Clean-Grip Front Squat
Trains the Quads.
- Equipment
- A barbell and a rack
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Push
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
- Set a barbell in a rack at upper-chest height.
- Take an overhand grip just outside your shoulders and step under the bar.
- Drive your elbows up and forward so the bar rests on the front of your shoulders, fingertips under it — the grip a clean finishes in.
- Unrack it, step back, feet about shoulder-width with the toes turned slightly out.
- Squat down keeping the elbows high and the torso upright, until the hips drop below the knees.
- Drive back up through the whole foot without letting the elbows drop.
Common mistakes
- Trying to hold the bar in your hands. The bar sits on the shoulders and the fingers only stop it rolling; gripping it hard is what makes people think they lack the wrist mobility for this lift.
- Letting the elbows drop on the way up. Elbows falling is how a front squat turns into a good morning — the bar rolls forward and the back takes it. When they drop, the set is over.
- Choosing the clean grip when the wrists will not allow it. Crossed arms or straps hold the same bar in the same place; the grip is a preference unless you are also cleaning.
- Loading it from a back squat. The bar in front means the torso stays much more upright and the quadriceps take a larger share, and the usable weight is typically well below a back squat.