front squat depth???

[awwwwfuq]

Starting Strength came in the mail about a week ago and i got to the section about front squats. anyone read this section??

well anyways, what i got out of Rippetoe's analysis of the front squat was that you break parallel or go a little bit below parallel, not go full olympic squat (page 227). I forgot the reason why he perfer parallel/a bit below parallel over olympic style but i think medhi perfer doing it olympic style?? i don't know i might be wrong. medhi got a bunch of pics of people doing olympic style front squats too.

is there really a difference, besides flexibility? i find that doing it olympic style is easier than rippetoe's recommendation...

[LiftingNerd]

Do you bounce out of the bottom, off your calves? That's why I originally found dropping all the way down was easier. Since you have the book just go through the movement and see if any particular aspect is made easier for you by dropping all the way down (ie: does dropping all the way down in some way make up for another deficit in form you have).

[chris7687]

Do the olympic squat and sit all the way in the hole, I don't know why Rippetoe is against this.

Don't actively be trying to bounce off your calves, that will get you injured. The reason why olympic squatters have always looked like they bounce is because there is a stretch reflex in your glutes when your torso is erect and your at rock bottom.

[izzostrength]

The bounce takes away the eccentric portion of the rep. If going heavy, that is an advantage. I like front squats because going deeper is simpler because of the load placement. Again, it depends on overall mobility of the ankles, core strength, and general flexibility. My thoughts? If you can go deep without breaking form--go for it. The limiting factor is load.

[grambo]

I'm relatively new to front squats (2 months or so) and what I find is that hitting rock bottom causes me to sometimes lose tension in my midsection (start to lose weight forward a bit). I assume this is just because I am new to it. I try to go as low as possible while staying fully erect (heh heh) which sometimes is rock bottom and sometimes is slightly above.

With the oly lifters bouncing, I wouldn't try to do that, they aren't crashing to the bottom and bouncing back up, they are using an extremely large amount of tension.