, allow me to go rock bottom, and keep my back straight.
The leverage of having the bar out front also require an enormous amount of stability from the core, I find front squats beneficial for stone lifting in strongman and also make a great change of pace from back squats, espacially when I’m smack in my strong man season, where I compete just about every week-end, it get’s hard to recover from events, deadlifts and other back movements, front squats give my back a well needed break.
[quote]Jesse Snadden wrote:
Although the back squat is by far the superior exercise for overall strength, the front squat serves many purposes.
Olympic Weightlifters utilize it to help recover from the clean and help leg drive for the jerk or push press as well because it is a more pure leg exercise than the back squat.
For some, ATG back squats are not a possibility, espacially those with long legs and short torso’s like myself, I can do them, but it remains very hard to keep the lower back arched, I know, I’ve slipped a disk doing them. I use a medium stance and drop a few inches below parallel in IPF powerlifting style. Front Squats however, allow me to go rock bottom, and keep my back straight.
The leverage of having the bar out front also require an enormous amount of stability from the core, I find front squats beneficial for stone lifting in strongman and also make a great change of pace from back squats, espacially when I’m smack in my strong man season, where I compete just about every week-end, it get’s hard to recover from events, deadlifts and other back movements, front squats give my back a well needed break.
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Thank you. I’ve lurked here for years. When I started to see some familiar posters from other forums I visit, I felt compelled to join this community too.
no offense