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Strength
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Work up to a 1RM in 15:00.
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WOD
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Complete every minute on the minute for 10:00 of:
8 Box-over burpees, 24″/20″
8 Power Snatch, 50% 1RM
If you’re unable to complete 8 reps of each in the minute, cut it to 6/6 or 4/4.
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The competitors and their cheering section. Always representing so well! We’re proud of you guys!!
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Today we start a new wave of programming. To start off this strength cycle we’ll be working up to a 1RM box squat. Some of you have done this before, many haven’t. Don’t worry, we’ll go over it in detail. We love you guys to not only understand what we’re doing, but why we’re doing it. Below is an article by Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell about the box squat. Give it a read and be ready for your Monday squats!!
Why Box Squat by Louie Simmons
Box squatting is the easiest way to learn to squat properly. Most everyone will start descending correctly, but at some point problems occur. To fix this, start on a box several inches above parallel. Squat down to the box. Then have a training partner take out a ½ or 1 inch mat or board. Again sit back, not down, on the box. When this feels right, take out a mat or board again until you are breaking parallel. Anyone can squat correctly if your coach or training partner is smart. You can’t teach what you don’t know.
You can squat very deep when using a box. Angelo Berardinelli has used a 6 inch box, and Amy Weisberger has squatted on a 4 inch box. Olympic lifters squat very deep, but they bounce out of the bottom. We flex.
Because one sits on a box and then flexes to overcome the resistance, box squats will quickly improve your pulling strength for deadlifts or Olympic pulls.
Box squats are much less taxing on the lifter, and by training at 50-60% of a 1 rep max for 10-12 sets of 2 reps, you can easily break your squat record. The muscular soreness is much less than with regular squatting. One of my former training partners, the No. 1 198 in 1984, could full squat only every 10 days due to the extreme soreness. However, learning to box squat, he found he could squat twice a week, once for speed day and once for max effort day, without any difficulty.
Many trainers have found that a great deal of flexibility can be developed while box squatting: by going lower than normally possible, and by using a wider stance.
You can isolate all the correct squatting muscles by sitting extremely far back on the box. By sitting back on the box to the extent that your shins are positioned past vertical, the glutes, hips, hamstrings, spinal erectors, and abs are totally pre-stretched and overloaded simultaneously, producing a tremendous stretch reflex.
When squatting on a box just below parallel, all your squats will be just below parallel. When doing regular squats, when the weight gets heavier, one will invariably squat higher and higher.
Doing static-overcome-by-dynamic work will build a great amount of explosive and absolute strength. Going from relaxed to dynamic work will also build tremendous explosive and absolute strength. Both types of work occur when box squatting. Some muscles are held statically, while others are actually relaxed…
…First, use as wide a stance as possible. Position your feet so they point straight ahead and sit back, never down, until you are sitting on the box. The back is arched, the chest is held high, and the knees are pushed out to the sides. Use a wide hand grip to prevent biciptial tendonitis, and pull the elbows up and under to utilize the lats. When you are on the box, relax the hip muscles for an instant, then forcefully flex them by pushing against the bar. This will cause the spinal erectors to instantly flex, which activates the hips and then the hamstrings. The action is like doing a jerk in Olympic lifting. Try to flex on the box strong enough to stand up in one motion.
