Back squat or front squat? Makes no difference to your leg muscles

[terraj]

http://www.ergo-log.com/frontsquat.html

For your leg muscles it makes no difference whether you bring the bar down behind your neck or let it rest at the front of your torso on your shoulders when doing squats. Sports scientists at the University of Florida discovered this when they compared the effects of the traditional back-squat with those of the front-squat

[UberSteroids]

Nice...
I hate front squats as I feel very limited to how much weight I can use compared to the back squat.

Thanks bud.

[goodlifting]

nice read. between front and back squats, i've always gotten more sore in my legs from back squats. i think this is mostly due to the fact that one can use more weight with this type of style.

even though both squats may work the leg muscles equally, i think it's way tougher to do a full front squat with a lot of weight simply because of the core strength it requires.

[BgMc31]

I'm going to have to disagree with the article. You can tell by the different leg development of oly lifters versus powerlifters shows that their is a difference between the two. Most Oly lifters do little to no back squats but lots of front squats, along with overhead squats, and the front squat that's incorporated into a full clean. But I'm no expert, and who am I to dispute scientists. I'm just going by what I've seen throughout my years. Good read though.

[HawaiianPride.]

^^Yep.

And you wonder why you can only lift so much from one method to the other. You are activating different fibers when the bar is sitting behind the neck and vice versa.

[n00bs]

^^

Also the core activation is the main inhibiting factor...

You should do both anyway.

[CMB]

I only do back squats.

It depends where you put the bar on your back that makes the difference.

Some put it directly on your back.

Other lay it across your traps and delts.

IMO, it make a very little difference.

[inheritmylife]

I think that unless you are a powerlifter, the front squat is as important as the back squat; more for athletics and bodybuilding. The posterior chain should already be getting worked heavily with other movements, e.g. , pendlay rows, DLs, lockouts. I'm not to keen on the alternatives to working the anterior chain either. Extensions put too much stress on the knee; leg press is ok, but nowhere near the workout you get from front squatting.

Plus, if you work out at home, what's a better option, a $2000 skyscraper that requires 1500 lbs. of plates, or a $100 barbell and, if you're a beast of a man, maybe 315 lbs of plates?

I'd also bet dollars-to-doughnuts that they used the same weight for each movement in the study. If that is the case, the studies conclusion is flawed for real world applications.