Front Squat (Smith Machine)
Squat with the bar of a Smith machine racked across the front of the shoulders, the bar moving on a fixed track.
- Pattern
- Squat
- Equipment
- Machine
- Works
- Quads, glutes, upper back, abs
- Loads
- Hips, knees, ankles, lower back, wrists
If something hurts
Not medical advice. Sharp pain, numbness or swelling needs someone qualified to look at it.
Each swap below spares one joint.
Same upright pattern, no wrist extension.
Lower back Belt Squat
No back load, and no front rack, so the wrists carry nothing.
Hip Sissy Squat
Knee-only movement; the hip barely moves.
When it stalls, these usually help
Direct work for your glutes, which this lift also depends on.
Direct work for your upper back, which this lift also depends on.
How Swolver coaches it
This lift is read from your own sessions. When it goes flat for four weeks, Swolver names the likely cause in plain words, such as weekly sets that dropped, and the one change to make. The rules are all on the method page.