The Ape Bot

The Front Squat:

As you may have already discovered, the squat is at the top of
the heap (along with deadlifts) as one of the most effective
overall exercises for stimulating body composition changes
(muscle gain and fat loss). This is because exercises like
squats and deadlifts use more muscle groups under a heavy load
than almost any other weight bearing exercises known to man.
Hence, these exercises stimulate the greatest hormonal responses
(growth hormone, testosterone, etc.) of all exercises. In fact,
university research studies have even proven that inclusion of
squats into a training program increases upper body development,
in addition to lower body development, even though upper body
specific joint movements are not performed during the squat.
Whether your goal is gaining muscle mass, losing body fat,
building a strong and functional body, or improving athletic
performance, the basic squat and deadlift (and their variations)
are the ultimate solution. If you don’t believe me that squats
and deadlifts are THE basis for a lean and powerful body, then
go ahead and join all of the other overweight people pumping
away mindlessly for hours on boring cardio equipment. You won’t
find long boring cardio in any of my programs!

Squats can be done with any free weighted objects such as
barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, sandbags, or even just body
weight. Squats should only be done with free weights - NEVER
with a Smith machine or any other squat machines! Machines do
not allow your body to follow natural, biomechanically-correct
movement paths. You also perform less work because the machine
stabilizes the weight for you. Therefore, you get weaker
results!

The type of squat that people are most familiar with is the
barbell back squat where the bar is resting on the trapezius
muscles of the upper back. Many professional strength coaches
believe that front squats (where the bar rests on the shoulders
in front of the head) and overhead squats (where the bar is
locked out in a snatch grip overhead throughout the squat) are
more functional to athletic performance than back squats with
less risk of lower back injury. I feel that a combination of all
three (not necessarily during the same phase of your workouts)
will yield the best results for overall muscular development,
body fat loss, and athletic performance. Front squats are
moderately more difficult than back squats, while overhead
squats are considerably more difficult than either back squats
or front squats. I’ll cover overhead squats in a future article.
If you are only accustomed to performing back squats, it will
take you a few sessions to become comfortable with front squats,
so start out light. After a couple sessions of practice, you
will start to feel the groove and be able to increase the
poundage.

To perform front squats:

The front squat recruits the abdominals to a much higher degree
for stability due to the more upright position compared with
back squats. It is mostly a lower body exercise, but is great
for functionally incorporating core strength and stability into
the squatting movement. It can also be slightly difficult to
learn how to properly rest the bar on your shoulders. There are
two ways to rest the bar on the front of the shoulders. In the
first method, you step under the bar and cross your forearms
into an “X” position while resting the bar on the dimple that is
created by the shoulder muscle near the bone, keeping your
elbows up high so that your arms are parallel to the ground. You
then hold the bar in place by pressing the thumb side of your
fists against the bar for support. Alternatively, you can hold
the bar by placing your palms face up and the bar resting on
your fingers against your shoulders. For both methods, your
elbows must stay up high to prevent the weight from falling.
Your upper arms should stay parallel to the ground throughout
the squat. Find out which bar support method is more comfortable
for you. Then, initiate the squat from your hips by sitting back
and down, keeping the weight on your heels as opposed to the
balls of your feet. Squat down to a position where your thighs
are approximately parallel to the ground, then press back up to
the starting position. Keeping your weight more towards your
heels is the key factor in squatting to protect your knees from
injury and develop strong injury-resistant knee joints. Keep in
mind - squats done correctly actually strengthen the knees;
squats done incorrectly can damage the knees. Practice first
with an un-weighted bar or a relatively light weight to learn
the movement. Most people are surprised how hard this exercise
works your abs once you learn the correct form. This is due to
the more upright posture compared with back squats. Visit href="http://truthaboutabs.com/Front-Squats.html" rel="nofollow">http://truthabo
utabs.com/Front-Squats.html to see photos of proper form on
the front squat.