Front Squats For Tall People: Part Two

[@nickwysoczanskyj785]

I’ve used Loredana Toma as a model for my front squat, as I’m similarly proportioned. I noticed her driving the hips forward at that midway sticking point, to shift the load back to her quads. I found cueing myself to mimic that, REALLY helpful, as soon as I feel my upwards drive slowing, just above parallel. Interesting to she her used as an example, here! 👍

[@jarradm2420]

Sika constantly uses these lifters as examples of how we should squat. The average person doesn't have the short femurs and proportions of the elites, so it's silly to compare. Even with Loredana as the exception, immediately out of the hole her knees shoot backwards and she uses her hips to drive. But good point about how she shifts the loads back to the quads halfway through

[@shaky_lifts]

Pushing the knees out really helps with this.

[@nickwysoczanskyj785]

@@jarradm2420 Yeah, I noticed my own tendency for my hips to slide backwards, in max front squats and especially heavier cleans. And I realised that my thigh length was going to make that inevitable. Alongside having a relatively stronger back chain, when compared to my quads. I realised that the best I could hope for was to quickly get my hips back under the bar. Toma is one of the few elite lifters who I had seen, with a similar issue with her proportions - so I just tried to copy her fix. The other benefit, has been helping to load my quads more when squatting, generally - which is good, because they are slowly closing the gap between themselves and my back and hips. I didn’t think about it until a watched the first part of these - but it’s probably also the reason why my jerk has final caught up with my clean recently.

[@sikastrength]

It's important to remember gentlemen that just because something always happens doesn't mean it's something you can't fix and you just have to deal with it. It's harder for tall people but in no way is good squat technique out of the question

[@nickwysoczanskyj785]

@@sikastrength I totally agree. And I’ve definitely found knock on benefits in my jerk, just from trying to fix my front squat. That wasn’t something I had considered previously. Obviously, it makes total sense - when someone helpfully points it out to you!

[@teatowel11]

This was absolutely fantastic. I don't think i've seen a better squat video and I have watched a lot of squat videos.

[@freeflowme]

This is gold, bois. Loving all the content you’ve been putting out on the channel and in collabs 👍

[@sikastrength]

Thanks dude!

[@cextine]

Excited to see myself in the examples of bad front squats! If felt like the advice was meant for me and then there I was!

[@sikastrength]

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@ZachChen1996]

A video addressing squatting with hip retroversion would be really nice. I’m also curious on how you guys would address athletes with naturally occurring ankle pronation. Great content guys, keep it up!

[@willrobbo1905]

I’ve adapted my front squat from your first video which has helped out a lot, I take it transferring this technique to the receiving position in the clean will help in lifting weights similar to your front squat 1RM.

[@sikastrength]

It should really help your jerk too!

[@charliegarrett5993]

I've watched a lot (too many!) vids on strength training over my 10+ years of lifting. And you guys still teach me something I haven't heard and you do it in a way that is easy to understand and makes me wonder why I didn't think of it before! Good job, thanks :)

[@greglindstrom1705]

I started driving my hips forward as much as possible and it fixed my lumber collapsing giving me a more vertical back position removing all strain on my wrists. Adding 20kg to my squat. PS I'm 6"8(2.02m) Wish I knew this earlier.

[@scottblackmore7468]

As soon as I'm over my patella tendonitis, I'm all over this, a lot of the things you mention here and in the first video are me, and add to my tendancy to drop heavy cleans forward. A big takeaway is depth, at the cost of form, being upright, is not a compromise we should be making

[@kevinhammack3915]

This is a good video with great visual examples

[@suppositionstudios]

I'm currently running the sikasquat program with my lightup laces, and posting my videos to the facebook group has been a game changer for my squat mechanics as a long femur lifter. I didn't realise how much of my form was just serving an aesthetic purpose while holding me back, and i'm excited to see what I can do when I play to my morphology. Great video, and their programming is highly reccomended.

[@Telagioth2]

Thanks for the advice. Recently started giving front squats a spin and I didn't even realize I was making all these errors.

