It’s no secret: I’m a huge proponent of the box squat. It’s incredibly versatile, relatively easy to teach, and the benefits are enormous. This is going to be the first article in a series of articles directed towards various movements that are staples here at the Lyons Den. This write up should give you solid insight into this versatile movement and hopefully help spell out reasons why you should be including it in your physical preparation for sport. So without further ado I present to you The Box Squat.

What is the Box Squat?

In short, the best thing to happen to the sports performance world. It’s a version of the squat that more closely resembles a hip heavy hinge pattern, helps create higher levels of rate of force development, develops end range strength better than it’s traditional counterpart and recruits more posterior chain fibers at higher depths.

I’m sure you’ve seen videos of people box squatting (although many are “squatting to a box” and not box squatting but more on that later) and probably assumed its purpose was to gauge depth. That couldn’t be further from the truth!

Benefits of the Box Squat

There’s MANY! First off, the box squat allows for an automatic depth gauge. You set the box up at a specific height, and you have to “sit” on it forcing you to hit a specific depth. This means all of your reps will be to depth as long as you’re performing this movement properly. You won’t have to worry if you’re hitting depth as you start to fatigue because if you don’t hit the box, you’re not hitting depth. This can be great for athletes who train alone and don’t want to have to try to video every rep in an attempt to ensure they’re hitting depth.

A second big benefit is that the movement takes away the typical shear forces that happen at the knee with a traditional squat. The goal in box squatting is to squat with a vertical to negative shin angle meaning the knees will not track forward at all. This keeps the tibial plateau from sliding across the condyles of the femur while in a loaded position. This can save the knee joints over time, especially when handling heavier loads where we tend to get out of position.

Third benefit is that it is VERY hamstring and glute heavy. With this vertical to negative shin angle it creates a much larger stretch in the hamstrings and glutes. The “sit back” cue creates almost a hinge pattern at the hips as opposed to a “sit down” cue that we give to allow the knees to track forward in a traditional squat. The hamstring becomes the primary knee extensor (it’s always a knee extensor in the weight bearing position just the prime one in the box squat) in this position which is going to lead to much higher development of the hamstrings (and glutes!). Since the hamstrings have more motor end plates than any other muscle group in the entire body, this means you’ll be getting stronger in the most important muscle group for SPEED.

The fourth benefit is end range strength development, even at higher depths. In a traditional barbell squat we have to acheive incredible depth to maximally activate the glutes (all of them, not just the glute max) and train the end ranges of hip external rotation and abduction. The box squat uses a very wide stance, pretty much as far as you can walk your feet out while still being able to reach your ankles with your knees (more on this later). This wide stance forces us to drive our knees out to maintain hip/knee/ankle alignment thoughout the range of motion. You wouldn’t really get this with a traditional barbell squat due to the close stance you have in this movement. While isometric holds at end ranges are incredibly beneficial, nothing will beat hitting these end ranges in a weight bearing position with a load to strengthen them. You can be strong at the end ranges, but EVERYTHING changes when we get our feet on the ground and the box squat helps strengthen these end ranges in a way that matters.

The fifth benefit is what we call rate of force development, or RFD for short. RFD is the rate at which you can develop force. This is increased in the box squat due to the pause on the box. While you’re not “relaxing” on the box, you’re allowing the box to feel your weight which relaxes your hips to a degree. To come up off the box your body is forced to recruit a bunch of muscle fibers in a hurry. This has carryover in many ways to sport, but the biggest is being to move very quickly from a stand still. Think of your reaction time being better not because your brain is operating faster, but your body being able to move faster once it receives a stimulus. You can increase your reaction time by increasing your RFD. This is a win in sports.

The last major benefit we’ll talk about here is that it’s much easier to recover from since it’s not so knee heavy. Due to the hips taking on the brunt of the forces in this movement, you won’t struggle to walk around the next day the way you do when you perform traditional heavy barbell squats. This is a total win for athletes who also have to play and practice their sports. It leaves enough in the tank for them to be able to continue to train AND practice/play the way they need to to achieve the highest of performances.

