I've been a member at the gym for about six months and I've noticed that you always have your clients do box squats but almost everyone else does regular squats without the box. Is there something special about the box?
I posted your email question along with my answer here on my blog.
If you're an olympic lifter.. then you'll need a squat that's deeper than parallel.. in which case the box squat may be of limited value. But if you're not an olympic lifter then the box has many advantages over regular squats.
The biggest advantage it offers is that it removes my biggest pet peeve with people doing squats. That is the old add 50 lbs and reduce the depth by 2 inches. You see this all the time. You have lifters who are doing say 225 for 6 reps.. they don't make it all the way to parallel, but then they decide they need to lift heavier. So they slap on the 25 lbs plates on top.. and reduce their range of motion by a good 2-3 inches. Which basically defeats the purpose.
True sometimes I'll have a client do a high box squat to work the upper range.. but we always return to the lower stuff as well with lighter loads and work towards the heavier loads with the regular height. Most people once they go heavier and reduce their range of motion never seem to want to go lighter again .. hence they never see the greater range of motion.
I think it's mostly an ego thing. So if you use the box.. well heck.. once you're sitting on it.. if you can't get up off it.. well it ain't time to go up in weight is it!??
So that's the first reason I like it. It makes you honest!
The second reason I like it so much is that when you box squat you stick your butt out much further and keep your knees wider. This allows your adductors and hamstrings to play a more significant role in creating upward movement.
When you have multiple muscle groups coordinating their pulls to create movement, a joint is usually safer than when you have fewer muscles acting on it.
With the squat, a lot of the time when people do the smaller range of motion.. they're really not getting much hamstring involvement.. their butts are often tucked under even lessening the gluteal involvement.. so you end up with shear forces at the knee that resemble that of Smith Machine Squats.
These forces create small amounts of anterior translation of the tibia under the femur. With anterior translation comes additional strain on the ACL ligament.
SO.. the box squat engages all the muscles that act on the knee which creates a safer situation for the knee.
Finally.. safety is increased when you box squat because if you can't get off the box you just rest the bar on the safety pins rather than having to allow yourself an uncontrolled descent to the bottom where you hit the pins.
I used to hear people say that it was unsafe to do box squat because of compression on the spine when you "land" on the box. Well.. I would agree if you are "landing" on the box.. then it sort of implies an uncontrolled descent.. which would be unsafe regardless of whether you're using a box or not. Dangerous to the spine if using a box and dangerous to the spine and knees if not using a box. Again it comes down to control. Never do any type of exercise without proper control of the weights.
Of course none of this discusses the dynamic effort implications of the box squat. Using a box is also a good way to remove the stretch reflex of the hamstrings.. use light weights and either bands or chains to accommodate the strength curve. Perform multiple sets of 2 reps using between 50%-65% of your 1RM as bar weight and then bring the chain or band resistance up to somewhere around 90+ % of your 1RM. This technique helps you become explosive out of the hole.
Hi Dave,
ReplyDeleteI posted your email question along with my answer here on my blog.
If you're an olympic lifter.. then you'll need a squat that's deeper than parallel.. in which case the box squat may be of limited value. But if you're not an olympic lifter then the box has many advantages over regular squats.
The biggest advantage it offers is that it removes my biggest pet peeve with people doing squats. That is the old add 50 lbs and reduce the depth by 2 inches. You see this all the time. You have lifters who are doing say 225 for 6 reps.. they don't make it all the way to parallel, but then they decide they need to lift heavier. So they slap on the 25 lbs plates on top.. and reduce their range of motion by a good 2-3 inches. Which basically defeats the purpose.
True sometimes I'll have a client do a high box squat to work the upper range.. but we always return to the lower stuff as well with lighter loads and work towards the heavier loads with the regular height. Most people once they go heavier and reduce their range of motion never seem to want to go lighter again .. hence they never see the greater range of motion.
I think it's mostly an ego thing. So if you use the box.. well heck.. once you're sitting on it.. if you can't get up off it.. well it ain't time to go up in weight is it!??
So that's the first reason I like it. It makes you honest!
The second reason I like it so much is that when you box squat you stick your butt out much further and keep your knees wider. This allows your adductors and hamstrings to play a more significant role in creating upward movement.
When you have multiple muscle groups coordinating their pulls to create movement, a joint is usually safer than when you have fewer muscles acting on it.
With the squat, a lot of the time when people do the smaller range of motion.. they're really not getting much hamstring involvement.. their butts are often tucked under even lessening the gluteal involvement.. so you end up with shear forces at the knee that resemble that of Smith Machine Squats.
These forces create small amounts of anterior translation of the tibia under the femur. With anterior translation comes additional strain on the ACL ligament.
SO.. the box squat engages all the muscles that act on the knee which creates a safer situation for the knee.
Finally.. safety is increased when you box squat because if you can't get off the box you just rest the bar on the safety pins rather than having to allow yourself an uncontrolled descent to the bottom where you hit the pins.
I used to hear people say that it was unsafe to do box squat because of compression on the spine when you "land" on the box. Well.. I would agree if you are "landing" on the box.. then it sort of implies an uncontrolled descent.. which would be unsafe regardless of whether you're using a box or not. Dangerous to the spine if using a box and dangerous to the spine and knees if not using a box. Again it comes down to control. Never do any type of exercise without proper control of the weights.
:)
Shane
Of course none of this discusses the dynamic effort implications of the box squat. Using a box is also a good way to remove the stretch reflex of the hamstrings.. use light weights and either bands or chains to accommodate the strength curve. Perform multiple sets of 2 reps using between 50%-65% of your 1RM as bar weight and then bring the chain or band resistance up to somewhere around 90+ % of your 1RM. This technique helps you become explosive out of the hole.
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