So I finally got around to trying box squats (I know, I’m a little late to the party. Sorry.) Anyway, I immediately noticed a couple of things. My form felt completely different and I felt a very concentrated burn in my quads. It was like my back was more erect and my quads were doing all the work (less glutes). I was using less weight that I normally would, as I always do when trying something new. I was using 225 versus the 275-315 I would normally rep with. Now I have pretty good form anyway; it wasn’t like I was all of a sudden discovering the land of parallel or anything, so I really don’t understand how the whole exercise could change with the only conscious difference being a bench back there. Is this just the psychological effect of having something behind me or what? I am just interested in anyone else’s experience with this. It’s been a long time since I’ve been sore for 3 days after squatting 225.
bandgeek,
I’ve noticed the same thing basically. I believe that one of the reasons box squats can be more effective is because there is no way most people could keep as upright a posture (with no leaning forward) as you can with a support under you. If most people went that far down with as upright a posture as box squats allow they would fall over backwards.
Yes, I think part of it is the psychological security of the box/platform.
Crowbar
Are you releseing the hips when you rest on the box? If so you really have to focus on firing the glutes/hams to get the weight going off the box, also I agree with tring more weight. I have also read that if you feel like you are feeling like you are going to fall backwards you are sitting back to far. The final piece of advice is keep tight during the whole movement (except for releasing the hips on the bottom) and don’t do like I’ve seen where people sit down rock backwards then forward to get momentum out of the hole.
Here is an article from this site that does a pretty good job of explaining the box squat. Here is a quote from the article:
“Training on a box will allow you to sit back onto the box to a point where your shins are past perpendicular to the floor. This places all the stress on the squatting muscles (hips, glutes, lower back and hamstrings.) When you can increase the stress on these muscles and lower the stress on the quads, then you’ll be ready to see your squat poundages start moving.”
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459391
If you are feeling more stress than usual on your quads, your form is likely off, my guess is not sitting back far enough. It’s hard to sit back the correct distance at first but as you build up your posterior chain, it will get easier to put yourself in the correct position.
Balls to the box! … i.e. sit back so that it feels like the first thing to hit the box is your balls rather than your butt cheeks. This will really help you sit back properly.
Women will have to find a different visualisation technique for this one, sorry… actually my wife would probably say “bits to the box”, but she can be crude 
[quote]JNeves wrote:
Are you releseing the hips when you rest on the box?[/quote]
No. I was going down to the point where my butt touched the bench but not putting my full weight on it. So you are saying that I need to put all my weight down before going back up? This would seem to increase the energy required to start the concentric movement, no? (and thereby recruit additional squatting muscles as someone else pointed out) I’ll try that next time I do squats. Someone else posted a link to an article on t-nation which I will also read later today. Thanks all, for the replies…
That sounds dangerous…
Is it possible that, in order not to slam your spine down on the box and compress all your vertebrae, you are slowing down as you reach the bottom of the ROM? Maybe you are simply pausing a little longer at the end than usual, and the extra TUT is showing?
You sound like a veteran who would already have thought of this–so I hope this doesn’t sound condescending–but I bring it up because no one has mentioned it yet, and because my feeling about box squats is that they WOULD take a little longer.
[quote]TShaw wrote:
Is it possible that, in order not to slam your spine down on the box and compress all your vertebrae, you are slowing down as you reach the bottom of the ROM? Maybe you are simply pausing a little longer at the end than usual, and the extra TUT is showing?
You sound like a veteran who would already have thought of this–so I hope this doesn’t sound condescending–but I bring it up because no one has mentioned it yet, and because my feeling about box squats is that they WOULD take a little longer.[/quote]
Actually I hadn’t thought of this, and its very possible. I wasn’t paying as much attention to time as I was simply noticing the unexplainable change in my form that was immediately evident. The truth is I had never tried box squats before (or even heard of them until after joining T-Nation). Now that I have read most of Dave Tate’s article and understand better the purpose and mechanics of the movement, it sounds like I should feel MORE involvement of the posterior chain, not less, if I’m doing it right (in other words I was obviously doing it wrong). So it’s back to work for leg day tomorrow! Thanks again for the replies!
You should feel it in your ass and hams. You are probably not sitting back far enough.
How does your box squat poundage compare to your regular wide stance squat poundage? More? Less?
Curious.
I picked up the EliteFTS DVD on training the squat and deadlift. Jim Wendler says that the box squat should mimic the free squat. The reason: if you sit way back on the box and train yourself that way too much, you’ll sit back right onto the floor when you take a maximal squat, eventually. Also, if you can’t get your hip flexors and glutes to relax, just pause for a second on the box before you go back up. You’ll get the hang of it soon enough. YOu’ll do yourself a great service with that DVD. I thought I had the box squatting figured out, and then I got the DVD. I found that I was making some mistakes that were really screwing me over. Now I’m getting way better with the fixes.
[quote]Soco wrote:
How does your box squat poundage compare to your regular wide stance squat poundage? More? Less?
Curious.[/quote]
1RM? I don’t know. I can hit 6-8 reps with 315 using a regular wide PL stance. Since I was just experimenting with box squats, I was using 225 and making 8-10 reps. Since I will be trying to really learn the movement now, I may go even lighter just to practice the form. Based on what I have read the past couple days, I hope to see the weights go up soon, though.
i just recently added parallel box squats, shoulder and sumo stance, into my routine supplementing my usual full oly squats and deep sumo squats. I pause for 5 seconds to release as much elastic energy as i can making sure to keep tight form. i do notice that my back does lean forward on the concentric motion going to the same angle i would use if i was regular squatting. I do feel more of a burn in my quads but muscle soreness is felt more on my hamstrings so this makes me think that my hamstrings are definitely getting ample work done. I would not use muscle burn as a total indicator of which muscles are being totally used. laters pk
also to point out to all the people who mention daves instructions for box squating.
you dont have to box squat the way dave or louie does… your requirements are not always the same as powerlifters competing in specific gear.
Just as dave and louie do not perform box squats the same as the origonal westside did
Just an update in case anyone cares… Last leg day I did box squats again, thinking I would go lighter than before and work on form. I was following the advice given here and in Dave Tate’s articles (i.e. sitting back, releasing the hips, keeping very tight throughout), and 185 felt very easy. I ended up going up to 275 and hitting 6x3, and feeling like I could do more. These things are great. My form has never felt so tight. I’ll be looking for my squat to go way up. If you aren’t doing these, do yourselves a favor and start.
Hey, if you can’t trust someone named bandgeek who can you trust?
After reading this thread last week I too started doing box squats. The thing I like most about them is when I start to fatigue on free squats I start to shorten my squat. With the box I can’t do that because I always know where parallel is and therefore I cant tell myself that I was unless my ass is on the box. I did 10x3 yesterday and today I can really feel the tightness setting in, dreading tomorrow already when the real soreness hits! Thanks a lot bandgeek for bringing these to my attention.
[quote]Snoop wrote:
The thing I like most about them is when I start to fatigue on free squats I start to shorten my squat. With the box I can’t do that because I always know where parallel is and therefore I cant tell myself that I was unless my ass is on the box.[/quote]
Yeah, good point. It’s hard (make that impossible) to cheat!
Yep. My dogs are barkin’!! I also felt the involvement of the glutes and hams more than before.