Defranco's box squating

i do not know how many of you guys have read over Defranco’s site but i highly recommend it.
my question is in regards to the box squats he subscribes. it says to do sets of 2 in less than 2 seconds.
maybe i have been doing box squats wrong, but how hard is it to do box squats that fast without bouncing on the box and risking injury?
am i missing something?

http://www.defrancostraining.com/articles/archive/article_fab15.htm

it seems almost impossible to really go that fast down pause and then come back up without hitting the box hard, or at the very least not pausing enough on the box to get any effect from it. let me know… because im corn fused.

This is of course DE. You should be performing these as quickly as possible, that is the goal. Lighten the load til you are very fast. 2 reps in under 2 seconds might just be his way of stressing the speed. I’m sure he’s just trying to get the message of “speed is king” through to his readers. 1-2 sec eccentric, 1 sec pause on box and explode up as quickly as possible is a good tempo. So 2 reps can take as much as 4-6 sec and still be fine in reality.

the red…your supposed to go down as fast as you can…but that dosent mean you have to bounce…you should see chuck vogephole box squat he goes down so fast it isnt funny hits the box relaxes and blows up…the faster you go down the faster your going to come up due to the eccentric energy being developed…about 2 reps in 2 seconds i dont know if i would worry that much about that as it is hard ot do if you are setting up and getting tight before each rep, just try to be as fast as you can on each rep no matter the time the set takes…bm

The Red1,

I’m glad you’re enjoying my site. I put a lot of time and effort into it. I really enjoy helping other athletes and coaches.

You have brought up a great question; one in which I probably should have made more clear. Every now and then I prescribe “box squats” that aren’t performed in the traditional manner. In fact, they’re not really box squats at all! In my “Fab 15” article on my website, I suggest 2 reps in under 2 seconds in this “box squat”. Basically, a box is placed behind the athlete just to set the depth of the squat. It is NOT there to break up the eccentric/concentric chain. The box is usually set at parallel or one inch above parallel. I ALWAYS used bands for this exercise to accelerate the eccentric porton of the lift. 2 reps in 2 seconds would be almost impossible without the bands pulling you down and activating the stretch reflex. This is for ADVANCED athletes only. You must do a couple of practice/slow sets to become accustomed to the height of the box. The goal is to reverse the movement as soon as your ass touches, or right before it touches, the box. The shins will come forward during this rapid decent as well. That is fine in this variation of the “box squat”.

This exercise is incredible for improving your jumping ability. But, I only recommend it for advanced athletes you have mastered traditional box squats. In other words, keep this exercise “in your back pocket” until you really need it!

Time for me to go eat!!!
Joe D.

thanks everybody.

is this exercise useless without bands?

You don’t need to use bands until you are an advanced lifter with this method. If you need to ask this question, then you know you are not an advanced lifter.