ExRx.net

Anybody doing box squats regularly?

I've swapped them in this cycle and I have to say I like them. It is surprising how a small amount of weight is a serious workout. With a 1RM of 320 on squat about a month ago, sets of 5 at 175 are serious work to maintain form on the 5th rep.

There is some serious hype about box squats. In the end I'll have to see how I do after 3 weeks.

theres a 190 lbs-ish man here doing them, you should hear from him in the next 12 hours I imagine

I tried doing box squats recently and it ended up being a major setback when I switched back to regular back squats. However in my case I stayed with box squats and front squats only for a lot longer than 3 weeks.

I used to do them regularly and actually think I done them too much.

I was pretty obsessed with them because for the right person they work incredibly well. However right now they don't do much, but weak points/sticking points have changed.

Box Squats took my free squat from about 120kg to about 150-160kg. However, now my box squat and free squat are very similar, and that's with a pause. Again, though, it's an individual thing, i'm a weird case i.e. check my recent numbers

Squat - 160kg
Box Squat (PL depth) - 145kg (been several months now since I done them)
Close stance paused squat - 155kg
Bottom Up/dead squat - 160kg (I was just certain these would carryover brilliantly, but was wrong).

Basically I think what i've been trying to address isn't actually the problem. My sticking point is a few inches out of the hole. I think it might be an ab thing, however my form is pretty solid, even when I go to failure my weight doesn't fall forward, I just become unable to move the weight. For those who tend to pitch forward when the weight gets interesting, Box Squats work like magic. Nothing will teach you to squat with the hips/glutes/hammies/lower back and stay on the heels as well as a Box Squat will.

For the same reason, they're amazing for beginners. In an ideal world if I have an awful squatter, they will go - goblets to box - free goblet squats - front squats - box squats. THEN we free squat. I kick the box away and the first time they squat they normally lift a respectable weight with rock solid for from day one. One client couldn't b/w squat below parallel without tucking, went through this progression, and she back squatted 80KG first time doing the exercise. Box Squats teach squat form brilliantly, they teach you to stay tight in the hole, and they allow you to become comfortable in the hole. For people that tend to cut depth when things get tough (which I think is more mental than physical), Box Squats really work a treat, too.

It depends?

KPj

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Thanks TimD

you rang?

I LOVE box squats. They really help with getting the power you need out of the hole. Box front squats are fast becoming my favourite exercise.

weirdly, there's not that much difference between my box front squat and my actual front squat...

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Thanks TimD.

I don't think Louie Simmons has made any secret of where his methods have came from. I'm sure in a few articles you can get on the net he says it's a mixture of what he was told and read from the original westside barbell, who he credits for a lot of the "special exercises" he uses, and the soviets system of wave loading.

Also, in the old westside videos they do the rocking box squats. Some of them do, anyway.

Wanting to rock on the box actually comes naturally. I've always seen it as a fault in the lift and stop people from doing it when their bodies inevitably figure out that they can move the weight easier that way. I don't think you should try and train the stretch reflex via Box Squatting, i think it's a poor choice. And I think rocking on the box is a dangerous choice.

I've always seen Box Squats a la simmons as the opposite, always thought half the point was to take away the advantage of the stretch reflex. In a similar way that floor pressing takes away the advantage of leg drive - we want it (stretch reflex, leg drive on bench), we want to make it better, but sometimes we want to work on other qualities (in this case, exploding from a dead stop), which often involves reducing or disabling similar qualities (in this case, the stretch reflex).

In other words I think if you're trying to work on your stretch reflex, then Box Squatting is a poor choice.

I have one client who Box Squats always work for and I think this is where things "depend". This boy has some amazing rebound out of the hole, so much "spring", without bouncing off the calves. I think he naturally makes amazing use of the stretch reflex. I have never coached him on getting the right speed on the eccentric or getting a quick, sharp bar reversal. He just has it naturally.

If you I take this away (with Box Squats), it calls him out. Get some gains on box squats and it always carries over. I suspect spending a lot of time of jumps and other plyo's wouldn't work too well for him, although not tried so far.

I think people who are naturally stiffer, more "blocky", slower, and muscle things up more will need to worry about the stretch reflex more.

Also, another often overlooked point about Box Squats, atleast how Simmons wants them done, is the vertical shin. It takes a while to develop this even with very little weight. It almost turns the exercise into a deadlift! There is an argument to say Box Squats done this way will carryover to your deadlift more than your squat.

KPj

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Thanks TimD

This is what I'm looking for. I will still go very sloppy and pitched on at least one rep of a 4-5 rep set, and I want to bring that down to one out of 100. We use the safety bar for box squats in my gym generally, which projects the weight out forward of you, so you absolutely must be thinking "chest up" or it doesn't work. You either do a good morning or a squat, but you can't fool yourself with something in between.

Kenny, it's hard for me to tie my experience to the information you provide. I don't know much about Simmons vs original Westside, but I was taught to keep my back tight but let my legs go loose, to deliberately abandon the stretch reflex and gain power coming from a dead stop.

What I am confident of, in decreasing order, is that it gives much needed practice in form (see previous paragraph), carries some to deadlift because of dead stop feel, and supposedly adds to what you can do if you already know how to make use of the stretch reflex.

I did them a lot when I was lifting at DeFranco's. They really helped me learn to stay tight, to get consistent depth, and to learn to selectively relax, while getting me stronger. I wasn't doing them to improve my back squat, so I can't say how they did or didn't do that. I use box-based squats all the time now to teach people to squat.

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Peter V. Dell'Orto
http://strength-basics.blogspot.com

this cant be useless

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbCaLZ8a0cw

mos def I'll keep these in mind

Also the whole So you think you can Squat series on youtube is great for any technique aspect.

I have been thinking I would add Box front squats to my next program, atleast for 4-12 weeks. Seeing how that feels and how I can get the box to use. I've done box back squats before, and those were very interesting always. We'll see.

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Prove the impossible!

This one's a little more um, informative?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HqB9PHNNi8

You're welcome.

KPj

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Thanks TimD

porn for gym rats. you juveniles.

It's like when Leigh starts talking about accumulated surplus, I get all... like ... "say it again, but this time, slower, and with standard deviation."