Box Squats And Quad Activation

[Bodybygamma]

Originally Posted by Fazc

Not at all. Quads will help you get depth.

I think through all the 'posterior' rhetoric we've been fed over the years, people forget that the primary function of the quads is to extend the knee.

Stance helps people get depth, if you can't hit depth when squatting you don't know how to squat. The primary function of the quad has nothing to do with my comment on isolating the quad muscles.

The majority of novice lifter's have poor to no hamstring development and the same can be said about a majority of westside barbell lifters who use quads and lower back so much they need special exercises and machines such as box squats and reverse hyper machines to try and fix their imbalances.

The Squat Song - YouTube

The Squat Song - YouTube

[Fazc]

Tony, why so aggressive and condescending when discussing a simple matter?

I'm well over 10 years your senior so don't address me as a child, this a discussion forum for open debate. Declaring lifters to be foolish, or that they don't know how to squat then posting silly videos.

Your posts read like your just taking the piss out of people you talk to. Is that your intention?

[J_Byrd]

I do not have a lot of experience with box squats, as I have never felt the need to do them. From my understanding, most feel that the quad is limited in the box squat. I honestly feel a lot of it is dependent on your stance. I am a very quad dominate squatter, and prefer a tighter stance. If you are looking at getting in more quad work from squatting, my suggestion is to bring your stance just inside your shoulders, keep your toes out, and bring your squats DEEP.

[dmaipa]

This is where a lot of confusion can come in. Box Squats have a very broad perception.

There is Westside with Louie Simmons, who talk about Box Squats being more like a leg curl because your shins are perpendicular or beyond and you must sit back on the box. This will incorporate more of the hips, glutes, and hamstrings especially when come out of the whole.

Then there are those who simply use box squat as another variation to make sure they are hitting correct depth and may also take the idea from westside to break up the eccentric and concentric.

There different ways one can use the "box squat" and it depends on the training method.

Here are my views when it comes to quad activation:

I feel using a narrower stance, hip width apart, hits my quads much more. Also, using a higher bar position on the back and a more olympic style squat helps this out as well. You can use these ideas with the box squat.

I've done box squats with a hip width stance high bar position and it smoked my quads. I wasn't trying to sit far back on the box, although i do incorporate them sometimes. My main goal was to hit depth and break up the eccentric/concentric.

The term "box squat" has different views from different schools.

[MikeM]

Hey Daniel! Good to hear from you.

How did you know the height to set your box, and what is the purpose of breaking up eccentric and concentric?

[dmaipa]

Originally Posted by MikeM

Hey Daniel! Good to hear from you.

How did you know the height to set your box, and what is the purpose of breaking up eccentric and concentric?

The box can be adjusted according to the goal. I usually have my athletes have a low box day which is 1-2 inches below parallel and a high box day which is 1-2 inches above parallel.

This all depends if you have a gym with the ability to make adjustments easily. Most commercial gyms dont have a box and many end up only using a bench which for the average person is above parallel.

The purpose of breaking up the eccentric and concentric allows the individual to get best of both worlds. During the eccentric phase the muscles lengthen and resist against the load during the descent which causes an increase of energy in the muscle using the stretch reflex.

Now when you sit on the box, it is suggested to pause on the box. This is known as the static phase of the lift, where the muscles are neither lengthening nor shortening. When you pause on the box, energy dissipates into the box causing the individual to then have to concentrically contract the muscles enough and hard enough to stand back up.

This is great to increasing your 'starting strength'. By going from static to dynamic your body recruits more motor units in order to overcome the load. become more efficient of recruiting more motor units during a movement leads to strength improvements.

hope this made sense. my mind always goes all over the place.

[jdmalm123]

I thought the main purpose of Box Squats was to teach hip hinging, to help program depth and to take muscle elasticity out of the picture?

It's generally a harder squat that emphasizes certain squat components for the main goal of improving a conventional squat.

No?