Front squats better than back squats?
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Anonymous
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I just can’t take getting injured from back squats anymore. I just got over yet another disc injury from doing back squats and was out for 9 weeks. The pain from hurting your lower back after doing back squats is just no longer worth it.
Yes, obviously if you use good form you shouldn’t get injured. But all it takes is one bad rep, a minor mistake if you slip a little bit, or you just have a bad day of lifting to get seriously injured doing squats. I’ve lifted for quite a while and you can do good reps 99.9% of the time, but if you do one rep with a mistake kiss your spine goodbye. I think I am just permanently done back squats due to my age at this point. That being said, I’ve never actually dabbled with front squats. They seem a lot safer because they use smaller loads and are more upright, greatly reducing the forces on your lower back. Anyone else see very good gains strictly doing front squats only? |
Anonymous
| Do you mean lunges? |
Anonymous
No. |
Anonymous
| They aren't better or worse, they are just different and work different muscles in the legs. I do both. |
Anonymous
| Shortly after turning 40 I injured myself doing back squats. Like you said, it was a mistake in form that I realized I probably got away with when I was younger. I switched to dumbbell squats, which obviously means a lower weight and more reps. It’s been six years and my back has been fine. This is not for everyone, but has worked for me. |
Anonymous
| OP they hit different muscles. One is more quad focused, the other is more hamstring and glute focused. That said you're engaging all of your muscles in both, including core. |
Anonymous
| Oh I would never put a barbell across my back and squat. Hell no. Not at this age. My worst nightmare is getting injured. Agree about using dumbbells. |
Anonymous
+1 Deadlifts and Bulgarian split squats will hit your posterior chain. |
Anonymous
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There are tons of other far safer movements. Why on earth would you bother with this anymore?
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Anonymous
| Isn’t the answer just to put less weight on the bar so your form doesn’t suffer? |
Anonymous
Eh, you could, but then you'd have to do a million reps to see any hypertrophy or strength gains. Even with light weight you can still make a mistake with one bad rep when you're doing that many reps. It's simply the biomechanics of the back squat. It will always place way more stress in your lower back than the front squat. If you mess up doing a front squat the only thing that's gonna happen is you drop the bar before you get injured. |
Anonymous
| They work different parts but if you’re getting injured with back squats you should obviously stop doing them. Move to suitcase squats or the leg press machine. |
Anonymous
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You know who gets injured back squatting?
Young men who are going super heavy either out of ego or preparing for competition. That’s pretty much nobody on DCUM. Your risk is negligible. |
Anonymous
| Interesting - I didn’t know what those were called. I’ve been doing back squats only but recently started noticing people doing more front squats. Will have to try. |
Anonymous
| Only an old out of shape bozo gets injured doing squats |