StrengthIn review

Dumbbell Front Squat

A squat with two dumbbells held at the front of the shoulders.

This page is a working draft. A coach has not reviewed it, so read it as a starting point, not as checked instruction.

Pattern: Squat
Modality: Strength
Difficulty: Beginner
Mechanic: Unknown
Force: Unknown
Laterality: Bilateral
Impact: Low
Trains where: Gym, Home
At home: Yes

How to do it

Set up

Stand with the feet about shoulder-width apart.
Hold one dumbbell at the front of each shoulder.

Do the rep

Bend the knees and hips and lower until the hip crease is below the knees.
Push through the whole foot and return to a full stand.

What counts as a rep

A rep counts when the hip crease drops below the knees and you return to a full stand with the dumbbells in place.

Breathing

Breathe in and brace before the descent; exhale as you stand.

Cues

Keep the whole foot flat.
Knees follow the toes.
Keep the dumbbells at the shoulders.

Common mistakes

Knees falling inward
What you seeThe knees move inside the line of the feet as you lower or stand.
FixPush the knees out so they stay over the toes.
Knees over the toes keep the load on the hips and thighs.

Stop the set if

Stop if you feel sharp pain.
Stop if you cannot hold the dumbbells in place.
End the set when you cannot reach the required depth under control.

General educational content, not individual coaching or medical advice.

Muscles worked

Prime movers

Quadriceps · moderate confidence
Glutes · moderate confidence

Assisting

Adductors · moderate confidence
Hamstrings · moderate confidence
Deep core / trunk stabilizers · moderate confidence
Forearms and grip · moderate confidence

Equipment

Dumbbell

Stand with the feet about shoulder-width apart.

In the app

You log this by hand. The camera coach does not watch this movement yet.

Tracking: Camera candidate

How this page was checked

Draft. A coach reviewer has not signed this off yet.

Draft text is original copy for Wave 2 batch 11, adapted from existing Allena records and the owner rules approved 2026-10-12 (#340). No human review is complete.
Technique, cues, rep standard, breathing, stop cues, and error corrections need independent sources and the assigned review tier (blueprint two-source rule).
Programming roles, skill tier, failure cost, timed use, goal fit, and equipment follow the owner rules; the switch-on PR must confirm them.
Anatomy uses the CSV planning hints; the assigned review tier must confirm it.
Legacy relations and engine edges stay empty until the progression ladder lane and S2-CAT-005.
Timed use and goal fit copy ex_goblet_squat, the closest Wave 1 record. The draft carries no Wave 1 review evidence.
Technique uses 2 dumbbell(s). Load is logged in kg with load-and-reps only; the bodyweight variant is a separate record.
The CSV bench-or-box is removed; the movement requires only dumbbells. Home changes from no to yes (rule 1).
Failure cost moderate: the user must control the stop with dumbbells or on one leg (rule 3).
ex_dumbbell_front_squat and ex_double_dumbbell_front_squat describe the same movement: two dumbbells held at the front of the shoulders. Both remain separate drafts; the owner can make one an alias in the switch-on PR.

All instruction and editorial text in this record is original draft copy written for Allena. Planning metadata comes from the internal Wave-2 blueprint CSV.

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