Box squats, squatting with chains, etc.

[Kerpal]

Does anyone here train with box squats and/or chains or any of those other methods? I've been reading about them a lot lately and they sound pretty interesting. I'm not a powerlifter but I've been thinking of lots of ways I could incorporate stuff like this into my routine. I'd like to spice things up a little, I'm getting kind of bored with what I'm doing now (Rippetoe).

I'd really like to try box squats, but I'm not sure what I could use for a box or even if it's a good idea since I squat ass to calves. And chains sound very interesting, sound like they could make you a lot more explosive. How advanced should you be before you should start using stuff like this?

 

[mrRuckus]

Locate a milk crate. I couldn't find one to buy but for about $8 i bought a "file bin" that's pretty much the same thing with slightly different dimensions at Staples. You can then change the height of it by putting 45 lb plates on it.

From what i've read of chains and seen from people's recommendations there's no real point until you're really lifting heavy heavy weights. There's lots of alternatives to keep the numbers going up without adding that complexity yet.

For bench, you might want to try board presses instead of messing with chains. Or try some speed bench @ 50-60% your 1RM if you just want to do something different that does have a good effect.

 

[MrS]

Try bands.
renegadetraining.com
Get the starter set, and work with bands. They are the same thing as chains, really, and easier to use in other exercises.
Box for box squatting? Why, a bench of course. And anything else.
I did about a month of powerlifting before using this stuff, it doesn't matter if you start straight away.

 

[Kerpal]

A milk crate or bench wouldn't let me go low enough. I literally squat ass-to-calves on every single rep, and always have. I don't even know how to squat to parallel, lol. Like if someone told me to squat to parallel, I would have no idea where that was. I'm used to just going all the way down.

I was thinking of just setting the pins in the squat rack to ass-to-calves height, and squatting down till the bar is resting on the pins, and then exploding out of the hole. Would that basically give the same effect as box squatting?

The thing about bands is, I think they're kind of scary. It seems like when you get under the bar and start walking out from the rack, the bands could pull you right onto your ass... with a heavy weight on your back that would be very, very bad. I think you need a spotter to help you walk out of the rack to use them safely.

I always train alone, so that's why I'm more interested in chains for now.

 

[EFFORT]

I'm getting kind of bored with what I'm doing now (Rippetoe).

How long you been doing it? Whats your goal? Are you still progressing?

 

[Mad Manic]

I'd like to spice things up a little, I'm getting kind of bored with what I'm doing now (Rippetoe)

That's because by it's supposed to be boring, or one can translate that as 'simple, straightforward but effective'. Why don't you try a BBing routine. 4/5 Day Split, Higher Volume, Varied Rep Range, More Angles, More Direct Work, Some drop sets etc. May well be more suitable for your goals.

MM

 

[Quiksilver]

Mad Manic, it sounds from a few of your posts like your more interested in getting big than getting strong. Fyi this forum, as sad as it sounds, is more into getting strong before getting big.

Also there's a large emphasis here of building strong fundamental elements of the body: quads, hams, lower back, upper back, and chest. You'll notice that most of the workouts we do are 2-3 day splits with only a few central lifts and one or two supplementary lifts. The reason we do so little is to keep the stress on our CNS low enough to get stronger on the main lifts(bench, deadlift, squat).

You suggesting 4-5 day splits is like telling people who are interested in strength>size that we should sacrafice strength in favour of--temporarily--pretty muscles.

This is fine for some people, but the stark truth is that people who focus on heavy weights in a few lifts will be better off down the road than somebody who focuses on mediocre strength in many lifts.

Mad Manic, what are your goals and what does your program look like?

Again, for the record I have been on a 5 day split. And I don't regret it, however I won't be doing one any time soon. At the stage I was at when I got onto it, it was perfect for me. I wasn't that fit, and my muscular conditioning was low. A 5 day split trains your body to recover faster, so when I did switch back onto a 3 day split, my body was well able to handle the workload... For gaining true, long lasting strength though, I'd turn it down every time.

 

[Mad Manic]

Mad Manic, it sounds from a few of your posts like your more interested in getting big than getting strong. Fyi this forum, as sad as it sounds, is more into getting strong before getting big.

Also there's a large emphasis here of building strong fundamental elements of the body: quads, hams, lower back, upper back, and chest. You'll notice that most of the workouts we do are 2-3 day splits with only a few central lifts and one or two supplementary lifts. The reason we do so little is to keep the stress on our CNS low enough to get stronger on the main lifts(bench, deadlift, squat).

You suggesting 4-5 day splits is like telling people who are interested in strength>size that we should sacrafice strength in favour of--temporarily--pretty muscles.

This is fine for some people, but the stark truth is that people who focus on heavy weights in a few lifts will be better off down the road than somebody who focuses on mediocre strength in many lifts.

Mad Manic, what are your goals and what does your program look like?

Again, for the record I have been on a 5 day split. And I don't regret it, however I won't be doing one any time soon. At the stage I was at when I got onto it, it was perfect for me. I wasn't that fit, and my muscular conditioning was low. A 5 day split trains your body to recover faster, so when I did switch back onto a 3 day split, my body was well able to handle the workload... For gaining true, long lasting strength though, I'd turn it down every time.

Agreed but most people weightlift to get big muscles and to impress the ladies (look at the forum we're on!) so that's why I suggested what I suggest. At the mo I'm doing an Upper/Lower split with a 5th day for stuff I feel needs extra work. Love training 5 days per week, would never dream of doing only two or three days. I'm also not convinced one gets stronger on your program than on a BBing program because ultimately in both the core lifts are trained 1 x week and overtraining should be avoided. But let's not discuss this further lol ...

MM

 

[MrS]

The point of a box squat isn't to be ass to grass.
You can do low, parallel, high box squats.

 

[mrRuckus]

Yeah dude the whole point of a box squat is to create drive from your sticking points and make sure you hit the same level over and over again as most people start to cheat and not go as low as they get tired during the set.

Why do we let every new jerkoff take over every thread with the same nonsense for weeks until he vanishes again?

 

[Neubie]

If i remember correctly, the point of box squats was so you know you're gettin to a certain depth and like Ruckus said, so people don't cheat when the weight gets heavy.

It's spose to activate your hips, glutes and hammy's better 'cause you pause for that second or two so you have to really drive yourself back up using your hammies and what not as opposed to using ya quads. 'cause thats usually where people's sticking points are with squats is their hamstrings and glutes aren't strong enough to push the weight. If squats were a quad based movement then we should technically be able to squat as much as we leg press right?

here's an interesting thread about box squats written by Dave Tate, I was reading it the other day and was going to implement it into my routine: Box Squats

hope it helps...

oh right about your question haha...

if you already squat deep enough, and from what i've seen of what you're squatting, maybe you don't need box squats?

 

[Kerpal]

But why would I want to start only going to parallel or train myself to go to parallel, when I can go ass-to-calves?