Author Topic: abandon the back squat, and move to front squat!  (Read 4737 times)

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fast does lie

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abandon the back squat, and move to front squat!
« on: February 28, 2013, 12:17:09 am »
-4
The back squat has definitely helped my posterior chain strength and overall strenght for that matter, but it really hasn't done much for my athleticism.  It has increased my SVJ by a decent amount in 1 year (5 inches) but not much for RVJ.  But worse of all is that the back squat has been terrible for my posture and has made my anterior pelvic tilt and kyphosis worse. 

I was chatting with former Euro league bball standout and now strength /bball trainer for Bulls/collegiate players.  His take is that the back squat isn't an exercise that is too efficient for athletes, except for powerlifters.  It doesn't mimic the jumping movement like the front squat which is a lot better for one's back. 

So i advise all you squat junkies to start front squatting, snatch, and cleans and start saying goodbye to the back squat.
February 28, 2013, 12:17:09 am - Hidden. Show this post.
33yrs | 24in SVJ | >45% BF | 227LB | 5'9 | 7'5 reach | 400lb max squat paused | 5'8 wingspan | 26in RVJ

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Goal: Maintain 385-405lb squat while cutting down to 165 LB

entropy

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Re: abandon the back squat, and move to front squat!
« Reply #1 on: February 28, 2013, 03:52:19 am »
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Squatting is efficient if you're trying to drive your SVJ up because it increases your strength which the SVJ is dependent on.

I don't see the mechanism for transferring full squatting (bs or fs) over to RVJ because the knee angles are acute whether single or double leg jumping.

I would think heavier partial squats (quarter to half) are more applicable to RVJ. Is this well known in our circles btw?
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AGC

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Re: abandon the back squat, and move to front squat!
« Reply #2 on: February 28, 2013, 05:43:18 am »
+3
Different name, same troll.

LBSS

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Re: abandon the back squat, and move to front squat!
« Reply #3 on: February 28, 2013, 09:17:51 am »
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Squatting is efficient if you're trying to drive your SVJ up because it increases your strength which the SVJ is dependent on.

I don't see the mechanism for transferring full squatting (bs or fs) over to RVJ because the knee angles are acute whether single or double leg jumping.

I would think heavier partial squats (quarter to half) are more applicable to RVJ. Is this well known in our circles btw?

adarq got a lot out of partial squats to pins. not sure who else has tried it -- for some reason i remember kf doing partials but he doesn't care about RVJ so not sure that it's relevant.
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ChrisM

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Re: abandon the back squat, and move to front squat!
« Reply #4 on: February 28, 2013, 10:13:55 am »
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KF did some supra max partials, said he thought they helped his full squat. I've read a few trainers who say quarter squats help rvj. I was debating throwing a few sets in at the end of my sessions next cycle.
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Raptor

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Re: abandon the back squat, and move to front squat!
« Reply #5 on: February 28, 2013, 11:25:19 am »
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Well, I suck at RVJ and I suck at half squatting so...

ChrisM

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Re: abandon the back squat, and move to front squat!
« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2013, 11:57:32 am »
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Aren't you a one foot jumper as well? Nothing works for every person and not every person who excels in the weight room can jump or vice versa. If the formula was that specific we'd all be jumping 50+. ;)
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entropy

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Re: abandon the back squat, and move to front squat!
« Reply #7 on: March 03, 2013, 11:26:17 pm »
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You should believe what you need to, to improve yourself. At one point I swore off the backsquat and decided to focus on the front squat. Lance gave me his blessing to focus on the FS even though it's kind of silly of me to say one exercise is better. I don't regret that decision one bit. The opportunistic cost is maybe I haven't pushed my backsquat up anywhere but I don't really care because the frontsquat has done wonders for me.

Also when I was initially focusing on backsquat last year and I got up to a decent weight for my lanky ass(~130kg w/o belt @ ~190lb) I had zero carryover to my vertical or athleticism. In fact I seemed to be jumping slightly lower than my untrained vertical! That could be because I got there using smolov and that specialised my strength in a very narrow manner that didn't carry over, but my impression was the backsquat didn't do much if anything for me at that point.

I would suggest to you though, to finish your cut to low bodyfat and then at your lower bodyweight focus on that 2bw backsquat goal while you're on a good roll with the lift. And then if you like focus on FS. I think you're a good backsquatter so there is no reason why you shouldn't ride it for as long as you can before changing up to the front version.
« Last Edit: March 03, 2013, 11:40:26 pm by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

pelham32

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Re: abandon the back squat, and move to front squat!
« Reply #8 on: March 04, 2013, 12:55:25 pm »
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I tried to do the whole front squat thing, but for me I just couldn't get comfortable with it... Heavy front squats took more out of me than heavy back squats half or full. I do believe it is a great substitution for the back squat though.. As far as rvj is concerned, this is my main goal and what I care about most for leg training.

Any suggestions for a set and rep scheme for half squats for an assistance exercise? I felt I did benefit from half squats, but the heavier weight and shorter reversal point was killing my low back bc of my long torso. I'm thinking a focus on a full back squat for strength and lighter higher rep assistance work with half squat will be the best of both worlds. Yay or nay?

