General thoughts on the subject when training? I’ve been doing variations of a tap (not a bounce!) and go and a fully seated “classic” box squat both to parrallel as a supplement for my heavy squat training. I’m aware this is how training is done at Westside; however, raw powerlifters like Brandon Lilly argue that this is not applicable to the raw world.
For example, I can squat 500lbs x 3 while box squatting; so how would that transfer to regular squats? Will this hinder/not help my actual squat or make it even better? Examples on implementation in to my program/how to test the carryover in the best manner would be especially helpful.
As long as you don’t replace all squatting with box squats you should be fine. Whether or not it will help is another story. Is there a particular reason why you want to box squat?
I just noticed in another thread you said you have a 345 squat. How high is this box you are using that you can get 500x3? That doesn’t sound right at all.
I use them as assistance for sumo deadlifts actually, I never really even considered it to be a good squat variant for carry over unless you squat with a really wide stance. I’m interested as to what others have to say though.
[quote]tylerkeen42 wrote:
I use them as assistance for sumo deadlifts actually, I never really even considered it to be a good squat variant for carry over unless you squat with a really wide stance. I’m interested as to what others have to say though.[/quote]
I don’t use them personally, but if you do them with more or less the same movement as your competition squat they should have more carryover. In theory they should give you more strength out of the hole as long as you have the box set below parallel. You don’t need to do them with a wide stance, that’s just the way equipped lifters do them. Pin squats are good too, I use those from time to time. Just set the pins so that you can break parallel, pause on the pins and come back up.
I train both, probably around 50/50 and compete raw.
I found I like free squats better b/c they feel much more natural. Box squats, done properly, load the glutes and hams more than my free squat, but I think they undertrain the hip flexors and outer quads (the muscle that gets stretched in the hole b/c it crosses the hip). At least that’s what I feel in comparing muscle fatigue and soreness b/t the two.
I think there’s good carryover but I suspect this is highly personal (form dependent). I squat wide and my box squat stance is only slightly wider than my free squat stance.
I also think that training box properly with your butt way back and keeping your shins vertical helps preserve your knees over the long haul b/c of decreased loading on the joint.