A Must Do Leg Exercise

Leg Day is the bang for your buck workout day.  By now you should know that by being the biggest muscle group you have an accelerated caloric burn rate which supports your weight loss efforts when you work out your legs.  Another benefit that you may have heard of involves better muscle development as a result of the exercising and repair of such a large muscle group.  So, with so much at stake with regards to the MOST IMPORTANT MUSCLE GROUP TO WORKOUT, there has to be a “best exercise”.   Well there is!  Of course we’re talking about the Front Squat.

No, this ain’t your grandpa’s weight on your back up and down squat, this squat has you racking that bar on your shoulders with a T-Rex finger chicken wing looking grip and has you squatting deeper than a Slav.  All kidding aside, there is just so much carry over benefit from this exercise.

First – Total Body Movement

As with the Back Squat, it’s a total body exercise. This means that in order to do this movement properly will require your whole body to be activated and stabilized; your arms, shoulders, and back are locked in place. Your chest is being stretched but you’re also putting tension on the bar. Your legs are obviously doing the work, but also your abs are doing a lot to keep you from folding. When you put all of this into consideration you are burning some serious calories with this movement, and you are setting yourself up for quality muscle development…as long as you practice good technique!

Second – Prepares You For Bigger Lifts

If you are interested in CrossFit or giving Olympic Style Lifts a shot, there is no better movement that you can do to prepare yourself than the Front Squat. If you can start each set with the barbell on the floor, and clean it to your shoulders then you are literally doing one of the toughest movements in weight lifting. It’s a goal to work towards, but the point here is getting your mind and body to be comfortable with the mechanics of a front squat to allow yourself to perform more complex exercises which in turn will boost your overall strength significantly. The more weight you can move the bigger you can become!

Third – Strengthens Your Core and Stability

The nature of this form of a squat is a better squat for your health. First, it requires your core to be strong, and in turn will strengthen your core significantly as you progress. Secondly, where you’re hips are positioned in this movement will allow you to drop down deeper and therefore increase your range of motion; by increasing your range of motion you are allowing your body to develop your muscles under optimal conditions.

Fourth – Improves Your Athleticism

If you are training for any sort of sport (Soccer, Basketball, Football, Tennis, Baseball, etc.) you need to consider that very rarely will a load be on your back. Odds are when you are participating in game play your body will experience a force coming at you from your front side; the Front Squat trains you to take on a force that is coming at you in a manner that you would experience during game play. Also, as stated earlier, the nature of the movement places your hips at a different angle than compared to the back squat. It is with the opening of your hips from this positioning that also puts your knees at a different angle, and this angle will help strengthen the tendons of your knees; namely the ACL and MCL.

So to sum it up, the Front Squat:

• Is a total body movement

• Has great carry over to much stronger lifts

• Will strengthen your Core

• Will prepare and condition your body for a sport.

These reasons should be more than enough for you to include the Front Squat in your Leg Day routine.

Squatting deeper than a Slav.