Welcome to Box Jumps 101!
In this article we will try to cover anything and everything box jumps and how we utilize them in CrossFit. Box Jumps are one of the most known exercises to build leg strength and explosive speed.
Jumps are an awesome display of power, athleticism, and strength with directl application qualities to almost every sport. And yes, they’ll get you more jacked, too. The problem is, they’re often over-prescribed and performed with terrible form.
Let’s fix that. Let’s examine the muscle and strength building benefits of box jumps, along with how to do them properly. Also how to program them into your workouts for quick gains in leg power.
The Benefits of Box Jumps
A lot of the impressive box jumps you see on instagram aren’t what they appear. That 15-year-old guy doing a 55 inch box jump is awesome, but it is a product of a fairly good jump and fantastic hip mobility rather than pure explosive power.
Even worse than some of these phony-baloney jumps, people set themselves up for bloody shins, dangerous falls, and good landing mechanics due to inappropriate programming of the movement.
Muscles Worked – Box Jump
The below muscles groups are targeted with box jumps. Note, that box jumps don’t necessarily increase muscle hypertrophy or strength, but rather are used as an exercise to increase explosiveness and power output of the lower body.
Hamstrings
The hamstrings are one of the most important muscles involved in the posterior chain, and are used in the box jump. Activation and explosiveness of the hamstrings can increase jumping ability, sprint speeds, and maximal force output for hamstrings centric movements. Note, that the broad jump, another variation of this plyo-type movement, will target the hamstrings that much more due to the increase hip flexion in the beginning of the jump.
Quadriceps
Like the hamstrings, the quads are involved in the output necessary for the box jump, as they promote knee extension that propels the lifter’s body upwards away from the floor. Synchronized with powerful hip and ankle extension, the lifter is able to use the quads to contract at increased speeds to promote huge amounts of force downwards into the floor at larger rates of muscle contraction (increase power output).
Glutes
The glutes are responsible for explosive hip extension and supporting the hamstrings, and quadriceps in powerful lower body joint extension. The glutes are involved in squats, deadlifts, and most other strength and power lifts, making the box jump a great movement to pattern powerful extension while also increasing the muscle’s ability to promote high amounts of power.
Calves
The calves are a major element to increasing a lifter’s ability to jump, sprint, and perform more explosive movements. Strong, stable, and power calves can increase stability and help lifters reach a more force triple extension in most explosive movements (like cleans, snatches, jerks, etc).
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