Old Forum front squat with vibrams

[brutal50]

i use the front squat as my primary squat variation. i also prefer to use vibrams for my training. my question is should i wear olymic shoes for front squating? do you feel it would increase my strength or should i continue to use the vibrams

 

[AndyMcL]

It probably will not increase your strength, but what it will do is probably allow you to move more weight, or squat a tiny bit deeper. If you have good mobility and are not interested in competing than you will be fine with the vibrams.

 

[Steve Freides]

It all comes down to _why_ you are performing this movement in the first place.  Because most people will be able to move more weight while wearing Olympic shoes in the front squat, and we can't argue with moving more weight meaning you're stronger, that's an argument to wear the Oly shoes - but again, it all comes down to your purpose, your goals, and the place this particular movement has within the overall framework of your training.

Plenty of people front squat in bare feet, wrestling shoes, or All Stars.  If your goal is to improve your Olympic lifting performance, then I'd advise Olympic lifting shoes for you, otherwise, stick with your Vibrams.

The short answer would have been, "It depends."

-S-

 

[Steve B.]

What Steve said. Whats your intent? An elevated heel starts to shift stress to the quads while a flat foot will engage hips,glutes and hamstrings a little more.That being said the front squat because of the vertical position the body must keep to prevent dumping the weight is a more quad dominate lift than a back squat regardless of a heel or not.When adding a heel a little more quad is involved.Not a bad thing to wear your vibrams.But what Steve said above applies to why your doing the FS in the first place.

 

[brutal50]

overal goal is to be brutally strong and powerful i plan on returning to mma and have used to fsq for about 6 years now i have built up to a 455 fsq and i was looking to see if there would be any benefit to switching to the olympic shoes(in regards to strength development and injury prevention) i have no desire to compete in olympic weightlifting