Foam Box Squat?

Training Powerlifting
21

[quote]RussaldoStrong wrote:

[quote]Ty Carlson wrote:

[quote]RussaldoStrong wrote:

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
I use soft foam a lot in training. It makes getting out of the hole much harder. Imagine bouncing a lax ball off a slab of concrete. Then imagine bouncing it off an overstuffed couch. Huge difference. Elastic and reactive energies are dispersed into the foam instead of adding to the reversal of the lift.

My favorite way to use it is as soon as my hamstrings hit it, I completely relax my hips until the foam completely shrinks, pause for a 2 count, then pray to God that I can get off the box.[/quote]

Here is where I get confused.

Doing touch and go off the box is a commonly used technique, but if your doing pauses on the box, you dont need foam, the pause alone takes away any stretch reflex or momentum you would get from bouncing. So I still dont see why foam is used. [/quote]

Sit down on a wooden chair…pause for 5 seconds…then stand up.

Sit down on your couch…pause for 5 seconds…then stand up.

See which one is easier.
[/quote]

Ok, so I did this modified.

I sat in my chair, waited and got up.

Then I took my couch cushion, put it on my chair and did the same thing. (I figured it represented foam on a hard box better)

I really didnt notice any difference at all, but then again maybe it would be different with 300lbs on my back.

Either way, Im definitely gonna have to go try this out.[/quote]

If you went to elitefts.com and checked out their exercise index they might have a good write-up about exactly what foam squats do/how to apply them to different routines.

22

[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:
Where do you get foam like this? Is it any easier on the posterior hip?[/quote]
Wait until a college school year is ending, go to a dumpster and get a couch cushion or two and cut them to size, done. I got some foam this way. Just need to wash it and put a cover on it now.

My thinking was that it would offer some hip relief.

23

[quote]Ty Carlson wrote:

[quote]RussaldoStrong wrote:

[quote]Ty Carlson wrote:

[quote]RussaldoStrong wrote:

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
I use soft foam a lot in training. It makes getting out of the hole much harder. Imagine bouncing a lax ball off a slab of concrete. Then imagine bouncing it off an overstuffed couch. Huge difference. Elastic and reactive energies are dispersed into the foam instead of adding to the reversal of the lift.

My favorite way to use it is as soon as my hamstrings hit it, I completely relax my hips until the foam completely shrinks, pause for a 2 count, then pray to God that I can get off the box.[/quote]

Here is where I get confused.

Doing touch and go off the box is a commonly used technique, but if your doing pauses on the box, you dont need foam, the pause alone takes away any stretch reflex or momentum you would get from bouncing. So I still dont see why foam is used. [/quote]

Sit down on a wooden chair…pause for 5 seconds…then stand up.

Sit down on your couch…pause for 5 seconds…then stand up.

See which one is easier.
[/quote]

Ok, so I did this modified.

I sat in my chair, waited and got up.

Then I took my couch cushion, put it on my chair and did the same thing. (I figured it represented foam on a hard box better)

I really didnt notice any difference at all, but then again maybe it would be different with 300lbs on my back.

Either way, Im definitely gonna have to go try this out.[/quote]

If you went to elitefts.com and checked out their exercise index they might have a good write-up about exactly what foam squats do/how to apply them to different routines.
[/quote]

Well, I typed a very long in depth description of what the foam does and then it didnt get posted. I think I hit the reset button. Anyway, a summary of the diatribe I had written:

The stretch reflex can last up to 4 seconds in highly trained athletes. Louie Simmons has proven it can last up to 8 seconds when squatting to a hard box. The foam, assuming it is wide and dense enough, absorbs and dissapates the energies much faster than the box alone. Its the same thing as bouncing a ball off a slab of concrete then bouncing it off a soft pillow. In order to bounce it to the same height off the pillow, more force must be applied in order compensate for the elimintation of the elastic energy through the pillow. This makes the foam perfect for training reversal strength (strength out of the hole). You can mimic the effect without the foam but it would require sitting on the box for 10+ seconds to be sure the stretch reflex has been eliminated. When I have 700+lbs on my back and I want to build reversal strength, the last thing I want to do is sit down and hang out.

24

I don’t do box squats regularly, When I do they are touch and goes to measure depth, but damn I have got to try that.