How to Perform the Box Squat

So you’re probably thinking to yourself right now that this movement seems like a total win, why aren’t more programs utilizing it? Well for starters it gets a bad rap from bad coaches who have their athletes do them and don’t know how to perform or coach them. Injuries can and absolutely do happen when box squatting if you’re not paying attention to detail. There has to be a controlled descent, a pause and positioning HAS to be maintained. Handling too heavy of loads in this movement is a giant no no because it’s not as rate limiting as the squat. When most people perform a squat that’s outside of their capabilities they either squat high, or they can’t come out of the hole and end up in the safety pins. With the box squat you can come down on the box funky and get way out of position without an ability to lower into the pins. Great care has to be taken to ensure your athletes know how to bail out of this movement, or even better that you don’t put them into a position to fail!

Back to how to perform a box squat. I’m going to post a video below showing positioning that we want/need but I’ll also list out some cues here as well.

Before We Squat

• Box height - parallel to slightly above or below parallel depending on your goals

• Stance - As wide as you can drive your knees out

• Feet turned out 45 degrees. This will set up the optimal position for the hips to go in

• Hand placement - wherever your athlete is comfortable

• Bar placement - Top of the scapular spine, NOT the top of the traps. This movement dictates a forward torso position (like a mild good morning) so placing the bar on top of the traps will leave you with a sore C7 which we do not want

The Descent

• Hips back “SIT BACK” cue

• Knees only unlock due to the butt going back and immediately start to drive out

• You’re going to continue reaching back with your hips and driving your knees out until your butt reaches the box

• Chest “drops” but stays “big”. Tell your athletes to continue to drive their chest up towards the ceiling the entire movement. You’re almost doing a “back extension” with your thoracic spine the way you would do one with your lumbar spine

• Land softly on the box and relax your hips while maintaining tightness

While on the Box

• Chest stays BIG but overall still dropped

• Knees are still being driven out via externally rotating the hip and spreading the floor

• Hips “relax” but your entire body stays tight

  • If I came by and tried to push you, you shouldn’t move

• While you’re on the box you should be able to maintain hip/knee/ankle alignment and the knees should sit directly to slightly behind the knee

• A slight rock back with the hips will unlock your hip flexors

• After the slight rock back you’ll rock forward turning your hips back “on”

Here’s a few pictures to drive home positioning while you’re on the box

The Ascent

• Knees out cue establishes the upward movement (this keeps the hips as the main mover here)

• Drive through your heels while pushing your chest up towards the ceiling (mini upper back extension)

• Continue to push your knees out over your feet at you ascend

The above video hopefully gives you some insight into about how it should look. This particular video is slightly above parallel (about where most of my athletes squat) but we’re still able to achieve all the things we want to from this movement and as an added bonus we get to handle heavier loads. I’ve found that most athletes don’t need crazy depth in the squat (we don’t squat what would be considered high though) and we can achieve that depth in other movements such as deficit lunges, Bulgarian squats, etc in an effort to keep the hips healthy. Most athletes can’t maintain position at crazy depths, don’t need strength in that position, and it will limit the loads we can use. We still squat to depth, but we’ll spend time slightly above parallel most of the time because THAT’s where they need strength anyways.

When Should I Use the Box Squat?

Honestly it’s a great exercise for all the reasons I listed above but I use it on my heavy hinge focus days. This movement is a hinge, not a squat pattern and needs to be programmed that way. It’s called a box squat but in reality its a combination of a sumo deadlift and a good morning. Both of which are hinge patterns. It’s also versatile in the sense that if we want to lighten the load we can change the barbell or change the height of the box. A lower box will lead to less stress on the body, a higher box will allow us to add more load and thus more stress to the athlete’s body. Changing the barbell out for a safety squat bar or a cambered bar will also lighten the load. You can really make this exercise your own. You can utilize it with the dynamic effort method as well as max effort method however I would caution you with your lower training age athletes not to utilize the repeated effort method. There’s just too much room for them to get out of position when they’re fatigued and not worth it in my humble opinion.

Hopefully this short article gave you some insight into the box squat! If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me at Connor@theLDSP.com.