The Box Jump
In this article, we will discuss the box jump. This simple, yet powerful athletic movement can help you become more powerful and agile. In this post, we will discuss the benefits of this popular movement, how to perform it correctly, and how to implement it into your workouts.
Benefits of the Box Jump
The box jump is an excellent movement to gain power and explosiveness. It’s also a good way to practice safe plyometric landing positions and to improve reactivity. Box jumps also prepare your body for the impacts of many sports including gymnastics, track and field and weightlifting.
Additionally, performing box jumps before any of these activities can potentiate your performance and help you recruit more of your fast twitch muscle fibers. The performance effects of high impact loading exercises like box jumps can last for 24-48 hours. That means you can perform box jumps on a Tuesday and still expect performance improvements on your weightlifting or track performance on a Thursday. For these reasons, box jumps can help improve your athletic performance both in the short term and in the long term.
Finally, performing box jumps with other plyometric exercises as part of a comprehensive resistance training session can build bone density. High impact loading exercises can help stress your leg bones and spine and send signals to lay down new bone, helping you to build and maintain a strong skeleton into your later years.
How to Perform the Box Jump
To safely perform a box jump, set up a wooden box or a soft plyometric box. While wooden boxes are fine for box jumps, soft plyometric boxes are more forgiving if you miss the box. Stand about 1-1.5 feet from the box in an athletic stance. Swing your arms and bend your knees simultaneously and jump onto the box. Land with your chest tall, arms in front and knees in line with your hips and toes. Ideally, you should land on the balls of your feet. Practice landing softly. Pause one count, then step down one foot at a time.
Start with a one foot tall box and increase the height of the box as you get more explosive and powerful. You can work up to boxes that are 3-5 feet tall. You can also perform box jumps on one foot or from a seated position to gain power or mimic the demands of your sport.
How to Incorporate the Box Jump into your Workouts
Because the box jump is a highly demanding power movement, it is best performed at the beginning of your workouts. Try 2-4 sets of 2-5 box jumps at the beginning of your leg workouts or full body workouts. Make sure you rest for 2-5 minutes between sets so that you do not compromise power production.
Alternatively, you can perform contrast sets to increase strength and power. With contrast sets, you perform one set of a heavy strength exercise (e.g. back squats) before immediately performing one set of a power or speed exercise (jumps or sprints) before resting for 1-5 minutes. Then you start back with the next set of your heavy strength exercise. Performing a heavy strength exercise potentiates your performance on the power exercise by helping your recruit more fast twitch motor units, improving performance on both the strength and power exercises.
Ideally, you can perform the box jump one or two times per week. You need about 48-72 hours between high intensity lower body plyometric workouts. So on your other workout days, you can perform regular resistance training only or also include a few lower intensity lower body plyometric exercises like jump rope or pogo hops, or you could include upper body plyometric exercises like push ups or medicine ball throws.
Who Should Not Perform the Box Jump?
While the box jump is an excellent plyometric exercise, it’s not suitable for everyone. You should be able to back squat at least 1.5 times your body weight to full Olympic depth (hip crease below knee joints, but lower with good technique is preferable) with good control before implementing high intensity lower body plyometric moves like high box jumps (3-5 feet jumps). Building up adequate leg strength before starting box jumps will enhance both the safety and effectiveness of this exercise. However, if you are still working up to your 1.5x bodyweight back squat, you can likely still safely perform lower intensity plyometric exercises, including box jumps to low or moderate heights. If in doubt, check with a trusted coach about implementing this exercise into your program.
Additionally, if you have severe pain or arthritis of the hips, knees and/or ankles, any unexplained joint pain or it’s been a while since you have performed vigorous strength and power training, you should check with your coach (and your doctor) first before trying this movement. They may recommend you build up slowly to this exercise or avoid it altogether.
Final Thoughts
Do you perform box jumps regularly? If so, do you feel that regularly performing this movement has boosted your overall leg power and athleticism? Let me know in the comment section below.
Need help with your program design or want me to look over your form and technique? Consider working with me with personal training or online coaching.
