Barbell Pause Front Squat

The pause front squat is a barbell squat in which you hold the bottom position motionless for a beat before driving back up, with the bar racked across the front of your shoulders. Stopping at the bottom removes the stretch reflex, so the quads, glutes and core have to restart the lift from a dead stop instead of bouncing out of the hole. Most lifters run it at seventy to eighty percent of their best front squat for sets of three to five reps, because the added time under tension makes every rep noticeably harder than a touch-and-go version. Why bother with the pause? It exposes any rounding of the upper back or dropping of the elbows the moment the bar stops moving, which makes it one of the quickest ways to clean up front squat technique. It also demands real ankle and thoracic mobility, and it carries straight over to the clean.