Legs · Bodyweight
Safety Bar Front Squat
How to do the safety bar front squat, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Logged as
- Weighted reps
- Movement
- Squat
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Rack a safety squat bar so its padded yoke sits on your shoulders and grip the handles in front of you. Brace, sit down between your hips keeping your torso upright, then drive through your heels to stand.
- 1Feel the bar push your torso forward, so fight to stay tall through your
- 2upper back
- 3Drive your knees out and feel your quads load over your mid-foot
- 4Push through your heels and squeeze your glutes to lock out the top
Common mistakes
- Don't let your chest collapse forward as the bar pulls you down
- Avoid letting your knees cave inward or your heels lift
- Don't lose your brace; reset your breath between reps
Muscles worked
The safety bar front squat mainly works the quads and glutes, with the hamstrings, lower back, upper abs, and calves assisting.
- QuadsPrimary
- GlutesPrimary
- HamstringsSupport
- Lower BackSupport
- Upper AbsSupport
- CalvesSupport
Kovo programs the safety bar front squat for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More quads exercises
- How to do the resistance band squat
- How to do the resistance band squat to press
- How to do the resistance band thruster
- How to do the resistance band squat walk
- How to do the barbell squat
- How to do the barbell bulgarian split squat
Last reviewed June 2026.