? on box squatting

[Jimbo]

Im gonna start box squatting tomorrow but im a little confused. When you sit down on the box. You are supposed to relax the hip flexors

Does this just mean. Stop spreading your kness out as far as you can go for a split second?

next, ive watched a few youtube videos. When guys get on the box, they lift there legs up. Are you supposed to do this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G_9A8o9tOA

This is what im talking about. Thanks for the input

 

[flexmaster]

bad idea man...performing box squats like that is very compressive on the spine . west side does this (correct me if im wrong but i believe they do) and they are strong as hell...but i would be more concerned about health long term.

why are you doing box squats? out of curiousity...maybe there is a better option for you. depth? explosion? a little more info would be helpful!

 

[Mr_Magoo]

i dont know anyone who box squats like that, of all the westside videos ive seen, i do not recall seeing any powerlifter doing it like that,

plus he didn't really go to parallel and had he done that or gone further than parallel, the balance would be off any it would be easier to fall back with the weight. u relaz ur hip flexors or simply sit down onto the box like it was a chair except keep ur core tight and do not let ur air out or ur fucked if the weight is heavy enough

the method the guy in the vid uses doesnt make it the westside method of static overcome by dynamic and is no way applicable to any other type of squat

 

[hotttsauce]

Never will again

Box squatting is what caused me to compress my ole spine from L5 to the tailbone causing it to corkscrew. I had 9 months of therapy from it.

Things were going along fine as I was building up the weight, then just slightly misjudged the depth in a sumo stance, slight rock back when seated, then back up and hit too hard with 750lbs on my back and that was it. Weights crashing everywhere and severe pain. I couldn't stand up straight for weeks. Have never been able to hold any serious weight on my back since and this was probably 10 years ago.

IMO if your gonna do them, which I would not recommend, light weight, high reps only.

 

[wannagofast]

IMO if your gonna do them, which I would not recommend, light weight, high reps only.

FWIW--That is exactly how I do them..very high reps with a moderate weight(in comparison to conventional squats)..

 

[hotttsauce]

no one said we powerlifters were very smart lol

sucks about your injury bro but seriously 750 pounds off a box!?!?!?! i gotta say i'm impressed man. you can't handle as much weight off a box(if you're doing them the right way) that you can doing reg squats. That woulda put your actual squat well over 800. damned awesome stuff bro, and now i've got some new motivation for next max effort squat day!

Obviously I couldnt handle it either! Worst pain in my life, 9 months of Chiro and PT. My Buddy Emil was my doc for it and when he showed me the injury he said, Dude, your back is Fucked. I am just glad there were two 650lb benchers there to save my ass! Literally.

Ahhhh the days of being pain free!

 

[hotttsauce]

FWIW--That is exactly how I do them..very high reps with a moderate weight(in comparison to conventional squats)..

Only safe way to do them!

 

[Paul Bunyan]

I never had a problem with box squats. Some of them were very heavy singles too. The key is to "sit" on the box not drop on it. What the box does is it teaches you to be explosive. One slight wrong move and there could be some problems. I'm sure there are many out there that suffered the same fate as hottsauce. Back injuries suck.

PB

 

[flexmaster]

I never had a problem with box squats. Some of them were very heavy singles too. The key is to "sit" on the box not drop on it. What the box does is it teaches you to be explosive. One slight wrong move and there could be some problems. I'm sure there are many out there that suffered the same fate as hottsauce. Back injuries suck.

PB

thats the problem with them in my opinion. i love the explosive nature of them but the amount of compression on the spine is crazy...even with "light" loads like 225lb. if someone is concerned about depth wrap the band at the appropriate depth. if someone is trying to get explosive out of the hole do pause squats. back injuries are TERRIBLE...ive been dealing with mine (compression fracture of L5, Schmorl's nodes on L4, L5, T12, T11, T10) for the almost 11 months now. so i would advise against it

 

[hotttsauce]

thats the problem with them in my opinion. i love the explosive nature of them but the amount of compression on the spine is crazy...even with "light" loads like 225lb. if someone is concerned about depth wrap the band at the appropriate depth. if someone is trying to get explosive out of the hole do pause squats. back injuries are TERRIBLE...ive been dealing with mine (compression fracture of L5, Schmorl's nodes on L4, L5, T12, T11, T10) for the almost 11 months now. so i would advise against it

Man I feel bad for you flex! I didn't touch a weight for almost 2 years to get right. I still think I have one leg a 1/8th inch off from my pelvic tilt that occured along with everything else.

