Like someone already said, the bar should be resting on your shoulders when you do front squat. The fingers are there so that you can grab the bar when you are ready to push press it. Keep your elbows up the whole time for the squat and when you are almost at top , roll the bar in your hands and push press it. Keep trying , you will get it. It's a great power move! Don't split it.

How do you rest the bar on your shoulders without choking or decapitating yourself?? I'm thinking that maybe my arms are proportioned differently than the model in the book, because if I put my elbows up and hands back like she does, my hands are behind my shoulders.

I never could get the bar positioned correctly without it stressing one body part or another (wrists, delts, clavicles). I agree with other posters about it being a power move that gets the body working together as a unit. It improves balance and coordination, along with overall power and strength.

This is how I ended up doing them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVBgKB4Gnsw&list=PL4CE51ED9E54AA7C3&index=19

Notice how she's using her upward momentum to rise up onto her toes as if she's trying to throw the weight up through the ceiling. Just as it's quoted in our book, bullet point #4 under the "Lift" section.

Also noted in the book on pg. 179, this exercise is meant to be done with fast, explosive action. The goal is muscle power. Power is the ability to move something as fast as possible. The above video is a perfect example of this.

I also like the idea of using a weighted Swiss ball to make sure you're squatting deep enough.

Side note: notice how SHE'S doing pull-ups while the man is doing chin-ups. Pull-ups are much more difficult. She's one strong cookie.