I back Squat 295. I front squat 175. I know, I know..175 sucks. What assistance movement will supplement my front squat the best? Pistols, hack squat, leg press, lunge?? I am trying to strengthen my quads and specifically tighten my MCL after a couple of injuries in the last 3 years. Will sarcoplasmic hypertrophy or myofibrillar hypertrophy help tighten my MCL better? I usually do not focus on sarcoplasmic because I train to help my Muay Thai. Thanks for any help you can offer.
How are your cleans looking? Have you always been weak at front squats (i.e. before your injury)? What I'm getting at is front squats could just be an akward lift for you. I posted a thread a while back asking everyone what % of weight for front squat compared to back squat they use. The consensus was at around 75% or 80%. You are at about 60%. I was in the exact same boat. Around 3 months ago, I actually only front squatted around 170 lbs (roughly 60% of back squat) and the other day I got up to 215 lbs (close to what you "should" be doing). I increased mine from doing a lot more cleans and front squats. Getting used to the lift and having the weight in front of you (cleans helps this) did wonders for me.
My FS is teh suck, too. My numbers are about the same at the TS's. I can almost OHS as much as my front.
This is kinda wierd advice so take it with a grain of salt. I recently started adding some dedicated ab work to my routine. (No its not for a "sexpack" the military likes situps) Anyway I've noticed that as my abs have gotten stronger my stabilization during my front squats has improved dramatically. I went from a previous PR of 165 to 225 in only about the last 6 weeks.
Ways to improve your front squat 1. Ensure your form, esp, the rack is near perfect 2. Ensure overhead squats are included in your program 2x/week 3. Specialize on the front squat for about 3 months, maybe throw in a set of back squats once a week, moderate weight, medium reps, but trust me, your back full squat will not suffer and may actually improve 4. Use a Smolov type approach with the front squats, you can also do a T3 type plan, but the reps need to come down drastically, maybe 5x2, 5x3, 5x5 on a rotating basis 5. Make sure your cleans are performed correctly 6. Bottom position front squats with the pin started as your sticking point *most of the issues with front squat are racking technique and weak core/posterior chain, both of which are quickly solved with overhead squats
You may be onto something because I drastically increased ab wheel rollouts during the time my 1RM went from 170 to 215. Again, I think doing cleans is also very important for the progression.
I stripped down the bar and focused on form with my cleans tonight (95lbs -135lbs). My catch was good and I made sure to really contract my chain and quads on the way up from the catch position. It actually felt like I was getting more activation from my legs during cleans than I usually do from front squats. I also spent some time warming up with overhead squats to improve my ROM and core strength. It was a shock to find how difficult overhead squats were...probably due to my poor ROM and weak core. Thanks for the help guys.
Bought and read Starting Strength v2 OHSing everyday with varied weights and reps I have only been FSing I am pyramiding from 5-6 reps up to heavy doubles as my program not quite there yet with my cleans but, they are getting better haven't tried them yet Thanks for the help...I hit 185x2 tonight after pyramiding up. I think I can hit 200 easy next workout.