[@superefireballx]

Bar using weightlifting shoes, would be interesting to see what you guys recommend for increasing/improving ankle mobility, given how much it plays into properly activating the anterior chain during the FS

[@shannonheathcliffmul]

ok im definitely the first person, so this video was perfect for me, cheers

[@BaldOmniMan]

Me, a long femur king: 👀👀👀👀

[@AnthonyGarcia-sy3yk]

Gabriel sincraian have a interesting one , he external open his knee at the sticky point , he also drive hip forward like toma .

[@t3e_e]

Damn - great content! Similar morphology to Meso and our front squat looks the exact same. Wish I’d saw this when my FS was a whole lot more shite!

[@fazzolarijames]

How much upper back strength do you need for heavy front squats? For example, should you be able to row your front squat?

[@liamdunn9076]

You guys did a technique analysis on me a while back. the gibbon armed lanklet in his garden. So how you described the decent from upright to hinge to deep upright and reverse that to get back up is spot on. It's an odd one as I'm incredibly mobile so i can dorsiflex to high heaven. On the snatch and clean my knees stay forward on the ascent but during squats They are very hesitant to travel forward and stay forward throughout. It's definitely a quad strength/knee strength issue as my body is avoiding these positions during a loaded eccentric

[@przemekmajewski1]

Great video, there is too many ppl walking around gyms and telling ppl to have forward-pointing toes and no knee travel over the foot. How did this even arise? It's so infeasible, at least mechanically. A good degree of forward knee travel with all three parts in one plane is preferable imo.

[@sneil8056]

failing a front squat -- can you please show an example of doing this more correctly? thanks, nice vid

[@DONQUIIIXOTE]

Very helpful to have the videos demonstrating what you’re talking about. I want to improve my front squat and push press so I’ve been looking for resources to help with the front rack position as someone with longer arms. Do you have any tips on that? Thanks

[@DredFulProductions]

Good stuff as always!

[@bradhobbs_]

“Who has a short torso in relation to his legs” Me: “Oh good, an example like myself” *Shows Meso* Me: *looks down* Me: *patellas almost touch top of front delt* … I’ll wait for a different example

[@markcalleja8463]

Thank f#$k for this video , I'm definitely built like this and is just what I needed

[@maxcooper5266]

Great video

[@sambsialia]

Good good stuff

[@faheemlaher8990]

Great video 👌🏽

[@sambsialia]

Starting Strength often teaches new lifters that everyone is not equal because we all have different proportions. Are you saying that we all can be as good as Miso even if we have wildly different body types? What I think I hear you say is that we all can improve. I would like to hear you talk more about this and I would especially like to hear you talk with Dr. A. Horschig who has a lot to say about shoulder mobility.

[@doublevision2943]

Would you even consider cross grip as a valid alternative to front rack? I've tried repeatedly to get in that position over the course of doing front squat as my main quad exercise and it feels quite literally impossible. It seems my forearms are too long, I highly doubt it is a posture issue. Cross grip feels comfortable but I do continuously have the issue that my back drops forward too much, though I never drop the bar and havent failed a rep in months. Before when I did back squat it was ridiculous how much my back would automatically drop forward which is why I started front squat in the first place (and now it's my favourite exercise). I worry that I'm progressing far too slow because of this as it might shift focus away from my quads too much, though lately they have been feeling very beat up after sessions since I started doing 6+ reps per set again. I've seen people using straps to simulate a front rack position but I would highly prefer to avoid this type of setup lol

[@joewwright92]

Really interesting and helpful video. I'm 6'2 and when sat down I am the same height has my 5'6 girlfriend. Cursed with long femurs and a tiny torso. My back squat is ok but my front squat has always been dire... so will definitely be looking to apply some of the things you have been talking about here.

[@edanderson6229]

Thanks for the great content 🙂 Would be cool for you to look at Torokhitys front squat/clean, he seems to sit back quite a bit (knees don’t travel as much forward I mean) and his elbows are a little lower than what you normally see.

