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Front squat q

jhotsauce7

jhotsauce7

TID Board Of Directors
Jan 18, 2011
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So, I love front squats but never trained them regularly or gone too heavy
i don't have the wrist mobility to use a traditional grip so instead I use the California style grip, cross arms on bar. If I try the standard front squat grip the bar is basically going to be resting on my windpipe.

every time I do this my front delts get all bruised to ****... Anything I can do to prevent this? Even just front squatting up to 275 last night and they're sore as ****


should I just be sucking it up and not being a bish?
 
C

C T J

Crossfit VIP
Jan 24, 2013
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The soreness and bruising goes away after a while. If it's choking you, you may have a thoracic mobility issue like me.
Roll out your lats before. For thoracic mobility, I lay on a roller with it parallel to my spine
with my arms on my side.
 
RAIDEN

RAIDEN

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Feb 22, 2012
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When i do them, i try to bury the bar in the lil pocket between front delt and traps so front delt dont get hammered so much. Gonna be tight up against the throat a lil but manageable. However im not doing 275 like you, 225 max, so the heavier it gets it might be more difficult to do.
 
C

C T J

Crossfit VIP
Jan 24, 2013
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so the heavier it gets it might be more difficult to do.

Yep, it really will try to pull you forward and expose many weaknesses more quickly than most bar work.
I have a bit of thoracic flexion in the hole at heavier weight so the mobility I mentioned above
is something I do before every workout.
 
S

schultz1

Bangs Raiden's mom VIP
Jan 3, 2011
3,701
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When i do them, i try to bury the bar in the lil pocket between front delt and traps so front delt dont get hammered so much. Gonna be tight up against the throat a lil but manageable. However im not doing 275 like you, 225 max, so the heavier it gets it might be more difficult to do.

A tight throat is what you're known for
 
BrotherIron

BrotherIron

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Mar 6, 2011
10,717
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So, I love front squats but never trained them regularly or gone too heavy
i don't have the wrist mobility to use a traditional grip so instead I use the California style grip, cross arms on bar. If I try the standard front squat grip the bar is basically going to be resting on my windpipe.

every time I do this my front delts get all bruised to ****... Anything I can do to prevent this? Even just front squatting up to 275 last night and they're sore as ****

should I just be sucking it up and not being a bish?

Widen your hand placement and you'll be able to perform front squats with a clean grip... what you call a traditional grip. It's called a clean grip b/c that is the grip used when performing a clean (classical olympic lift). You are placing the bar incorrectly if it's resting on your trachea. The bar should sit in the crook that's created when you raise your elbows to get into position. You don't even have to hold onto the bar to perform a front squat... it's not nearly as hard as performing a no hands back squat.

You'll be able to lift A LOT more using a clean grip than a crossed armed grip. You can hold an arch easier, keep your chest up, etc... And all that means lifting more weight safer and easier. You will also find it's easier to perform them with a raised heel on your shoe.

As for bruising you just have to grow a pair and not be such a girl.... wait my wife performs them without any issues so.... lol
 
S

schultz1

Bangs Raiden's mom VIP
Jan 3, 2011
3,701
1,060
So, I love front squats but never trained them regularly or gone too heavy
i don't have the wrist mobility to use a traditional grip so instead I use the California style grip, cross arms on bar. If I try the standard front squat grip the bar is basically going to be resting on my windpipe.

every time I do this my front delts get all bruised to ****... Anything I can do to prevent this? Even just front squatting up to 275 last night and they're sore as ****


should I just be sucking it up and not being a bish?

Put straps around the bar if you have mobility problems. Go to kiltedthrower.com there are front squat vids to show what I mean.
 
BrotherIron

BrotherIron

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Mar 6, 2011
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Front squats pull you forward more so if you use the crossed arms grip. Using a clean grip makes is MUCH easier to perform the lift and also to handle heavier weights. In fact I'd wager if those who use a cross arm grip switch their lift will increase by over 20lbs without any increase in strength. It just puts you in a better position to perform the lift.
 
uphillclimb

uphillclimb

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Dec 9, 2011
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I'm not a proponent in crossing the arms, it causes many issues overall....different topic/thread.

I can't use an oly grip, so I use straps, wrap them around the bar and pull your elbows up....wedge that bar within that pocket just below your adam's apple/collar bone area and keep the elbows up almost to the point of pulling them, this should alleviate the strain a bit.



However BI's wife is 195lbs, pulls 5 plates, has 18 inch arms and will kick the shit out of all of us at once.....so him using her as a reference is utter bullshit! hahaha

Edit: I see Schultz and BI already mentioned the straps.
 
C

C T J

Crossfit VIP
Jan 24, 2013
2,483
741
Front squats pull you forward more so if you use the crossed arms grip. Using a clean grip makes is MUCH easier to perform the lift and also to handle heavier weights. In fact I'd wager if those who use a cross arm grip switch their lift will increase by over 20lbs without any increase in strength. It just puts you in a better position to perform the lift.

It used to pull me forward even with clean grip (never used cross) because I was not very mobile.
I rarely stretched when I was bb'ing. It's taken about a year of constant mobility work :/
I couldn't even overhead squat a pvc a year ago haha
 
uphillclimb

uphillclimb

VIP Member
Dec 9, 2011
5,903
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It used to pull me forward even with clean grip (never used cross) because I was not very mobile.
I rarely stretched when I was bb'ing. It's taken about a year of constant mobility work :/
I couldn't even overhead squat a pvc a year ago haha

Switch to it if you can, you'll notice a big difference after the first session....even more once you get the hang of it.
 
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