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 : Double Kettlebell

• Start with both Kettlebells in the High Front Rack position
• Elbows are high with Kettlebells resting on your forearms.
• 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.
• Once you achieve full squat depth, push your feet through the floor as hard as possible and exhale when squatting back to the starting position
• 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
• Especially with this lift, don’t let your ego get in the way. Form is always more important than the weight utilized