First Time Front Squatters and Squat Progressions
August 1, 2012 by danny · 8 Comments
If you want to improve your strength, power, and performance for a sport, squats are great! If you want to lose fat or gain muscle to help make you look sexier, squats are great. If you want to improve your mobility and stability, squats are great. The problem is, most people don’t take the time to learn how to perform them correctly.
My progressions with newer lifters usually look like this…
#1) Learn the goblet box squat
#2) Learn to goblet squat without the box to sit on (if that is “not working” go to #3, then come back and master #2).
#3) Learn to barbell box squat with the bar on your back
#4) Learn to front squat
#5) Learn to back squat
Goblet Squats
These phases are not set in stone and some people may never get to back squatting while others may be ready to back squat pretty much from the get-go.
This past week I had a few of my athletes (all basketball players) learn the front squat (and one is now just learning how to goblet box squat). It may take weeks or even months before going to the next step. The key is NOT to rush things. You’ll have plenty of time to get more advanced and add load. But MAKE SURE to learn how to squat the right way FIRST… then worry about adding load later.
The first video is of Liz and Michael…
Liz is preparing for her freshman year of basketball at Lehigh. We actually did barbell box squats today for the first time. Although she still has a little work to make them better, for her first time, she did very well. By the time she leaves for school in a few weeks, we’ll have barbell back squats down and I’m sure her Strength Coach at Lehigh will be pleased (as back squats are in their training program).
This was Michael’s very first set of front squats, and I thought he did very well. He is mobile/stable enough to get a couple inches lower (as I’ve seen him get that depth with goblet squats), but I didn’t want to force the range of motion on his very first set of front squats. Soon, he’ll be adding weight to the bar and be a stud!
Next up, Paige and Paityn…
Paige has already goblet squatted, back squatted and front squatted. She’s a pretty “natural” squatter. I took a little longer with Paityn because she has had a tendency to let her knees cave. So I didn’t want her front squatting and performing any more difficult squatting variations until she started to “nail” goblet squats and box squats. Well, she has gotten good at those variations, and for a first time front squatter, she also did very well. Like Michael, she has a couple inches of depth in her, and we’ll get to that next week.
Once you are ready (if ever) to deep back squat, John Alvino has a very good video with all the tips/cues necessary to become a good squatter…
There are so many benefits to squatting, but make sure to take your time progressing.
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Exercise of the Week – Anderson Front Squats
August 1, 2011 by danny · Leave a Comment
This exercise is a killer… Anderson Front Squats. ”Anderson Squats” are usually done with the bar on your back. But in this version, you rack the back across your shoulders, as you would in a traditional front squat.
You can set the pins as low as you want. The lower the harder, but make sure to set them at a depth that allows you to keep form (abs tight, weight on your heels, chest tall, etc). In traditional squats, as you descend, the tendons will store energy and assist the muscles on the concentric portion (the way up) of the lift. By unloading the bar on the pins for a second, this “stretch-shortening cycle” is reduced (or eliminated if you rest the bar on the pins long enough) making it so the muscles will have to do more work. It is kind of like a deadlift in this sense – you let the bar rest on the ground for a second before going into the next rep. The big different here is that Anderson Squats are more quad dominant, whereas deadlifts are more hip dominant (unless you purposely lean forward with Anderson Squats to bring the glutes/hams into play more).
When first trying these, start off light as they can be humbling! But they are great for your quads, your core, and will help with your posture. Did I say they are great for your quads? 
…
Give them a try, and um, “enjoy,” as they are oh-so-fun!
Training Videos From The Week That Was…
June 12, 2011 by danny · Leave a Comment
What’s up y’all! Another great training week in the books – below, you’ll see me and my clients putting in work…
First up, Coco hitting 155 X 8 in the deadlift…
Overall, great job by Coco. She is fairly new to deadlifting, so we just have to try to make a couple tweaks…
1) Sometimes, her hips rise slightly before her torso – we want them to go up “as one.”
2) Her neck is extended and I’d like to see it in more of a neutral position (in line with her spine).
Brandon nails 300 X 5 in the trap bar deadlift. He made it look fairly easy… not bad at all for a guy that weighs about 135 pounds!
Another video of one of the guys from the Dougherty Valley Basketball team (along with Brandon from above), Kenrick front squats 220 X 5. He easily has more left in him! But I would like to see him get about an inch lower on a couple of those reps, because he is mobile/stable/strong enough to do so.
I’m not sure why the video of Kenrick repeats itself and shows the set twice.?. My learning disability when it comes to computers once again rears its ugly head! One of these days maybe I’ll even learn how to add music and cool other features to my YouTube videos. Maybe.
Carson (age 10) headed over to the gym with me today to train. In between my sets, I taught him how to perform the basics; push-ups, static lunges, and TRX Rows. My goal was just to drill home proper form, and not even worry about adding weight yet. He did a great job! His push-up form was really good! …
And finally, this was the finishing leg complex to my workout today…
-Jump Squats X 10, Reverse Lunges X 10 (total), Squats X AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible). I got 16 reps on the squats today, 3 more than last Sunday. Yeah boooyyyeee!
I’ll try to get my camera in the gym as much as possible in the weeks to come and continue to post videos of me and my clients working our ass off! Have a great week and stay tuned for more fun to come.
