Back Squat vs Front Squat ratio: What percentage of your Back Squat should you Front Squat?

You know, what you can Back Squat, but you don’t know, what you can Front Squat and ask yourself ‘What is the correct Back Squat to Front Squat ratio?’ or in simple words ‘What percentage of your Back Squat should you Front Squat?’

This article and video discusses

• What percentage of your Back Squat should you Front Squat?
• What is the Front Squat to Back Squat ratio?
• The pros and cons of using the Back Squat vs Front Squat ratio

If you can Back Squat 100 kg, how much should you then be able to Front Squat? For this, it is helpful to know the Back Squat vs Front Squat ratio.

What percentage of your Back Squat should you Front Squat?

I for myself with my athletes, I have found that the range is somewhere between 80 – 90% with some exceptions to the rule. I have trained athletes who could Front Squat more than 90% of their Back Squat 1 RM in the Front Squat 1 RM.

That means, if you can Back Squat 100 kg for 3 reps, you should be able to Front Squat 80 – 90% for 3 reps, hence 80 kg to 90 kg for 3 reps.

If you can Back Squat 100 kg for 1 rep, you should be able to Front Squat 80kg to 90 kg for 1 rep.

It’s important to clarify, that you need to compare 3 reps to 3 reps, 1 rep to 1 rep, etc. because I recently had this discussion, where this concept wasn’t really clear and therefore I wanted to clarify this.

If you look in the literature or on popular websites, you will find that Back Squat to Front Squat ratio is around 80% – 85%.

Check out

• Squat more, Lift more from Wil Fleming
• The Front Squat vs the Back Squat from the BoxLifeMagazine

On the other hand, Charles Poliquin describes the Front Squat to Back Squat ratio between 70 – 85 %.

Consequently, the bottom line is, that it is a range, much rather than a specific number, and this range is between 80% – 90%.

Important to note is, that it is High Bar Back Squat to Front Squat ratio, hence you are comparing a High Bar Back Squat with a Front Squat, not a Low Bar Back Squat with the Front Squat.

The Back Squat to Front Squat ratio is individual, however, in most cases, you will find the Front Squat is between 80-90% of the Back Squat.

If you would want to dig your teeth a bit deeper into the topic of not only a general Back Squat to Front Squat ratio, but also how this ratio changes over different age categories, check out the article All The Squats. Interestingly the Back Squat Front Squat ratio seems to be constant between men and women, but does change through the years as people age.

But you can also flip the ratio around and look at the Front Squat to Back Squat ratio.

What is the Front Squat to Back Squat ratio? How much more can you Back Squat than Front Squat?

Much rather than looking at the Back Squat to Front Squat ratio, you can also look at the Front Squat to Back Squat ratio, and ask yourself ‘How much more can you Back Squat than Front Squat?

This ratio of Back Squat to Front Squat is between 110% – 125%. Which means you can Back Squat 10 – 25% more than you can Front Squat.

Hence, if you can Front Squat 100 kg for 2 reps, you should be able to Back Squat 110 – 125 kg for 2 reps.

Why should you do that, why is that Front Squat to Back Squat weight ratio important?

For me, the Front Squat to Back Squat conversion is important because when our young athletes start training with me, I start with the Front Squat and the Overhead Squat as a primary squatting pattern and introduce the Back Squat at a later stage.

The reason for my approach is, that the Front Squat, as well as the Overhead Squat, teaches better squatting mechanics, and allows for less compensatory movement.

The Front Squat, as well as the Overhead Squat, teaches better squatting mechanics and allows for less compensatory movement.

As an example, in the bottom position of a Back Squat, there is always the chance, you start rising with your hip, which can lead to teaching yourself a wrong squatting pattern.

This is the main reason, why I use the Front Squat because it forces you into a better position and to maintain that position with an upright torso and torso angle when squatting.

A good example to illustrate this point, a few years ago, one of my athletes double Olympian Twant van Gendt struggled to improve his Back Squat 1 RM, as he tended to have too much forward lean in the bottom position, and consequently always failed in this bottom position. Consequently, we implemented the handsfree Front Squat in his training program to teach him to keep his upper body more upright throughout the entire squat. Twan being Twan, with his dedication and commitment to training pretty quickly got up to a 160 kg handsfree Front Squat.

and as a result, improved his Back Squat 1 RM by another 10 kg in this year.

This is certainly not an example of a beginner athlete, however, it illustrates the point of the benefits of Front Squats on Back Squats. For more details on that approach, check out Why Front Squats are better

How long do we Front Squat, before we start to Back Squat?

Generally speaking the first 12 months my athletes do only Overhead Squats and Front Squats and then I start to introduce the Back Squat.

In my experience after 6 – 12 months the squatting pattern has consolidated and you can transition from the seamlessly from the Front Squat to the Back Squat and the athletes are able to maintain the correct squatting pattern in the Back Squat.

After 6 – 12 months the squatting pattern has consolidated and you can transition from the seamlessly from the Front Squat to the Back Squat

What does that mean for the Front Squat to Back Squat ratio?

When I introduce the Back Squat after 12 months of only Front Squatting, the question in the young athletes come up ‘How much weight should I use in the Back Squat? I only know how much I am able to Front Squat.’

I usually don’t do a 1 RM test after 12 months of training, but I have a good idea what any athlete can Front Squat for 3 to 4 repetitions with good Front Squat technique, from this 3 or 4 repetitions, I can predict the Front Squat 1 RM and then predict the range of the Back Squat 1 RM.

How does that work?

Pretty simple, if you predict your Front Squat 1 RM with a 100 kg and use the Front Squat to Back Squat conversion from above, you know the predicted Back Squat 1 RM is between 110 kg and 125 kg.

Or, if you want to make it easier or simpler for you and your athlete, take the weight of the 3 to 4 repetitions of Front Squats and prescribe, that the athlete should be able to do 110 – 125% of the same number of repetitions in the Back Squat.

The pros and cons of using the Back Squat vs Front Squat ratio

Next, to the practical application of knowing the Back Squat vs Front Squat ratio, as well as the Front Squat vs Back Squat ratio, that I have outlined, there are a few important considerations.

What are those considerations?

I find the approach of Charles Poliquin interesting, that he uses in the article mentioned above to use the Back Squat vs Front Squat weight ratio as an indication of structural balance.

What does that mean?

The idea is, that if you are not within the range, it is an indication of a structural imbalance and therefore the ratio can be used as a screening tool.

The negatives about these type of ratios that I found is, that athletes tend to take them a bit too serious, and I had athletes in the past, that freaked out if they were not within the range.

Athletes tend to take numbers a bit too serious, and I had athletes in the past, that freaked out if they were not within the range.

Again, it is a range, and if you are a little bit outside of this range it’s still acceptable.

Back Squat vs Front Squat ratio conclusion

So, how much of your Back Squat should you be able to Front Squat?

The Back Squat to Front Squat ratio is somewhere between 80% – 90%, which means you can Front Squat 80 – 90% of the weight you Back Squat for a given number of repetitions and this needs to be the same number of repetitions.

If you reverse the ratio, you should be able to Back Squat 110% – 125% of your Front Squat, which is helpful in cases like I have outlined above, when you know the weight you can Front Squat, but not the weight you can Back Squat.

Anyway, whether you compare the Back Squat to the Front Squat or vice versa, make sure you go through the same range of motion, otherwise, you end up comparing apples with oranges.