Aren't you a one foot jumper as well? Nothing works for every person and not every person who excels in the weight room can jump or vice versa. If the formula was that specific we'd all be jumping 50+. ;)

If only it were that easy, kinda like when you ask a great dunker "how do you jump so high?" And he tells you he used to ride bikes a lot and do 300 calve raises a night...
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highest touch= top of the square, which is 11'4

Kingfish

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Re: abandon the back squat, and move to front squat!
« Reply #9 on: March 04, 2013, 03:38:56 pm »
+2
I tried to do the whole front squat thing, but for me I just couldn't get comfortable with it... Heavy front squats took more out of me than heavy back squats half or full. I do believe it is a great substitution for the back squat though.. As far as rvj is concerned, this is my main goal and what I care about most for leg training.

Any suggestions for a set and rep scheme for half squats for an assistance exercise? I felt I did benefit from half squats, but the heavier weight and shorter reversal point was killing my low back bc of my long torso. I'm thinking a focus on a full back squat for strength and lighter higher rep assistance work with half squat will be the best of both worlds. Yay or nay?


supra max weight, 1-2 reps, 1-2 sets.  focus on controlled but very explosive reversals.

for higher rep assistance work, use the same half-squat depth with a very light weight and do jump squats with resets.  i hold a 25lb plate each hand when i do these. top it off with a few singles of SVJ/RVJ. 
5'10" | 210lbs | 39 yrs
reach - 7'8" (92") |paused full squat - 545x1| standing VJ - 40"|

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Daily Squats Day 1 - Aug 30, 2011 and still going.

pelham32

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Re: abandon the back squat, and move to front squat!
« Reply #10 on: March 04, 2013, 04:13:06 pm »
0
I tried to do the whole front squat thing, but for me I just couldn't get comfortable with it... Heavy front squats took more out of me than heavy back squats half or full. I do believe it is a great substitution for the back squat though.. As far as rvj is concerned, this is my main goal and what I care about most for leg training.

Any suggestions for a set and rep scheme for half squats for an assistance exercise? I felt I did benefit from half squats, but the heavier weight and shorter reversal point was killing my low back bc of my long torso. I'm thinking a focus on a full back squat for strength and lighter higher rep assistance work with half squat will be the best of both worlds. Yay or nay?


supra max weight, 1-2 reps, 1-2 sets.  focus on controlled but very explosive reversals.

for higher rep assistance work, use the same half-squat depth with a very light weight and do jump squats with resets.  i hold a 25lb plate each hand when i do these. top it off with a few singles of SVJ/RVJ.

Interesting, is this more of a explosive oriented routine? To teach explosiveness at the specific joint angle and to be followed with a squat routine? For example, I'm on 5/3/1 for my main strength work of full squat,  and this looks like it could be done afterwards for the assistance work. Here's what I did today, before I read your reply. I did 5/3/1 for strength in full squat, then went down to 195lbs(started light) and tried half squats for some high rep myo reps.. It went down like this
195lbs x 15, 4,4,4,5,5 .. Then some single leg hip thrusts....  My form didn't break down as much since I started light..  I might try your recommendation on a separate workout in between my two squatting days.
Goal

windmill consistently/ touch top of the square consistently



weight= 193
height= 6'3 1/2
highest touch= top of the square, which is 11'4

Kingfish

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Re: abandon the back squat, and move to front squat!
« Reply #11 on: March 04, 2013, 04:21:57 pm »
+2
Interesting, is this more of a explosive oriented routine? Toteach explosiveness at the specific joint angle and to be followed with a squat routine? For example, I'm on 5/3/1 for my main strength work of full squat,  and this looks like it could be done afterwards for the assistance work. Here's what I did today, before I read your reply. I did 5/3/1 for strength in full squat, then went down to 195lbs(started light) and tried half squats for some high rep myo reps.. It went down like this
195lbs x 15, 4,4,4,5,5 .. Then some single leg hip thrusts....  My form didn't break down as much since I started light..  I might try your recommendation on a separate workout in between my two squatting days.

yes. do not abuse the supra max. it will work until it starts breaking you apart.

it's in my log somewhere -  IIRC, last time i did the 1/2 squats, i will full squat up to 405. then supra max 1-2 singles using 425,455,475,495 up to 515s. so there, up to 130%RM.

build up first and don't go very heavy too early. i suggest switching after 8-12 weeks if you are still not broken at that point.

all these rep/set/weight came from lance. i didn't make it up.
5'10" | 210lbs | 39 yrs
reach - 7'8" (92") |paused full squat - 545x1| standing VJ - 40"|

absolute unit

Daily Squats Day 1 - Aug 30, 2011 and still going.

pelham32

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Re: abandon the back squat, and move to front squat!
« Reply #12 on: March 07, 2013, 12:22:26 pm »
+1
Is the supra max that 1/2 squat that adarq does?

The supramax is just a weight that will be heavier than your max.. So a half squat max would be heavier than a full squat max... So working up to 110% - 130% in the half squat relative to the full squat is the suggestion by KingFish. If you full squat 315 work up to between 330 - 355 in the half squat(I'm guestimating)
Goal

windmill consistently/ touch top of the square consistently



weight= 193
height= 6'3 1/2
highest touch= top of the square, which is 11'4

adarqui

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Re: abandon the back squat, and move to front squat!
« Reply #13 on: March 08, 2013, 12:29:09 pm »
+2
i always felt like front squats gave me some 'instant power'.. should have stuck with them.