How to Improve Your Front Rack Positioning
We often get asked, “How Do I Get a Better Front Rack?” Poor mobility for a proper front rack position is one of the most frequent complaints of our CrossFit and Weightlifting athletes. In order to reach a comfortable position for the front rack, one needs adequate shoulder flexion and external rotation, elbow flexion, forearm pronation, wrist extension and thoracic extension.
Our Performance Physical Therapy experts don’t just work with injured athletes, they work with athletes to improve positioning and increase efficiency to perform better in Olympic Weightlifting meets, CrossFit competitions and for the CrossFit Open.
Better front rack positioning also translates to less pain with heavy cleans, no need to transition awkwardly from a clean to a jerk, better efficiency in barbell cycling and better thrusters.
Read on to see how to test and fix vital components of the front squat.
Component #1: Shoulder flexion and Lat Flexibility
Test: Sit against a wall with your legs out straight, hold a dowel palms up and try to lift your arms above your head until they contact the wall. If this is hard or you cannot touch the wall without contorting your torso, you fail.
Fix: If you fail this test, follow up with lat soft tissue mobilization, banded overhead opener and kettlebell lat eccentrics off of a bench.
Component #2: Shoulder External Rotation
TEST: Stand with your elbow in front of your body at shoulder height and bent to 90 degrees, keep the elbow in place while you try to move the hand away from the midline of the body. If you cannot move past 90 degrees, you fail.
FIX: If you fail this test, follow up with supine shoulder internal rotation/external rotation eccentrics and side lying shoulder external rotation.
Component #3: Elbow flexion and Tricep Flexibility
TEST: Stand with your elbow in front of your body at shoulder height and bend the elbow to try to touch the thumb to the shoulder. If your thumb does not touch, you fail. Stand and bring arm out to the side and as close to your head as possible, then bend the elbow and reach down your back, if this is hard or you feel a stretch, you fail.
FIX: If you fail this test, follow up with tricep soft tissue mobilization and banded tricep stretch.
Component #4: Forearm Pronation
TEST: Stand with arm at side and elbow bent to 90 degrees with thumb pointing towards ceiling. Rotate the palm towards the floor and try to get palm parallel with the floor. If this is hard or your hand does not reach parallel to the floor, you fail.
FIX: If you fail this test, follow up with PVC forearm pronation/supination supination/pronation and barbell elbow punches.
Component #5: Wrist Extension
TEST: Begin on hands and knees. Shift bodyweight over your hands and try to bring forearms perpendicular to the floor. If you feel pinching/discomfort or cannot get forearms perpendicular to the floor, you fail.
FIX: If you fail this test, follow up with banded wrist extension mobilization and dumbbell wrist extension eccentric.
Component #6: Thoracic Extension
TEST: Start in Child’s Pose position with bottom touching heels and forearms on the floor. Put one hand behind the head and rotate through the upper back until the elbow points to the ceiling. If this is difficult or you cannot get your elbow up towards the ceiling, you fail.
FIX: If you fail this test, follow up with thoracic extension over foam roller, open book and Prone Behind the Neck Press.
Written By: Dr. Delilah Beall, PT, DPT, CMTPT – CrossFit and Weightlifting Rehab Specialist at Samson Strength & Performance Pt in Jacksonville Beach, FL