Back squats may the king of all leg exercises, but front squats and deadlifts are certainly legday royalty as well. To improve your front and back squat you need to do it more and intelligently program squat accessory exercises to strengthen all parts of the movement and improve technique. Squatting hard and heavy is great but sometimes it is better to train smarter and not harder.
This is where accessory exercises are your best friend. Trained before or after your barbell squats, these five exercises strengthen strengths and strength weaknesses for stronger and better-performed squat. Here, five expert trainers share with you their favorite squat accessory exercises to help you bust through your squat plateaus and to build the quads of gods.
Andrew Heming, MS, CSCS, college strength and conditioning coach who specializes in putting on slabs of muscle on skinny guys and athletes
Why I like it: Unless you are an advanced lifter, your stalled squat is not due to a weak muscle that “needs” to be brought up by a fancy exercise you saw on Instagram. The main issues that hold most people back with their squats are technique and stability. Paused squats are a simple, effective way to improve your technique AND build stability where you need it most.
How it helps: It improves technique. While you may be able to bounce in and out of the bottom of a squat with sub-par technique, holding a pause with a respectable weight forces you into a proper squat position.
Form tips: The pause becomes your form coach and forces you into the correct position. Focus on staying tight and keeping the barbell over your midfoot. Perform the pause in your weakest position. For most people, this will be the bottom, but you could pause anywhere on the way up if that is where your weakest point of the lift is.
Programming suggestions: Remember the pause will add extra time to your lift. In addition, the front squat can be trickier with lower reps as your postural muscles start to fatigue. Try three to six reps per set if using the front squat. You may go a little higher (e.g., six to eight) if using the back squat. Do three to five sets using a two to five-second pause in the bottom position, starting with 20% of your squat 1RM for both the front and back squat.
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Candlestick Roll
Dr. Bo Babenko is a physical therapist and strength coach who specializes in strengthening the mind, body, and soul.
Why I like it: This exercise is an awesome skill to develop no matter what you do and trains your joints through a full range of motion before the barbell. If you want to avoid injury, build these up and include them in your warm-up routine. I have not felt a quicker connection between my nervous system and muscles for warming up for squats.
How it helps: On top of firing up your fast twitch fibers, this warm-up exercise takes your ankles, knees, hips, spine, and with the final progression, your shoulders through a very full range of motion.
Form tips: Progress this very carefully and with intention. This is a basic gymnastics movement that every athlete should be able to MASTER. Think of bringing your nose over your toes as you snap into the finish position. If you are doing any single-leg versions, you should focus on slow and controlled knees over toes tracking, especially on the way down. As you get your back on the floor your legs should be in a locked together position and be reaching for the ceiling, this is a great time to focus on squeezing your glutes.
Programming suggestions: Start working on rolling down and getting your timing down between your core and legs. The single-leg variations will help your one-leg squats (pistols), especially with the eccentrics. You can start out lowering down with one leg then coming up with both legs. The overhead progression with a plate is a great way to get you fired up for snatch and jerk work, so you begin to challenge and open your thoracic spine and shoulders.
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Anderson Squats
Allan Bacon, Ph.D. is a former dental surgeon now an online personal trainer who specializes in training powerlifters and body composition clients.
Why I like it: Anderson Squats promote both strength and positioning out of the hole by removing stretch reflex from the equation. It is also an effective lift for improving hip mobility and breaking through sticking points.
How it helps: Anderson Squats specifically help strength out of the hole as well as the ability to push through sticking points in the concentric portion of the squat.
Form tips: 1) Set safeties (or blocks) so the bar rests just at the bottom of your standard back squat form (although you can likely set this up for front squats just as successfully.) 2) Ensure that you are starting from a dead stop at the beginning of every single rep. 3) Get your body (particularly your hips) in the proper position, engage proper tightness, and then fire your glutes and press through the floor, just as you would out of the hole of your standard squat.
Programming suggestions: You can set this up as a lighter or a heavier variant.
Heavier: Work up to two to five sets of 1-3 reps. This teaches you how to grind out those maximal lifts. Consider starting anywhere between 70% to 90% of your 1RM and progress as possible for your given rep target.
Lighter: Work up to two to five sets of 3-5 reps. This works as a great standard strength training protocol and may be more adept at working through sticking points. Accelerate strongly through your sticking point. Consider starting anywhere between 40% to 50% of your 1RM and progress as possible for your given rep target.
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Sisyphus (Sissy) Squats
Travis Pollen, Ph.D., is an exercise science professor, personal trainer, and co-creator of the Strength for Yoga program and cofounder of 3M Athletic Performance gym
Why I like it: Sisyphus (sissy) squats are my favorite squat accessory because they isolate the quadriceps, and they transfer especially well to front squats. Plus, they don’t require any equipment and make my quads feel like they’re about to explode.
How it helps: Isolating the quads and building their size and strength will increase the resilience of your knee joint.
Form tips: Think of diving your knees straight forward and leaning back with your torso. Many newbies try to maintain an upright torso which causes them to break at their hips. We want full hip extension through the entire range of motion. As far as ROM goes, just do what you can. Even the strongest lifters might struggle to go all the way down and up at first.
Programming suggestions: Start with three sets of three- to five-second eccentrics. Lower down as slowly as possible, then squat and stand back up. Then practice partial ROM for three sets of 8-10 reps. Place a target in front of you to block your ROM, lower down, and raise back up to the target. Lower the height of the target over time.
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Zombie Front Squats
Mike T. Nelson Ph.D. is a metabolism fitness professional, strength coach, and educator who specializes in tailoring nutrition to each individual’s needs.
Why I like it: It is a no-brainer way to get the right bar position for you during front squats.
How it helps: Since you are performing it with your arms out in front, it forces you to find the right bar position and then hold it during the entire squat. The beauty is that you don’t need any other equipment than the barbell itself.
Form tips: If you have a power rack, set it up as you would normally or you can clean it from the ground since the weight is light. Let the bar roll up to your neck with your arms straight out in front. If it feels like the bar is going to murder your windpipe, odds are you are close to the best position. Squat down and up and pay attention to where the bar wants to roll out and adjust to keep it in position.
Programming suggestions: This is best to work into your warmup progression on front squat days for one to three sets. If you are working on front squats, I like to drop this in for one or two easy sets of five to eight reps before every lifting session to groove the right movement pattern.
