Box squats...

[Huge Presser]

Well I did box squats 2 days ago. I am wondering how much you either add or subtract from your box squat max to get your approx. regular squat max? In all of my box squats my legs were 3-4 inches below parallel and I paused when I came down on the box. Somebody please help!

weighed in: 163 lbs

Box squat, 12 inches off ground:
135*5
225*3
275*1
315*1
345*1 easy
365*1 easy

Had to quit then as I hurt my back doing 365, but I had at least another 10 lbs in me. So what's my max?

HP

[BigGreen]

In my experiences, it has differed from person to person; not only the amount or percentage of weight, but whether to add or subtract it (though much of it has to do with the height of the box). Depending on where the box put me in relation to my weak point or sticking point would normally dictate where I'd be with regards to percent above or below my max freestanding squat. For example, at 8" i could box squat much more than I could at 12", as 12" seemed to put me right on my sticking point so I never had the chance to work up the momentum necessary to blast through it. I suspect that not a single one of my box squats (unless i were to do it off of a 18" box or something) exceeded my regular max, as my squatting style relies heavily on blasting out of the hole...something almost all box squats necessarily take away.

[Huge Presser]

I have a wide legged stance, and my sticking point is actually right out of the whole. Dissimilar to yourself, I get my momentum halfway up through the squat, I always get stuck at the bottom when I can't make it. So I assume that my box squat is much lower then my regular.

Thanks for the response bro.

HP

[xxxl83]

HP,

Here's something I don't understand. You say speed is overrated yet it seems most of your problems are speed related or lack of speed related.

Now I'm not trying to argue for westside but what works...., works.

A DE day may help you out quite a bit if your problem is "out of the whole".
Also it sounds like you need to do more ham work (pull throughs, glute ham raises, reverse hypers, partail deads, GM's).

Good luck,

xxxl83

[Huge Presser]

But I don't necessarily how speed will increase my strength out of the whole... it may make me faster out of it, but will it really change my sticking point?

HP

[Adrock]

Speed really means acceleration in this case. You say you aren't really starting to gain speed (accelerate) until half way up then you already know you have a problem. When you use lighter weights I'm sure you are able to accelerate all the way up. While acceleration, speed, or whatever you want to call it increases with increases in strength, training for speed specifically will show better increases in speed. I believe this is one of the points behind the WSB DE work outs. Makes sense doesn't it? If you want to increase your bar speed, you train for speed.

[Adrock]

I realized I didn't really answer your question. Speed will help you get out of the hole. It helps me. I don't know the exact reason, but I do know I get weight up easier when I move it up as fast as I can. I'm sure you've noticed once you start to gain speed when coming back up it feels easier. Pretty much any lift is easier if you do it fast. Maybe someone can give a more scientific reason for this.

[Huge Presser]

Nice bro... thanks for the info. I have tried WSB Speed workouts for bench, and hated it. But I will be willing to try it again, and for the squat as well...

HP

[xxxl83]

HP,

Speed training will increase your speed by training your motor units to all fire simultaneously out the bottom of the lift (bench, squat, dead, whatever).

This will not necessarily make any one specific muscle group stronger but it will increase your lift by teaching all the involved muscles to fire together instead of in steps or stages.

Think of it like this if you had 3 guys (each one representing a muscle group) trying to push a truck(representing the weight) none of the guys may be able to get the truck moving by themselves but if they all try together the truck will move.

xxxl83

[Huge Presser]

I know about speed training bros, I know the concepts, the ideologies behind it, it just didn't work for me when I tried it before.

But there's always a time for a second chance... we will see how I do the second time around.

HP

[lilbull]

you know I've had good progress with the WSB routine. I'm in week 7 right now and My max bench has gone up from 195lbs to 235lbs. I'm satisfied with the results.

[strongerthanall]

HugePresser,
I get this question alot over at elitefts.com. You should get a 100lb carry over from your best max effort box squat(with no gear other than a squat suit w/straps down) to your max effort free squat w/suit, knee wraps and what ever else you use when you squat.
Why did you hate speed benching? I switched to the WS way of training back in '98 and my lifts have gone through the roof. Speed work for the bench and squat I believe, have played a big part in my success.


Mike

[saboudian]

you know I've had good progress with the WSB routine. I'm in week 7 right now and My max bench has gone up from 195lbs to 235lbs. I'm satisfied with the results.

Well you know that i'm not on pure WSB, but I have to say that I'm fairly satisified just as lilbull is. My bench went from 195 to 275 in 6 weeks , of course I'm not sure how much of it is muscle memory. I have noticed increases in my speed and i do think its contributed to my bench for sure. I'm not too sure how much it has helped on squat, cuz i haven't used that for my ME exercise in quite a long time. However, I'm really fuzzy about how much speed DL's help if at all for your ME DLs, so i don't even do the speed DL's anymore. I'm a bit curious to see how many people actually do speed DL's.

[lilbull]

DAMN 80LBS IN 6 WEEKS!!!! I thought my results were good. Great work man.

[cdog]

Nice to see you around here strongerthanall .I will tell you guys this if anybody could answer your questions It would be strongerthanall this guy is as his name says ................CDOG

[cdog]

OH HP My bad brother forgot to give the props !163 and boxs squats at 365 ! Nice work my man.............

[Huge Presser]

Hey strongerthanall haven't seen you around here in awhile! How are the lifts coming bro? Yes guys cdog is right he is the most insane mother fucker on this forum, and by a longshot!!!
Also glad to see you around cdog! Sounds like from your progress you're gonna be killing me in a couple of weeks! Especially since I'm off the juice now and a little weakling .

Mad props to lilbull and saboudian for the progress! Keep hitting it guys!

Thanks for the help everyone...

HP

[strongerthanall]

Thanks HugePresser and Cdog for the comments. I saw your post and thought I would throw in my two cents. We just got to get HugePresses to be a HugeSquatter. LOL!!! Cdog is right, that's a great box squat!

[Huge Presser]

Hey thanks, it feels great coming from a guy like you!

Right now I'm setting up my speed workouts... I will keep you guys posted on my new routine. Since I already follow WSB ME days I guess I'll be going all WSB from now on .

HP