Drop Back Squats...

when it comes to squatting, i feel much more comfortable doing front squats than back. i don’t know if its my height (6’3") or what, but everything just seems to feel more smooth. is there any disadvantages to completely dropping back squats? btw, front squats are done heavy, and deep as possible, so i am not compromising form or intensity. i would really like to hear from charlie on this one…

Front squats almost totally take the glutes and hams out of the picture BECAUSE of the upright position of the torso. I agree, you can get glute and ham involment elsewhere like rdl’s, revers hypers, glute ham raises, snatches/ cleans/pulls from the floor.

if front squats take away from some hamstring work, i’m not concerned because i do RDLs, glute ham raises, and reverse hypers. i never do singles, so i estimate i can front squat around 280lbs, give or take a few, which is around 80% of my back squat.

front squat and pulls is a good combo, pretty much solves the headache you get with pulls and back squats :slight_smile:

The more upright the torso, the more the quads are involved.

I believe you might sacrifice some hamstring development for quad development if you stick solely with front squats.

Can you front squat as much weight as you can back squat? For most people who train both, I think that front squat is about 20% less, so therefore the danger would be that you are sacrificing some intensity. If this is not the case, I think you are probably ok.

If you are worried that front squats don’t hit the hamstrings as strongly, then add in a couple of sets of romanian deadlifts or good mornings.

xlr8

During Christmas I dropped back squats in favour of power cleans, glute-ham raise from the floor and front squats.

I was using some serious resistance in these exercises too (was doing glute-ham raises with a 5 second pause at the bottom position plus holding a 5kg dumbell - strict form) so there wasn’t any lack of hamstring involvement.

However when I went back to doing back squats I found I had lost a little strength (at least I hadn’t gained any). The reverse doesn’t tend to happen for me (losing strength on the other lifts when doing only back squats). Just my experience.