YOU NEEED…NEED to Box Squat! Period End of Story.

Those who know me personally know that I am a huge fan of Leg day in the Gym. Unlike Most I actually enjoy the days of varying deadlifts…

Those who know me personally know that I am a huge fan of Leg day in the Gym. Unlike Most I actually enjoy the days of varying deadlifts, Squats and lunges.

Fortunately for this is not a post preaching why you should do legs in general but, if you are going to do one lower body day a month I want you to do …BOX squats.

Limited road blocks to complete full range of movement:

• I believe that this should be one of the first considerations or aspects of an exercise you need to think about before trying to put it into your training. Working our typical 9–5 jobs inside, sitting at a desk we develop a lot of different weaknesses and movement limitations. Fortunately the Box doesn’t require those to be fixed 100% before safely completing the movement.

• The Wider stance with out turned feet requires less ankle dorsiflexion. If you do no know what dorsiflexion is, it is when you move your foot from your ankle so your toes are pointing up towards your nose (think the opposite of a ballerina). If you do not have the proper amount of ankle dorsiflexion as is required in other squat variations then you will not be able to receive all the benefits of the movement.

• Knee Pain friendly. The bottom of the squat movement, when your butt is closest to the floor is when you can start to affect the knees. For the Box Squat the less dorsiflexion required from the ankle means the angle from your ankle to your knee aka your shin is around 90 degrees. The higher this number is here the more prone you are to feel some knee pains because well… you are bending it more. Other squat variations have this number quite a bit higher at the same depth.

• Develops the Butt and Hamstrings muscles. When was the last time you remember using your butt muscles and hamstrings(muscles in the back of the leg) during your normal daily activities?…probably not a whole lot. The main focus of the Box Squat is to develop the posterior chain muscles. Outside of having or building an amazing set of legs, having an awesomely strong posterior chain can help to keep you injury free if or when you decide to compete in an event (marathons, crossfit, pick up soccer, beer league games etc.).

• Easily Progressed and regressed. You get better by practicing the movements you want to improve, where do you think practice makes perfect came from. The easiest way to progress or regress this movement is by adjusting the height of your box. If you are just starting out you can simply make the box you are squatting to higher then parallel. This will allow you to train the movement in your program without having to increase weight, load or reps in order to see improvement. The closer to parallel the harder it is going to get. If you start squatting 90 pounds with a 20 inch box height and over the next 6 weeks you finish squatting that same weight closer to parallel at a 14 inch box then you have improved your technique and I can bet that you also got stronger and can now increase weight at your new box height.

• Big EMPHasis on the Hip Hinge and sitting back. One of the hardest movements to teach someone to do in my mind is the hip hinge. If I were to tell you hinge at your hips while keeping a flat back until your upper body is parallel to the ground would you know what to do? Most people will not have a clue but thats Ok because it can be fixed. With the box squat this movement is essential and is drilled into your technique with the “SIT in your Heels and Reach Your Hips back” cueing. This hip hinging is crucial in order to sit back far enough and carry that position through the movement. With other variations it is definitely a part of it but not nearly as much. Once this movement is learned the carry over to other exercises that require a hip hinge will be fluid.

• Builds Muscles. Some people take a little bit longer progressing to squatting to parallel or a low box for various reason. Maybe it still hurts the knees a bit, or they have other flexibility and mobility issues that have not been resolved fully. Fortunately with the box squat you can still progress in weight. Using a higher box in this scenario is a good way to get the muscle building benefits of using more weight without the the areas you need to improve limiting you. Using other squatting variations it is harder to accommodate this roadblock without regressing the weight used. While your fix the areas that need fixing your body will be developing a higher level of strength by using the higher load. The Muscle of your core(trunk) will not have to plateau in progress as you learn to squat to a full depth.

• Fixes Tight Groin Syndrome. Not an actual syndrome but I bet you have it. The wide stance in the Box Squat requires that you have nice mobility in the hips. In the box Squat your knees have to be like to magnets facing the same direction…repelling each other. I also like to cue my clients that the knees are mortal enemies. see how far away his knees are from each other. If this makes you cringe then you need to start working the Box Squat and really get after some good mobility work for those adductors.

Is it Better than The Olympic Squat?

The Olympic Squat is a great movement but it is not one that I first teach to someone who is new to the squat movement. I say that because the olympic squat technique doesn’t take a new comer far enough out of a squatting motion they are used to doing. It is much more quad dominant of a motion which does not help a population with typical quad dominance issues. The olympic Squat requires the person doing it to have a lot of their movement roadblocks out of the way in order to get a quality movement. Someone with knee pains will have a hard time performing this type of squat successfully without pain. If the movement is painful for you then how much is it really benefitting you? Can you or should you just keep trying to progress through the pain hoping it only decreases?

Always remember to choose your exercises wisely before putting them into your training. If you choose to limit the amount of times you will be training legs then it is best to make sure you are going to get the most out of the exercises you choose. If you are stuck and do not know what exercise to pick…choose BOX SQUATS.

Originally published at fitletes.com.