Some great thoughts here… thanks for the feedback everyone:
It’s true that you can use bench, squat, and deadlifts as your max effort exercises, and in fact, I recommend doing so some weeks. I was primarily trying to clarify the point that people often say “oh, westside/ conjugate (yea really, who cares what it’s called as long as it works, it could be called scrotie mcboogerballs for all i care), isn’t that where you max out on bench, squat, and deadlift every week,” when this totally isn’t the case.
As Louie Simmons puts it, you can read a textbook over and over again, and memorize it word for word, but you will only gain so much knowledge. In order to gain new knowledge, you need to read other books.
As for the box squats, I have had some great carryover in my squat and deadlift. In order to up your squat with it, you need to make sure you are using a box that is at or below where you usually squat. I am in the unfortunate case that my gym doesn’t really have much I can use as a box, so I stack 4 of the rubber 45 pound plates that are a few inches thick like this, Contact Support.
I’m not quite sure how high “the box” is, but I’m 6’2, and when I stand next to it, it grazes the upper-middle of my calf, and when I squat down to it, I’m a good few inches below parallel. Now, in order to get stronger, you need to A) lift more weight on the same height box, or B) lift a heavy weight, and decrease the height of the box each time.
I’ve heard of people who box squat the same weight on the same box, and wonder why they don’t get any stronger on free squats. Whereas, I have seen my max box squats increaseing almost in proportion with my free squat.
It is my understanding that equipped squats involve more posterior chain, while raw squats are more about quad strength. That said, I have found that you should keep your stance consistent between box squatting and free squatting. And, narrower squats work the quads more, while wider squats work the posterior chain and hip flexor. Personally, my stance is wider than shoulder width, but not as wide as a power squat.
Also, are you guys always remembering to squat back, not straight down? I know a guy who free squats very deep, but he squats straight down. He was angry when he box squatted for awhile, attempting to sit back, but then went back to free squatting straight down, not feeling any carryover at first. I told him to try free squatting by thinking of sitting back, and he was able to increase the weight after this.
For good mornings, I’ve heard a good rule of thumb is to have your 1rm good morning be about 60% of your 1rm free squat. Personally, on the descent, I like to look as high as I can, without straining my neck. In the gym I go to, the slots for the racks and safety pins are numbered, and the slots are about 5 inches apart. I will take the bar off the racks at 11. For squatting, I will squat till the bar on my back is about level with 6 or 7, and for good mornings, I will go down till the bar is level with 7.
In my initial post, I forgot to mention one thing… This program is very effective for upping your olympic lifts. The programs my coaches have given me often require these, and I generally dislike olympic lifts, yet I want to become more explosive. Well, I recently set very respectable PRs on my power clean and snatch, and I hadn’t attempted a single rep in training since last year.
peace