Your workout calls for front squats at 70%, and the biggest squat number in your notes belongs to your back squat. Before multiplying it, check what the program means. The arithmetic can be correct while the reference lift is wrong, leaving you with a different load than intended.
A percentage needs a named base. Some programs deliberately use a back-squat max or a separate training max; others mean the maximum for the exercise you are about to perform.
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Seventy percent of which squat?
The American Council on Exercise’s load-estimation explanation defines a one-repetition maximum as the most weight someone can lift once. Its estimation instructions use the weight and repetitions completed for a specific exercise, rather than treating strength as one interchangeable number.
Consider an illustrative lifter with a 250-pound back-squat max and a 200-pound front-squat max. Seventy percent of the front-squat max is 140 pounds. Seventy percent of the back-squat max is 175 pounds—87.5% of that lifter’s front-squat max.
Those invented numbers demonstrate the calculation, not a normal front-to-back ratio or a recommended workout. If the prescription meant 70% of the front squat, switching the reference adds 35 pounds. If it explicitly meant the back squat, the same calculation follows the instruction correctly.
Similar research percentages do not mean identical weights
A 2019 load-and-velocity study tested 11 NCAA Division I baseball position players on front and back squats at 30%, 50%, 70%, and 90% of their predetermined maximums for the two lifts. Researchers recorded barbell speed while participants attempted to move the loads as fast as possible.
As relative load increased, mean and peak velocity declined in both exercises. The researchers found no statistically significant difference between the slopes of the two load–velocity relationships. That finding does not turn the two maximums into the same weight, or establish a conversion ratio for every lifter.
This was a small study of young trained men measuring performance, not a trial showing that one squat builds more muscle or that a particular loading error causes injury.
Clarify the base before testing a new maximum
You do not need an impromptu all-out attempt to resolve unclear instructions. In its assessment guidance, ACE distinguishes actual maximum testing from submaximal estimates and says the choice should reflect the person’s experience, abilities, and goals. Actual maximum testing is not appropriate for beginners.
Ask the coach or program author whether “70%” refers to a front-squat maximum, a back-squat maximum, or a training max defined elsewhere. If an estimate is being used, identify the exercise and method behind it; an estimated number should not silently become a directly tested result.
Once the reference is clear, prepare for the intended movement. Our guide to building toward your barbell working weight explains gradual practice without turning preparation into another demanding workout. A precise percentage is useful only when it describes the task you actually plan to perform.