I've been reading and thinking allot lately (since i put my back out and all i can do are chins, crunches, and pushups) about squats.

While squatting slowly with an empty bar to help get my back used to the movement again, I found the front squats actually stressed the legs more.. Back squats forces the body to focus on the load held over the shoulders and you end up fighting the feeling of the weight as much as you do the burn in your legs. HOWEVER, the problem remains, your shoulder have to be strong as hell if you plan to front squat any amount of weight..its hard keeping that much weight across the front of the shoulders.

I'll experiment more when i can actually use weight again, but do you think that front squats yeild the same overall development and bennefits that back squats do?