I was wondering if you guys could give me some advice on a problem I have. I’ve been box squatting for about a month now and have read articles written by guys at Westside saying it’s the best way to build the squat. The problem I have is that you’re supposed to emphasize the hamstrings the whole time but i’m really struggling with that as I have been so used to full squatting with the emphasise on my quads. Anyone got any advice on how to emphasize hammies??
You need a much wider stance for a squat to be hamstring dominate. Wide, toes and knees pointed outward not straight ahead like a normal quad dominate squat, and you really need to sit back much further. And don’t drop down on the box hard. This Elite video is a good one for you.
[quote]gtpsuper24 wrote:
You need a much wider stance for a squat to be hamstring dominate. Wide, toes and knees pointed outward not straight ahead like a normal quad dominate squat, and you really need to sit back much further. And don’t drop down on the box hard. This Elite video is a good one for you.
Thanks for the advice man. Much appreciated. I love Elitefts. Their ‘So You Think You Can Bench’ series helped me smash through my Bench plateu, just by perfecting technique.
another good one… go to you tube and search for “EFS wall squat”. If you can do that, you’ll hit the hammies 
I tried pasting the link here but it pops up with some other thing?
[quote]StrengthDawg wrote:
Here’s another good one…
The video didn’t come up bud
right… that’s why I edited it. You have to watch it on you tube for some reason.
[quote]StrengthDawg wrote:
right… that’s why I edited it. You have to watch it on you tube for some reason.[/quote]
You just gotta paste the URL and not try to embed it.
^^ AH! thanks man!
I love all the advice! Cheers lads! I tried the tips out of the first video today, didn’t completely work, kinda felt as if I was using a mix of both quad and hammies. But practise makes perfect so I will just keep at it. Thanks guys!
Hey man, this is just my opinion but I wouldn’t use the box squat to build a free squat. It’s an excellent move if you’re squatting wide and wearing gear and is definitely a great hamstring builder, but if you’re squatting raw below parallel, I feel there are better ways.
I feel the best way to build the squat, is to just squat more and more often. Work on your front squat, zercher squats are awesome, trap bar deadlifts are good. Also, try some new programs, sheiko is awesome and will probably change the way you look at training, smolov is freakish hard, texas method is good, Rippetoe has good stuff.
The problem with the box squat is that it takes away the most technical difficult portion of the lift: the hole. I can already hear some guys saying to just set the box up below parallel and squat narrow, and how it breaks up the eccentric concentric chain making you have to work extra hard to get up, stimulating more muscles, etc etc… the only thing this doesn’t take into account is SKILL. The squat seems like a simple movement, but the simplest things are the most difficult to grasp. I’ve been squatting for 14 years and I’m still learning about it every day.
Now, using the box squat a bit above parallel for high reps is an awesome way to build a deadlift I find.
Best of luck either way man.
box squatting is a tool. know when to use the tool and it will help. the only change i did this year was adding box squats and i saw my biggest gains in a year according to my past logs of the last several years. i dont know if that will continue to happen though.
i did use it only on DE days. all ME and RE work was without a box. one of my training partners only uses a box om ME days. that works for him. several others guys i train with dont use it for squats but use a high box with a SSB to help with their deads and others dont use it at all.