FOOT POSITION: Don’t panic if you can’t get comfortable with the traditional advice of placing your feet at “10 and 2 O’ Clock”… Everyone squats differently. Your ideal foot position depends on many things, so don’t stress. If I asked you to jump as high as you could, where would you plant your feet? That’s where you should also plant them for barbell squats.
SETUP: Load the bar from the rack onto your front delts and support it with a cross-grip (see video). Set your feet.
REP: Lower the bar under control as you sit down & back. How low should you go? Well, again this depends on you. Ignore broscience about “ass to grass” – a 90* squat unlocks the maximum benefits, so if your hips allow you to go any further (see video, mine do), then go for it but if not, don’t sweat it. Power up from the bottom of the rep by driving your hips forward HARD.
TIP: Because of the position of the bar, you may notice you can achieve slightly better depth with this version of squats compared to a Back Squat. That’ll mean more work for your quads and less for your glutes & hamstrings. The quads aren’t as powerful, so load the bar accordingly.
