Front Squats


Front squats are an excellent exercise for working the muscles of the quadriceps. Begin by resting the barbell on your shoulders while crossing your arms one over the other and grabbing hold of the bar. With your arms crossed, raise your elbows high in front of you so that they are about parallel to the floor or slightly higher. If you fail to keep your arms raised, the weight may pull you forward and cause you to round your back, or worse, you may lose control of the weight completely. With your feet placed about shoulder-width apart and while keeping a slight arch in your lower back, bend your knees to lower yourself towards the floor.


Continue lowering yourself until your thighs are horizontal to the floor or thereabout, then push yourself back up to the starting position, feeling a strong contraction in the quadriceps.

Tips

* View the page on classic squats for a detailed list of safety precautions that you should be aware of. These guidelines apply to any type of squat exercise. The most important things to remember are to avoid rounding the back and to only take the range of motion as far as you are able to do safely.
* With the barbell held in front, this exercise mainly develops the quadriceps muscles. The hamstrings, gluteal muscles, and the muscles of the lower back are all worked as well. Additionally, when you contract the core to avoid rounding the back on the descent, the abdominal muscles are called into play.


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