Box squats

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Would it ever be useful/appropriate to program box squats for a raw lifter?

Thanks

2

Ryan,

Thanks for the post and I hope you had a great holiday!

As is the case with nearly every exercise, there is a time and a place where it is appropriate. In the case of the box squat:

  1. Depth Marker- The box can be used to mark depth for individuals who need to do a partial ROM squat for whatever reason, i.e. the athlete who is looking to improve their sprinting or jumping performance, the rehab client who cannot squat to below parallel yet, the new trainee who does not have the strength to squat below parallel, or an individual who cannot regularly squat to the appropriate depth for whatever reason. That being said, I think the box is better-suited for the rehab or untrained individuals who will likely end up sitting on the box rather than routinely marking depth for the athlete or in a below parallel squat. In those instances I’d prefer notusing a box if I had my druthers, but I can see it being used here. I also think there are other exercises that can be used for the rehab or untrained person in addition to or in place of the box squat, e.g. leg press, belt squat, step-ups, etc., but the box squat can be useful. For the person who struggles with depth, I think the box squat can be useful in improving the lifter’s motor patterning and confidence and achieving that position. This isn’t the first thing I try, but it’s in my quiver for sure.

2**) Accessory-** The box squat certainly can make some claims as a proper squat accessory, as it has many similarities to a regular squat - ROM, joint angles, muscle lengths, and the majority of the movement’s contraction types are similar (save for the isometric portion at the bottom). I’d liken the box squat to the paused squat without any potential of cheating the pause, i.e. when someone bounces out of the bottom of a paused squat or doesn’t actually pause, rather they drift through the bottom slow enough for their brain to perceive a pause. That said, another type of potential issue arises when people start rocking back and forth off the box in order to generate momentum off the box. Like the paused squat, I don’t think the potential to game the movement makes the box squat a bad exercise. Rather, I think it’s something to be aware of.

  1. Preferences- Some people might like the box squat over the traditional squat for improving leg strength. While I think the traditional squat is better at improving its own performance than the box squat, I think all bets are off when comparing non-squat outcomes, like transference to running, jumping, deadlifting, etc. If someone prefers to do a box squat, that’s cool with me. I don’t think that they’re missing out on much that is not squat-specific.

-Jordan

4 Likes