Quads exercise
Dumbbell Front SquatHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Also works
- Abs, Upper back
- Equipment
- Dumbbell
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
How do you do the Dumbbell Front Squat?
- Rest a dumbbell on the front of each shoulder, palms facing in.
- Lift your elbows and stand with feet shoulder-width apart.
- Sit straight down until your thighs are level or a little lower.
- Keep your chest tall and the dumbbells still.
- Push through your whole foot to stand up.
Cues
- Elbows up, chest proud.
- Knees travel forward over your toes.
- Weight over the middle of your foot.
Common mistakes
- Dropping the elbows so the dumbbells tip forward.
- Rounding the upper back at the bottom.
- Rising onto your toes as you stand.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
A dumbbell in each hand, lifted to the front of the shoulders. Palms face each other, so the handles point straight ahead; the rear head of each dumbbell rests on the front of its shoulder. Elbows are up and forward, upper arms angled down only a little from horizontal. Heels about shoulder-width apart, toes turned out about 10°, whole foot flat. Chest lifted, shoulder blades set, eyes forward.
The movement
Hips and knees bend together and the body sinks almost straight down. The knees travel forward over the 2nd and 3rd toes, further than in a back squat, and the trunk stays fairly upright. The dumbbells stay fixed on the shoulders and move in a vertical line over the mid-foot. The elbows stay up the whole way. Push through the whole foot to stand, hips and shoulders rising together.
End position
Bottom: thighs at parallel or just below (hip crease a little below the top of the knee). With the load in front of the shoulders, keeping it over the mid-foot holds the trunk near the barbell front squat's 15–35° rather than the back squat's 35–45°.
Tempo
About 1.9 s down, 0.25 s pause, 1.4 s up, short stand at the top.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stance, heel to heel | 1.0 × shoulder width | 0.9–1.2 × | [1][2] |
| Toe-out, each foot | 10° | 0–20° | [1][2] |
| Upper arm vs horizontal, whole rep | 15° below | 0–30° below | [1] |
| Depth: hip crease vs top of knee | 3 cm below | 0–8 cm below | [1] |
| Shin lean from vertical at the bottom | 38° | 30–42° | |
| Heel lift | 0 cm | 0 cm | [1][2] |
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Dumbbell Front Squat is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
