Do you have pain or discomfort in the front rack position?
If your answer is yes — this is very common, especially if you are new to CrossFit. You may have never experienced having something heavy in your palms, pushing down and extending your wrists! It definitely takes time to get comfortable in the front rack position but it can also be really painful for some.
This blog post will share some modifications for the front rack that are different than scaling to back squats. Sometimes doing back squats or just completely changing the movement is an easy scale, however the beauty of the front rack position is that is works the core and mid-back much more. The options below will give you the same stimulus of having load anteriorly/in front of your body!
Before we get into the movements, consider this:
First off, I would recommend getting evaluated by a physical therapist or checking out our Ebook to self-assess your front rack mobility. Commonly people have pain/discomfort in their wrists. More often than not, there is an issue upstream in the shoulders or mid-back that is causing the problem. BUT it is hard to know for sure unless you get assessed!
Second, think about scaling weight or volume of the front rack movement before you just avoid it. This is a good option if you don’t have pain but just need more time to get comfortable in the position.
Lastly, if you are having pain, modify the movement while you are getting physical therapy and working on your front rack mobility.
Remember, the best way to improve
your front rack
is to do things in the front rack!
In the meantime, here are some helpful modifications to try while you are working on your mobility:
Pain with cleans? Try these:
dumbbell or kettlebell cleans
med ball cleans
heavy slam balls
dball ground to shoulder
sandbag cleans
Dumbbell clean and jerk.. Dumbbells at home for CrossFit WODs
Dball to shoulder
Med ball clean
Pain with front squats? Try these:
safety squat bar
landmine front squat
duel kettlebell or dumbbell front squats
heavy goblet squats (Think goblet squats are too “easy”? Can you do half your body bodyweight or 90# for 20 reps? Give it a try!)
use straps (check out the video below)
Safety squat bar
Landmine front squat
Heavy kettlebell front rack hold/squat
Pain with overhead pressing, push press, jerks? Try these:
Multi grip bar
use duel kettlebells or dumbbells
multi grip bar/Swiss bar
plate press
Plate press
Pain with thrusters? Try these:
Sandbag ground to overhead. CrossFit at home!
use dumbbells or kettlebells
wall balls
sandbag clean and press
plate ground to overhead
Another reminder -
You won’t get a better front rack if you never spend time in the front rack.
I encourage you to keep working on it and don’t avoid it forever!
Elbows high in the front rack position
Written by Beth Ansley, PT, DPT, OCS, CF-L1
For questions contact me at beth@arrowptseattle.com