Modifying the front rack position

arm pain.jpeg

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!

front rack.jpg

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

Dumbbell clean and jerk.. Dumbbells at home for CrossFit WODs

Dball to shoulder

Dball to shoulder

Med ball clean

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

Safety squat bar

Landmine front squat

Landmine front squat

Heavy kettlebell front rack hold/squat

Heavy kettlebell front rack hold/squat


Pain with overhead pressing, push press, jerks? Try these:

Multi grip bar

Multi grip bar

  • use duel kettlebells or dumbbells

  • multi grip bar/Swiss bar

  • plate press

 
Plate press

Plate press



Pain with thrusters? Try these:

Sandbag ground to overhead. CrossFit at home!

Sandbag ground to overhead. CrossFit at home!

  • use dumbbells or kettlebells

  • wall balls

  • sandbag clean and press

  • plate ground to overhead

Infinity_Wall_Ball_WEB-3.jpg

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

Elbows high in the front rack position

Written by Beth Ansley, PT, DPT, OCS, CF-L1
For questions contact me at beth@arrowptseattle.com