Front squats in novice routine

[Peter_k]

I've recently switched to using front squats in the novice routine, as outlined in PP. I'm just wondering if I did so at the appropriate time.

I'm back squatting about 1.25x of my bodyweight at this point, and making 2.5 lb jumps every workout (5 lbs a week). I find it a little easier doing back squats only 2x a week, but I'm having form problems on both kinds of squats, and especially the front squats.

I'm thinking maybe I should ditch the front squats until I nail my back squat form perfectly (it's almost there, I think). Would it be a good idea to substitute a light squat day instead? I know this was suggested as an alternative somewhere, but I'm wondering if it was meant for a trainee at the stage I'm at.

In other words, at what point are heavy back squats usually reduced to 2x a week for a novice? I know in PP you said it's after a stall, but unfortunately I've "stalled" a few times due to bad form/programming and am not sure when it usually happens in ideal circumstances. Could you estimate the point in time it happens in terms of a benchmark (back squat as % of bodyweight, maybe)?

[Mark Rippetoe]

There is never a way to establish a bench mark for anything based on % of bodyweight done in an exercise, because there are too many variables that control strength. We recommend using front squats at that point in a novice program because it usually works well there. If your circumstances have caused that point in your training to be fuzzy (not clearly definable according to our criteria), you'll just have to bushwhack (travel across country without the benefit of a trail).