The Front Squat is a great exercise for building strength in the quads.
However, in my experience, it's not always great for building MASS in the quads. This is because the quads aren't the limiting muscle group in the exercise...the upper back, shoulders or core are.
This makes the exercise more suited to lower-rep, strength training.
This unique barbell setup gives you the quad-focusing loading of the Front Squat while taking away the other muscles groups as limiting factors.
And then we're going to use it to do a Triple Drop Set and push your quads to their limit!
How To Set Up a Two Barbell Front Squat Machine
This is a very simple leverage-based setup. You'll need a power rack, two barbells and some smaller-sized plates (25's are ideal for this).
Set one rail up at about shoulder height and the other to mid-stomach height. You can adjust this once you try the exercise.
Set two bars on the rails, angled down. Load weight onto the bottom ends (you will need good collars).
*** Be VERY careful loading and unloading plates as the downward angle can cause the plates to slide.
Use 25 pound plates or smaller to load, otherwise the size of the plates will force the bar ends to be too far apart to set on your shoulders.
I've got two 25's on the ends of the two bars. You can definitely use more weight...I like to go for reps with this exercise setup more than heavy loading, though, since the regular Front Squat is better for the strength work.
With much more weight than this, you'll want to counterbalance the other ends of the bars with some weight as well, so they don't tip off.
Squat down under the ends of the bars and rest them on your traps/shoulders. Since the bar ends are fat, it's not bad in terms of comfort...that'll be the least of your worries in a minute or two anyway...
Then stand up.
Now rep out until you get just shy of failure.
Here's an end view of the setup.
Take one plate off each bar end. Again be VERY careful when you take the collars off as the plates likely will start to slide.
Now get back under the bar and go again with the lighter weight.
Go until you're nearing failure again on this lighter weight.
Take the plates off the bar then repeat with just the empty bars (or if you started with more plates, there will still be weight on the bar).
At this point, it's mostly bodyweight resistance with the bars being there to balance and guide the squat.
NOW you're going to push to failure...until you're literally to the point where you can't stand up.
Then you're done! Take 3-4 minutes rest then do it again. Repeat for 3 total drop sets and you're done with legs.
Benefits of This Front Squat Setup
1. It allows you to push to failure safely because of the "stop" of the rail at the bottom. You will never get stuck under the weight or need to dump it.
2. It's a machine-like exercise, so it guides you up and down while still allowing for some freedom of movement. This stabilization allows you to push your quads HARD.
3. The quads become the limiting factor in the exercise, not the supporting muscles.
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