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bblazer
Banned
Since there have been a few threads lately about box squatting, I thought I would throw my hat and $0.06 into the fray.
Simply put, I use box squats to work on form, get a bigger squat number and explosiveness out of the hole. Lets me get into a little more detail about each of those.
Lets say you have a goal of squatting 495 and you are currently doing 405 for a double. Start with a high box or even the bench. Load 465 and squat. Where on your body you touch the bench tells you a lot about your form. I try and touch my nut sack. In my particular case, this lets me know that I have rotated my hips out and back enough. At this point, you have an option. You can touch and go, or you can actually sit down and take the full brunt of the weight essentially releasing your legs from the lift. In the beginning the touch and go is the safest, especially when you are venturing into new weight territory, as yiour hams and glutes are still at least partially engaged. Fully sitting releases this engagement, and forces you to reengage and drive up out of the hole, in effect putting extra load on your erector chain. Do not rock back or move your feet. This has obvious inherent dangers of many different types of injury. Proceed with caution and make sure you have a belt on. Once you feel comfortable with this, you can go to your goal of 495 - still using the bench in this case.
In my gym the next step is a 10" high steel box that I welded up. To go slightly lower than the bench, I stack 2 35's on top of it and repeat the above (starting back at 465). Still working on form as the top priority. Without my form being as good as I can make it, I know that I have no business venturing further. Also, going lower like this engages the hams and glutes that much more. This is important, because in my experience, ham or glute deficiency is second to form when there is weakness in a squat.
Hopefully by now you can see where I am going with this. Once efficiency and good form is achieved with 2 35's you pull one off and repeat the cycle, until eventually you are just hitting the box.
Now here is the important part. Depending on how long you have been training, what I have just outlined could take you 6 months or more to make this progression from 405 to 495. But there is an added bonus here for your hard work. If you completely sit on the box, you will not only have gotten to 495, but your stability in the hole, and your explosiveness out of the hole will be much stronger. Plus you will have another tool in your arsenal for working on your form.
B-
Simply put, I use box squats to work on form, get a bigger squat number and explosiveness out of the hole. Lets me get into a little more detail about each of those.
Lets say you have a goal of squatting 495 and you are currently doing 405 for a double. Start with a high box or even the bench. Load 465 and squat. Where on your body you touch the bench tells you a lot about your form. I try and touch my nut sack. In my particular case, this lets me know that I have rotated my hips out and back enough. At this point, you have an option. You can touch and go, or you can actually sit down and take the full brunt of the weight essentially releasing your legs from the lift. In the beginning the touch and go is the safest, especially when you are venturing into new weight territory, as yiour hams and glutes are still at least partially engaged. Fully sitting releases this engagement, and forces you to reengage and drive up out of the hole, in effect putting extra load on your erector chain. Do not rock back or move your feet. This has obvious inherent dangers of many different types of injury. Proceed with caution and make sure you have a belt on. Once you feel comfortable with this, you can go to your goal of 495 - still using the bench in this case.
In my gym the next step is a 10" high steel box that I welded up. To go slightly lower than the bench, I stack 2 35's on top of it and repeat the above (starting back at 465). Still working on form as the top priority. Without my form being as good as I can make it, I know that I have no business venturing further. Also, going lower like this engages the hams and glutes that much more. This is important, because in my experience, ham or glute deficiency is second to form when there is weakness in a squat.
Hopefully by now you can see where I am going with this. Once efficiency and good form is achieved with 2 35's you pull one off and repeat the cycle, until eventually you are just hitting the box.
Now here is the important part. Depending on how long you have been training, what I have just outlined could take you 6 months or more to make this progression from 405 to 495. But there is an added bonus here for your hard work. If you completely sit on the box, you will not only have gotten to 495, but your stability in the hole, and your explosiveness out of the hole will be much stronger. Plus you will have another tool in your arsenal for working on your form.
B-
