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Front squat
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Everyone loves a rope climb WOD… but what a about a front squat?
The Front Squat For a Triple
Ah yes, this little diddy is very tells a wonderful story about the marriage of core strength and flexibility. For our fellas that spent the last fifteen years benching, doing lat pull-downs, and a mountain of crunches – achieving a good front rack in the bottom of a squat is like walking on water. Oh, and the ladies too… seeing midlines crumble as the load increases makes me sad. So what can you do today to make most of your five sets of triples? Here's three recommendations:
First, warm-up thoroughly and mobilize. By raising the temperature of your muscle fibers, you are affording the opportunity to make them more supple (try to use the word supple 5 times today). We'll be doing some rotator cuff, hip flexor, and ankle mobility exercises. Hopefully this will improve your positioning for the day's efforts. With your squeeky wheels greased, we can address your front rack.
A great front rack is one where the weight on the bar is entirely supported by the shoulders. With mobilized rotator cuffs, a little external rotation and a finger tip grip will get you just the position you need to achieve this. Now, squatting in that very same position may be hardest task you've ever been charged with. What? Your wrists hurt? Back up a step and consider what is supporting the load.
Lastly, if you're feeling defeated because you just can't keep your torso tall enough to support the load in the bottom of the squat – stop and ask for help before pressing on. No, you may not feel like you'll ever get any better at the front squat, but it simply is a challenge that needs conquering and a challenge worth conquering is going to take time. Ask for help from your loving trainers and I promise they'll assign you a couple bits of homework that can be done before/after classes to improve your front squat and your triple.
