Empty Bar Front Squat

The empty bar front squat is a light squat drill that teaches you to hold a barbell on the front of your shoulders while you squat. It trains upright posture, core bracing, and the bottom position of a front squat without the stress of heavy weight.

Set a barbell on a rack at about upper-chest height. Step under it and rest the bar across the front of your shoulders, not on your neck or hands. Take a grip slightly wider than your shoulders with your elbows pointing forward and up. Set your feet in your normal squat stance, usually about shoulder width with your toes turned out a little.

Brace your midsection, lift the bar off the rack, and step back. Push your hips back and bend your knees to squat down. Keep your chest tall and your elbows high the whole way. Drop only as deep as you can without your back rounding or elbows falling. Push through your whole foot to stand back up.

Breathe in and set your brace before you descend. Hold that pressure on the way down and breathe out as you stand. To make it easier, stop higher or squat to a box you can tap. To make it harder, hold the bottom position for two or three seconds on each rep.

Fault: Your elbows drop and the bar rolls toward your neck. Fix: Actively drive your elbows up toward the ceiling and keep the bar resting on your shoulders.

Fault: Your upper back rounds and your chest falls forward. Fix: Take a tighter brace, keep your ribs down, and imagine showing your chest to the wall in front of you.

Fault: Your knees cave inward as you stand up. Fix: Press your knees outward so they stay in line with your toes throughout the squat.

Fault: Your heels lift off the floor. Fix: Keep your weight spread across your whole foot, from heel to ball, and sit back slightly as you descend.