Yea, it is great for explosion outta the hole but what a price you can risk. I couldn't imagine ever again sitting down, rocking back, easing of legs, rocking forward and driving back up with 225. Hell, When Main and I do bent over rows I wanna cry with a 25 on each side still

 

[Paul Bunyan]

Years ago I sprained my sacro-iliac joint at work. I didn't squat or deadlift for 2yrs. On day I walked into the gym and said fuck it and squatted 500. It was easy but my muscles didn't like it at all. Fourteen weeks later I squatted 672 in a single ply squat suit that blew out on my second attempt. The 672 was done with my suit torn from the chest to my belt. That's 172lbs in 14wks. You can do whatever you put your mind too. I haven't had a back problem since then. All I did was work on what was weak.

PB

 

[flexmaster]

Man I feel bad for you flex! I didn't touch a weight for almost 2 years to get right. I still think I have one leg a 1/8th inch off from my pelvic tilt that occured along with everything else.

Yea, it is great for explosion outta the hole but what a price you can risk. I couldn't imagine ever again sitting down, rocking back, easing of legs, rocking forward and driving back up with 225. Hell, When Main and I do bent over rows I wanna cry with a 25 on each side still

i know exactly what you're talking about man, i just started being able to do cleans and snatches again. my lower back is starting to feel really good...just gotta take it slow and let the body adjust back into doing this stuff. sucks bigtime

Years ago I sprained my sacro-iliac joint at work. I didn't squat or deadlift for 2yrs. On day I walked into the gym and said fuck it and squatted 500. It was easy but my muscles didn't like it at all. Fourteen weeks later I squatted 672 in a single ply squat suit that blew out on my second attempt. The 672 was done with my suit torn from the chest to my belt. That's 172lbs in 14wks. You can do whatever you put your mind too. I haven't had a back problem since then. All I did was work on what was weak.

PB

thats awesome PB...im glad you didnt have a serious injury to your spine that could hinder you from doing this stuff for good. awesome man

i agree completely about being able to do whatever you put your mind to.

i dont think you will find many people who believe this more strongly than me. i fully believe the mind can be used for things science cannot fathom or explain.

 

[Jimbo]

First attempt at box squatting did not go so well. I could not keep my shins parrelel (sp) to the ground. After i figured out that the bench I was sitting on was way to low for me. Im 6'9 and this caused me to sit way to low. Jacked it up 4 inches at the end and that helped. I think ill add box SQ at the end of every workout till I get better at them

 

[flexmaster]

6'9" !!!!!!! well THAT would have been nice to know. any more brain busters (name that movie anyone)

what is the reason you are wanting to do box squats? are you using them as a depth check?

 

[Mr_Magoo]

First attempt at box squatting did not go so well. I could not keep my shins parrelel (sp) to the ground. After i figured out that the bench I was sitting on was way to low for me. Im 6'9 and this caused me to sit way to low. Jacked it up 4 inches at the end and that helped. I think ill add box SQ at the end of every workout till I get better at them

gotta agree with flexmaster because something like ur height is not what we envision when we give generic advice, well i def. for ur height although i do not know what ur levers are like, if ur going to squat do them on a box...please please please do not try to go ass to heels full olympic squats

and to flex, the line i can hear, the face i can kinda see, its on the tip of my tongue but i cant place it so please tell me bc this is gonna piss me off like when a shitty song gets stuck in ur head

 

[flexmaster]

gotta agree with flexmaster because something like ur height is not what we envision when we give generic advice, well i def. for ur height although i do not know what ur levers are like, if ur going to squat do them on a box...please please please do not try to go ass to heels full olympic squats

and to flex, the line i can hear, the face i can kinda see, its on the tip of my tongue but i cant place it so please tell me bc this is gonna piss me off like when a shitty song gets stuck in ur head

adam sandler says it to his hot teacher in billy madison

 

[Jimbo]

today was my 2nd attempt at the box squat with is raised to parallel (sp?). This time it went perfect.

 

[Mr_Magoo]

glad to hear jimbo

 

[CB]

I watch a group of guys training for strongman contests do them that way every week, and guess what..........two of them are out with back injuries now No reason to ever pick your feet off the ground. So stupid and dangerous. Do them safe, and you'll have great results.

 

[FRKNHUGE]

ok bro, im 6'7
for me to do successful box sq i had to first move my foot position in about a foot from my sumo(6" ea side) the box height should be lower than paralell unless your gearing for top end power. but to me its useless as a box squat is meant to train you in the bottom grind of the squat.
you also may not be flexible enuff to get below paralell to this degree
theres many fctors involved.
personally the last time i involved these, it was for speed day only with maximal bands, and medium hanging chain weight(for stabilizer recruitment)
i used to be like pb and do 650x3x5 but this to me wasnt beneficial to ME.
you need to see what works for you.
frk