It was the great Tom Platz who is credited with pioneering the use of front squats on a mainstream basis in the 1970s and 80s. You may have heard of the guy. While his upper body was considered only slightly above average by professional bodybuilding standards, his legs were world-class. To this day, bodybuilders have failed to match the exact level of size, thickness, and muscularity that Platz achieved. Some have offered the same level of size he had. Some are equally or more ripped. And some have shape that is just as good. But Tom Platz had something that the rest of them did not. His legs were just superhuman. They were gigantic, flowed perfectly, and just looked like a perfectly developed set of legs. Twenty-five years later, people are still looking at his legs and shaking their head in awe.

Most bodybuilders with standout body part have these parts due to their genetics. We all know that Ronnie Coleman looked better in high school football photos than most of us could ever achieve with a lifetime of training. Genetics play a great deal in how far we are able to go in this sport. That being said, Platz didn’t have great genetics for legs. But he did have an absolutely insane temperament which allowed him to train more intensely than most that came before or after him. He would spend literally hours in the gym training a body part. You think you train to failure? Platz would complete 20 sets of squats followed by 20 sets of leg extensions. At the end of his routine, he would literally be doing reps with an extremely limited range of motion – only an inch or two – on the leg extensions, with only 20 or 30 pounds. His sets would literally last minutes. He engorged his legs with so much blood that they had no choice but to grow. He wasn’t blessed with great leg genetics. But he trained with such insanity that his legs grew.

One of the movements that Platz liked was the front squat. It’s a movement that isn’t all that popular with many bodybuilders. For starters, it requires the use of less weight. In a sport built on ego and numbers, the hit to ego of greatly reducing the amount of weight use is one unpopular move! Secondly, the movement is awkward. Your neck and traps can hold weight much easier than your front delts. The movement is dangerous in that the weight is more likely to slip forward, and you can seriously place some undue pressure on the very weak front delts.

But, there is a reason Tom Platz used the movement, and why it’s still very popular with men and women of elite caliber legs: Front squats work! They allow the bodybuilder to shift the bulk of the emphasis away from the glutes (the butt muscles), calves, and hamstrings. The front thighs – particularly the teardrop region, which is very hard to train – are required to complete the bulk of the weight. This leads to new growth in the front thighs, an area where many bodybuilders have traditionally been weak. If you want to spurn some new growth in your front squats, follow the Platzian lead and implement some front squats!

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