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Old Forum Kb front squat program?

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the hansenator

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I'd like to focus on kb front squats for a bit and am looking for advice. I've seen programs written out for other lifts but I haven't seen a kb front squat program. Are there any considerations that are specific to such an endeavor?

Thanks.
 
Hi Chris!

There are a lot of programs incorporating Front squats, but I haven't seen any programs with Front squats as the main event.

What you can do if you want to feel really miserable in your legs is trying ladders.

Programs - that I know of - that use the front squat is Pavel's "Return of the kettlebell" and an armor building program by Dan John (included in "Easy Strength").

If you're content with the Goblet squat, "the Foundation of Strength" DVD offers an alternative in the kettlebell section. This features Goblet squats and Swings - could probably be turned into a Front squat and Double swing combo for a hard comrade.

Best regards, Henke in Sweden
 
Perhaps not quite what you are looking for but the Total Tension Complex has ladders of presses and squats as a complex, you alternate the focus on presses and squats each training session.

http://www.strongfirst.com/total-tension-kettlebell-complex/
 
Yet another plug for Geoff Neupert's Kettlebell Strong. The short course would be vicious with front squats, especially if your bells were heavy enough.
 
Yet another plug for Geoff Neupert’s Kettlebell Strong. The short course would be vicious with front squats, especially if your bells were heavy enough.

This
and "The Wolf" from More Kettlebell Muscle also by Geoff Neupert
 
One of my favorite double front squat routines is double clean and front squat ladders, courtesy of Dan John:

Without putting the bells down:
1 DCL/1 DFSQ
2 DCL/2 DFSQ
3 DCL/3 DFSQ
etc...

You can progress this similarly to ETK. Start with a weight that is tough for 3 ladders of 3. Add ladders up to 5 ladders of 3. Take plenty of rest between ladders. Add a new top rung when you are able. You CAN do a heavy, light and medium day each week, although I don't think you really NEED to. It isn't a grind in the same way as press ladders. You have to stop, not because your legs couldn't do another squat, but because you're sucking wind and your abs are giving out.

When you get to 5 ladders of 5, you can keep adding rungs, although then you really should start waving the volume each week, or just start over with bigger bells.

Keep in mind that this is a lot of hinge reps with double bells, so you need to take that in consideration when programming other ballistic hinge drills. For instance, I would not do S&S type swings on the same day, and if you are also pressing, you might not want to clean before every rep.
 
Thanks to everyone for the great advice!

I probably should have included some more information.

Until recently I had back problem which prevented doing most lower body exercises so my leg strength is really unremarkable at the moment. My back has improved greatly though and I found that goblet squats and front squats don't bother it and even seem to be beneficial.

At my current level, deadlifting the 32k kb for 8x8 leaves my glutes pretty tired. But it's my glutes getting tired and not my back getting sore so that's a pretty big deal.

I've always enjoyed kb front squats and, since they seem to help, I was hoping to pair them up with the kb deads to start building some leg strength. So I'm looking for suggestions on how best to proceed with all that in mind.
 
You can always alternate days. Day 1, 5x5 squat. Day 2, Deadlift.

You can also alternate rep ranges. 5x5 one week, 3x10 another, 2x20 another.

Move onto your next block of the workout when you're done with the squats.
 
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