Front Squats made easier...

[jeremys]

imagine a power clean. hold the bar at the clean position. thats what i do. i cant get my arms in that position.

hacks sound good for me right now. i need good leg work while healing my lower back

 

[louden_swain]

I never cared for frontal squats. Frankly, I would rather use more weight in the back squat. I feel that the back squat is the best developer for the hips and quads. It was always hard for me to keep my torso erect when performing this movement. When I used light weights. . . I felt nothing.

For now, I will stick to 6 to 8 sets of heavy box squats.

 

[endpoint]

jeremys: "hold" as in...how do you hold the bar with your hands.

try holding the bar with only you middle and pointer fingers.

louden_swain: no offence but you must have a weak core if you cant stay upright. If you do have a relativly strong core you might be holding the bar wrong

box squats can take a lot of weight off your quads.

front squats target the quads a lot better than back squats...a 150kg front squat will feel and places as much if not more pressure on the quads than say....180kgs

i guess it depends on what you want to get from training.
in my eyes back squats give you more "bang for your buck"

 

[louden_swain]

louden_swain: no offence but you must have a weak core if you cant stay upright. If you do have a relativly strong core you might be holding the bar wrong

My core is strong, but I just can't get comfortable with this exercise. I would rather direct the stress to my quads and hips rather than to my front delts, biceps, and lower back.

 

[jeremys]

endpoint: that kind of helps but i still cant force my elbows up high enough. they're almost directly touching my body

 

[endpoint]

louden_swain: there are different opinions of what a strong core is.

You shouldnt be feeling this in your upper body AT ALL.

With out watching you do the lift, your elbows may not be high enough throwing the weight forward....or gulp you have a weak core (you your self just said you feel it in your lower back). It is a priceless lift if you can master it...but it isnt essential (as i said before).
If you are interested.....try brining up your good mornings....that will help


jeremys: tight triceps? I had a lot of trouble until i stretched my way into them. Lats, forearms, quads triceps, seemed to hold me back the most

If you watch some of the superheavy OLs some of them hold the same arm position as you while recovering from a clean...

 

[jeremys]

that's probably the problem

 

[coolcolj]

use a wider grip, 3-4 inches wider than shoulder width, and then stick the elbows inwards, the will pop your front delts up to form a nice shelf, then jam the bar right against your throat.
You should feel like your choking

Use wide stance , this will keep your body perfectly vertical and thus take pressure of your wrists.

I can almost front squat what I back squat - well only about 40lb difference at the most.

It is a hard exercise, but great core builder. I feel like drowning everytime I do em heavy