Heavy Box Squats?

I’ve heard a lot about box squats but how many people really do them heavy on a ME day? When I go on Defranco’s site I see all his athlets doing them with heavy weight (500+) and such. In Eric Cressey’s article he has Antwan doing them also. Is there a specific merit from doing heavy ME box squats, and would it be the same as doing a regular ME lift? Thanks

Basically yes. Just another ME option. Box squats unfortuneately seem to only be considered a speed exercise. However, almost nothing improve your MAX deadlift like near max box squats. The explosion that is necessary to commence the lift has a major carryover, especially for deads.

My squat was stagnant (or pretty close to) for over 2 years. I did 4 months straight of heavy box squats (no regular squats in this time period). When I went back to squatting my squat was immediately increased by about 30 pounds and I managed to add another 20 pounds to it in 5 weeks. My deadlift ended up going up by 50 pounds immediately. Heavy box squats are a great exercise.

How do you guys prevent going forward and then going up when doing heavy box-squats? When the weights go up, I have a tendency to lose form.

[quote]Adamsson wrote:
How do you guys prevent going forward and then going up when doing heavy box-squats? When the weights go up, I have a tendency to lose form.[/quote]

Widen your stance a bit, get a good arch and belly of air, knees out, and think of leading with your head off the box while driving thru the ground and snapping your glutes. Some slight (keyword) rocking will occur however.

Pat

ME Box squatting is about breaking the chain.

You release all the energy you’ve stored from going down with the pause on the box.

Then you have to push the weight up from a dead start. It’s harder.

Mmmm I think I’ll give it a try. I’ve heard that they can work real good so Ill give them a try. I’d also like to post a video also if anyone could give me advice on form/if I’m doing it correctly. I’ll post this after my meet on sat.

Main difference with the box squat is that many people try to do the squat at the same speed as a regular squat with about the same effort. When you try to come off the box it is abnormally difficult out of the hole.

It is usually possible to maintain form but so much harder that many people lose form because they dont give enough effort out of the hole. Your glutes are used to anchor your spine intially, and only after your initial rise do they start to contribute to your upward movement. Many people end up driving with their quads then doing a semi goodmorning to get the weight up as they try to find the most efficient lever.

If you go heavy enough that will eventually happen to most people because the lower back is usually the weak link, unless you are built fairly stout (i.e. short torso) or exceptionally strong back.