LOWER BODY MOVEMENTS

In our Strength Training System, most exercises that are being considered for a specific program will be placed into one of three general movement categories. Lower Body Movements involve the following movements: knee extension, hip extension, and plantar flexion. Lower Body Movements are those that will help increase strength in the lower back, quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus muscle group, hip extensors, flexors, adductors, abductors, and the muscles of the lower leg (calf and ankle). Bilateral Movements are prominent within the program, but we also utilize a lot of unilateral variations which are more sports specific and help reduce stress placed on the body during training.

FRONT SQUAT EXERCISES

Front Squats are an alternative Bilateral Squat. Due to the change in bar placement, the biomechanics and physical demands of the lift become different. A front-loaded movement pattern requires a more upright torso placing slightly more emphasis on the legs than hips and lower back. This reduces the amount of load required to perform the lift, and subsequently less stress to the body. We utilize Fronts Squats or variations of them, year-round. We typically only utilize Back Squats during the off-season, which allows more time for recovery.

Front Squat : Barbell / Pause

• Address the bar from the rack position
• Next grab the bar with the same grip you would use to bench, thumbs finger width to smooth.
• Have the bar rest on your shoulders, just below your throat.
• From this Catch Position, your elbows need to be pointing straight ahead. The bottom of your arm should remain parallel to the floor throughout the entire movement. This will require some wrist and triceps flexibility which you will acquire over time.
• Under control, walk the weight out of the rack slowly, one step at a time
• Prior, make sure your bar clamps are secure
• Once you’re in your proper stance, slowly and under control, drive your hips back as you maintain a relatively upright posture. Take a deep breath and hold it during the decent.
• Don’t let your knees come inward. It’s important that your knees track over your ankles and that your thigh, knee, shin and foot are all inline during the movement.
• Once you achieve full squat depth, pause for 3 sec, then push your feet through the floor as hard as possible when squatting back to the starting position.
• Depth will depend upon several factors ranging from flexibility to hip structure, torso and limb length and proper stance width. As a rule of thumb, top of thigh as close to parallel to the floor is the goal. Don’t let your hips rotate underneath, always keeping your lower back flat
• Your chest should always come up first, before your hips. Not the other way around. This will always be your biggest challenge.
• Don’t bounce at the bottom of the movement