Front Squat vs. Back Squat: What’s the Difference?

When it comes to squatting there are multiple variations, progressions, methods and techniques that can be used. The question arises, is one better than the other? In short, maybe - it all depends on the individual. Personal individualization is the key to enhancing performance and training in general. When I was in college playing soccer at a Division 1 University I remember asking our strength and conditioning coach what the difference was between a front squat and a back squat and his answer was quite remarkable, he answered with “a front squat is harder than a back squat” and technically, he wasn’t wrong. I wanted a better answer, hence anyone who has performed both knows a front squat literally sucks. I wanted the why, but again maybe he didn’t really know the differences. I mean, he did have me doing 130 pound dumbbell Turkish Getups with a partially torn labrum. 

I am just going to get this out of the way and say that not every athlete should or needs to squat to get better. I even wrote a blog post about this awhile back Should Every Athlete Squat? explaining my reasons. Now, I think it is important to be able to truly differentiate between a front squat and back squat purely due to the fact they are often used in strength and conditioning programs. Being able to give reasoning why you are giving a certain exercise is a vital component of good programming. Personally, the majority of my athletes at OPZ perform squatting with some doing more than others. 

There are two general aspects I look at when differentiating the front squat and back squat and then I feel like more specific differences trickle down from there. Those two features are shoulder positioning and spine health. Yes, there are minor differences in muscle activation, but research has also shown that there might not be any significant differences at all in muscle activation. Anyways, let's talk about it.

The main and most obvious difference from a front squat and a back squat is the position of the bar or also referred to as bar positioning. In a front squat, the bar is positioned in the front aspect of the shoulder instead of on the upper back, which creates mechanical differences to occur. Front side bar positioning vs. back side bar positioning literally allows for all the differences. Simple change, but huge differences. 

First, an athlete is able to keep a more upright trunk position during a front squat. You can tell in the second video of me back squatting I start to have a forward lean, where in the front squat video my torso stays pretty upright. Because of the more upright positioning during a front squat it will reduce the chance of any unwanted movement to occur at the lumbar spine. Excessive forward lean increases the chance of lumbar flexion (rounding of the low back) to occur, which can result in a shearing effect to occur at the lumbar spine - the worst movement that can occur there. Second, with the bar positioned in the front it allows for more hip flexion during a squat. This may be one of my favorite differences when it comes to favoring a front squat over a back squat, but a front squat will allow an athlete to squat deeper due to the counterbalance created by the weight of the bar. Using a counterbalance will always allow an athlete to shift weight to their hips, which is why I think front squats can be beneficial since a lot of athletes have a hard time loading their hips anyways. I am not promoting “ass to grass or it doesn’t count” bs, but I think squatting to a desired depth is essential at times. Along the same lines, the front squat allows for certain mobilization components to be trained. Thirdly, due to the different loading positions of the bar there is a slight difference in muscle activation between the two squats. There is going to be slightly more glute and hamstring activation during a back squat, where a front squat is going to be more quad dominant. Research has also shown that there is a bit of an increase in muscle activation of the erector spinae muscle and core during a front squat. Again, I use the word slightly because statistically there isn’t that much of a difference in overall muscle activation between the two squats and only is it when you dig deeper do you find small muscle activation differences. Now, because of the more upright trunk position and increased quad activation the front squat will result in significantly less load being performed in most athletes. The great thing about the front squat is that even though the load is less than that performed during a back squat the total muscle activation is similar, meaning doing less is actually doing more. Why do I think a front squat is doing more with less load? The front squat has shown to put less compressive forces on the knees and spine, which means those with knee/spine injuries or knee/spine pain will be better off doing front squats. Remember, don’t force squatting on everyone. Not everyone is made to squat. 

Squatting is a lower extremity focused exercise, but it is important to understand and see what is happening to the upper extremity. At OPZ, about half of all our athletes are baseball players and over half are considered overhead athletes. The front squat is going to be more shoulder friendly for athletes with poor upper body mobility and a history of shoulder injury. A problem arises when an athlete with poor shoulder mobility and/or stability and with poor thoracic spine mobility try to back squat. Honestly, my biggest reason why I think not every athlete is cut out for squatting is strictly due to the mobility issues and restrictions that athletes have acquired. A back squat requires an athlete to have enough shoulder external rotation and thoracic extension in order to properly place the bar on the back. Most of the athletes I work with do have plenty of shoulder external rotation, but the problem arises when an athlete is asked to be in an external rotated position at a degree of abduction, as it's not the most comfortable position. A lot of anterior shoulder irritation can start to occur if a baseball player finds themselves in that position frequently. For example, when I perform 5 or 6 sets of a back squat I will start to get numbness in my arm around set 3 due to my thoracic outlet syndrome, but I can do as many sets as I want of front squats without any irritation. Thoracic mobility plays a large role in being able to put a bar on your back. Inadequate thoracic mobility, specifically lack of thoracic extension can cause compensation resulting in an anterior glide (slide forward) of the ball in the socket (the shoulder) and can cause extra valgus stress on the elbow. An anterior glide of the shoulder pushes on the biceps tendon and anterior capsule causing pain and discomfort, while valgus stress on the elbow is an unnecessary added stress for baseball players as they already get plenty of that from throwing. Our goal as strength and conditioning coaches is to make things better, not worse. I partially think that front squats are a great core exercise partly because the lats are in a disadvantageous lengthened position, which requires the core to stabilize the trunk instead of the lats. This is where relative stiffness comes into play. When there is a lack of stiffness in one part of the body (in this case the lats) it will require an athlete to stay stiff at another part of the body (in this case the core). This may be one reason for such a difference in loads between the front and back squat, hence during a front squat the lats are lengthened and unable to stabilize the spine. 

It may sound like I am advocating front squats over back squats and I kind of am, but again it is all dependent on the individual. My college strength and conditioning coach was correct when he said, “front squats are harder than back squats” but hopefully after reading this article you got more out of it than that. Happy Squatober!