Simple squat routine - FRONT SQUAT
I’ve never been a particularly strong squatter. At a body weight floating around 83kg I’ve back squatted 170kg and front squatted 148kg for singles. The latter is a more recent personal best, up 3kg on a two year old PB and done without any heavy singles leading into the test week.
It’s maybe the simplest programmes that work the best. I didn't so much as come up with the programme so much as played with and adapted an idea I got from the book ‘The Glenn Pendlay Method’ (a great read I should mention). In the book there are several examples of how coach Glenn Pendlay used to programme squats around lifting and how he based the training prescription of 3 and 5 rep sets on the 3 and 5 rep maximums not just the persons 1 rep maximum (as is more common).
Coming out of lockdown 1 (March-July 2020) where I had had no squat rack and had always had to clean a weight to perform a front squat, my legs were not even as strong as they had been. Prior to this lockdown I had done a long back-squat programme and achieved a new PB but even that had almost no front squatting in it.
Suffice to say, I was not in a place where I could front squat 130kg with confidence. So i used the above ideas to create a really simple plan that worked around my new circumstances. Dad life, as well as freelance coach in a pandemic era meant I could only fully commit to 2 squat sessions a week. If I got a third training session in it was usually just powers and some accessories.
The two sessions looked like this for a 4 week period and were normally a Monday (volume based) and a Friday (intensity day):
Week 1: Session 1: build to estimated 3RM (I hit 125kg this week)
Week 2: Session 1: 5 x 3 @ 90% 3RM (for me was 5x3 @ 112kg)
Week 2: Session 2: build to new 3RM (I hit 128kg this week)
Week 3: Session 1: 5 x 3 @ 90% 3RM (for me was 5x3 @ 115kg)
Week 3: Session 2: build to estimated 3RM (I hit 131kg but only for 2 reps this week*)
Week 4: Session 1: 3-5 x 3 @ 90% 3RM (for me was 3x3 @ 118kg as a deload)
Week 4: Session 2: build to estimated 3RM (I hit 134kg but again failed the 3rd**)
Week 5: Test week: build to 3RM, build to 1RM
I hit 135kg and 148kg, both new personal bests.
It’s important to note that my goal was to increase my 3RM and in doing so increased my 1RM.
*This session i was without knee sleeves and my usual belt and didn’t attempt the 3rd rep
**I should have tried 133kg but as that was my previous best my ego made me put on 134 and it proved too much!
For a simple and short squat phase give it a try. I will repeat it again to see if I can squeeze out a bit more progress and let you know how it goes. I did a similar phase with the back squat and wrote about it here. I hope it works as well for you as it has for me!