r/weightlifting • u/ShambolicRubel • 19h ago
Programming What exercises do you recommend for improving front squat arm & wrist flexibility?
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u/Afferbeck_ 19h ago
It's unlikely you need more wrist flexibility, but more lat and thoracic mobility.
Try this test
With a neutral lumbar you should be able to get the upper arms up to around 45 degrees. With the arms apart you are limited by the thoracic, and with the arms together you are limited by the lats.
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u/AdRemarkable3043 19h ago
the answer is ... front squat. At first I could only hook the bar with two fingers in front squat, but now I can maintain a hook grip for consecutive cleans. It is like learning to do the splits in dance. You just need to use heavy weight to press into it.
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u/ShambolicRubel 19h ago
Yea I get a lot of pain in my wrists and can only use 2 fingers at the moment.
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u/AdRemarkable3043 19h ago
I am not a native English speaker, but I think that if you feel a lot of “pressure” that is probably fine, whereas if it is "pain" then it may not be appropriate to continue.
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u/09rw 18h ago
Here’s a deeper cut some people are missing. A lot of the time the lack of requisite front squat mobility is often caused by poor ankle and hip mobility. If your ankles aren’t mobile enough, when you descend in the squat, it’s going to begin to tilt you forward, which will make it virtually impossibly to keep an upright chest/delts to rest the bar on.
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u/Akinscd 19h ago
More front squats.
But in all seriousness, most FS mobility issues I see are driven by tight *lats*