I’ve read some stuff by dave tate on these and he says that you should come up from the box by ‘lifting the bar’. what does he mean? does he mean try to almost overhead press the weight?
I think he means the bar/your head and traps should be the first thing to come off the box, not your hips.
lead with the head… then the chest and the rest of the body should follow.
[quote]maraudermeat wrote:
lead with the head… then the chest and the rest of the body should follow. [/quote]
Yeah, that’s what I meant 
yeah i guess it can’t be the overhead press thing…that be bit crazy lol. But i’ve never got the whole ‘lift from the head’ thing. how is that done exactly? any pointers?
it’s more a lifting cue than anything. your goal is to make the lift as fluid as possible.
as you leave the box, the head should lead then a high chest then the rest of your body. a common problem with box squatting is having the hips rise first and the upper body is hunched over which in turn leads to some weird looking good morning squat.
the best advice i could give you is to keep the bar on the lower traps. take a grip that allows you to keep your elbows under the bar and find a bar path that allows you to keep the bar as centered over your hips as possible.
most people anticipate where the box is and then end up plopping down on it. I tell my guys to forget about the box. As they are decending, just keep forcing the knees out harder and harder until eventually they reach the box.
sometimes i catch one of my guys looking in that damn mirror on the wall so they can see how close they are to the box. definitely don’t do that. i fucking hate mirrors.
typically a box squat is done where you sit on the box and release the hip flexors. this is really hard to do for a new box squatter. one of my guys is new to it. I tell him once he reaches the box to sit down but keep everything as tight as possible. if he decended properly, he should have a huge amount of tension built up in his hips from constantly pushing his knees out all the way down.
leaving the box should be like releasing a slingshot. everything you just did to get down, you know reverse it- head goes up followed by a big chest with elbows forced forward adn finally hips forcefully pushed forward and ass flexed hard.
here’s a link to my most recent box squat session. i’ve worked really hard on my squat form. note how my elbows stay directly under the bar. i don’t plop down and i don’t rock to get off the box. i decent slowly becuase i’m pushing my knees out the entire way down.
since i’m a raw lifter i’m not sitting way back because i don’t have any gear to sit back into. i sit slightly back but for the most part my lift is up and down. i have leverage and power off the box because of the tension i’ve built up in my hips, i have the weight directly over those hips and my elbows are supporting that weight.
Marauder makes some excellent points. Drive with the head…if you play football, it’s like making a tackle, if you let your hips rise first, you’re screwed.
Here’s an old video of my doing a Box Front Squat. Now, if there’s ever a time when leaning over would be easy, it’s when coming off a box with a loaded bar on your chest. If my hips would come up first, there’s no saving it.
My hips hurt when I begin doing these until I get up in weight, third or fourth set. Does anyone else have this problem? I know they must be tight as hell but are they going to loosen up the more I do these?
[quote]maraudermeat wrote:
it’s more a lifting cue than anything. your goal is to make the lift as fluid as possible.
as you leave the box, the head should lead then a high chest then the rest of your body. a common problem with box squatting is having the hips rise first and the upper body is hunched over which in turn leads to some weird looking good morning squat.
the best advice i could give you is to keep the bar on the lower traps. take a grip that allows you to keep your elbows under the bar and find a bar path that allows you to keep the bar as centered over your hips as possible.
most people anticipate where the box is and then end up plopping down on it. I tell my guys to forget about the box. As they are decending, just keep forcing the knees out harder and harder until eventually they reach the box.
sometimes i catch one of my guys looking in that damn mirror on the wall so they can see how close they are to the box. definitely don’t do that. i fucking hate mirrors.
typically a box squat is done where you sit on the box and release the hip flexors. this is really hard to do for a new box squatter. one of my guys is new to it. I tell him once he reaches the box to sit down but keep everything as tight as possible. if he decended properly, he should have a huge amount of tension built up in his hips from constantly pushing his knees out all the way down.
leaving the box should be like releasing a slingshot. everything you just did to get down, you know reverse it- head goes up followed by a big chest with elbows forced forward adn finally hips forcefully pushed forward and ass flexed hard.
here’s a link to my most recent box squat session. i’ve worked really hard on my squat form. note how my elbows stay directly under the bar. i don’t plop down and i don’t rock to get off the box. i decent slowly becuase i’m pushing my knees out the entire way down.
since i’m a raw lifter i’m not sitting way back because i don’t have any gear to sit back into. i sit slightly back but for the most part my lift is up and down. i have leverage and power off the box because of the tension i’ve built up in my hips, i have the weight directly over those hips and my elbows are supporting that weight.
[/quote]
Thanks for your time man! I think i’m gonna spend the next few weeks practicing form with lighter weight. Thanks to everyone else:)
[quote]IL Cazzo wrote:
Marauder makes some excellent points. Drive with the head…if you play football, it’s like making a tackle, if you let your hips rise first, you’re screwed.
Here’s an old video of my doing a Box Front Squat. Now, if there’s ever a time when leaning over would be easy, it’s when coming off a box with a loaded bar on your chest. If my hips would come up first, there’s no saving it.
[/quote]
I know westside use front box squats but i don’t understand why? i konw they are all quads so why do them to help the ‘power squat’? i can only think of quads, back that its good for.
I know I am resurrecting an old thread.
I just found maraudermeat’s explanation and video and it really helped clear a few things up so just wanted to bump this so it may help others.