[@edanderson6229]

Just to be clear I know everything you said was bang on and he’s the exception to the rule, I’d just like to get your take on why it works for him as a leggy lifter.

[@Lis-ce2gx]

Regarding the full grip. I am 191cm tall, but my arms have a 208cm long reach, with forearms being 38-9cm long. It is physically impossible for me to grip the bar fully, no matter how wide I go.

[@Abdullah_Deen]

Long femur master race checking in again

[@trevorharward3541]

Love this video ! 6’2 with long femurs, starting higher volume front squatting per your videos

[@MrSocialish]

I'm tall, but I have a relatively longer torso. Getting into a deep front squat isn't an issue for me (very good dorsiflexion, so my knees are far forward), but I find it very difficult at heavy weights to keep my thoracic spine from rounding over. I do a lot of upper back work, and it helps, but the rounding over is always persistent at heavy loads on front squats. Do you guys think you could make a video on this issue? Thanks!

[@iwtd9852]

Quad strength

[@vasilzhiliev6057]

As someone who's on the taller side, who has a really short torso relative to the femur and the tibia especially, I find It really hard to have constant engagement in the quads. How could I keep that pressure, because even after tinkering around for some time, after 1/4ths on the way down, It's all adductor and glute force that I feel, the quads just serve as a movement initiator and finisher at the top

[@sikastrength]

Aggressively pushing your quad strength with things like belt squats, goblet squats etc and making sure your back is strong as you can possibly make it

[@ravikumarsundaram7961]

Why is it that almost everyone in this video is loading too much weight and I’m talking about even the ones who are supposedly doing it right. Can’t they reduce the weight and do the squat without compromising form. If they need the weights to be more challenging wouldn’t it be better to load a lesser weight and do more reps and / or a slower tempo.

[@edwardginnan9022]

I pass out all the time on fs with a full grip on the bar!! Any other queues? I usually am trying to put the weight on my delts. Not sure how else to think of it

[@aidanivesdavis]

Ive had this problem before. Try letting a little air out when you start to feel lightheaded. Ive found doing that instantly wakes me up. There’s a video somewhere of Meso doing it. Try searching for “Meso max front squat” and i bet youll find it. Good luck!

[@aidanivesdavis]

Ive had this problem before. Try letting a little air out when you start to feel lightheaded. Ive found doing that instantly wakes me up. There’s a video somewhere of Meso doing it. Try searching for “Meso max front squat” and i bet youll find it. Good luck!

[@aidanivesdavis]

Ive had this problem before. Try letting a little air out when you start to feel lightheaded. Ive found doing that instantly wakes me up. There’s a video somewhere of Meso doing it. Try searching for “Meso max front squat” and i bet youll find it. Good luck!

[@seanikan]

Yeah, releasing some air right after unracking the bar (whilst maintaining the brace) then re inhaling helps me alot

[@shaky_lifts]

Interesting how both Meso and Loredana don't have optimal front rack, yet are successful weightlifters.

[@FilipElfvin]

Miso Hasano is that a Japanese name?

[@robertmiller9009]

So pretty much, hire a coach. Got it.

[@YTho-ev1ej]

It’s so hard to keep my elbows up when front squatting plus my wrists are painful from rugby

[@balthazarwalrustitty5108]

I was the same until I switched from barbell bench to full rom DB bench and a few doorway stretches, must be tight tits or lats or something, got full clean grip rapidly after, huge difference and bench shot up too.

[@YTho-ev1ej]

@@balthazarwalrustitty5108 yeh bro I’m trying different things aye but might be lats

[@frontrackkid631]

2:24 hysen!!!11

[@Swamp_Donkey_]

Thanks a lot for providing examples! I'm 6'3" with comparatively long leg:torso lol

[@Second247]

I only front squat low bar. ... My clean is worse than my snatch.

[@liamm3221]

CrossFit demo lady's Sikastan visa has been denied

[@weightedsumwl]

A unexpected surprise but a welcome one

[@jakejakejak]

Oof the long femur truth hurts