How to Use Box Jumps Right
If you’ve spent any amount of time in a gym, you’ve probably seen people doing jumps. This is a good thing because jumps help make you more explosive. By “explosive” we mean “accelerating yourself to max velocity in the shortest amount of time possible”. If you’re a fighter, then you know just how important speed is. But since you’re trying to be the best, you don’t want to just throw them in your program with no concept of how to do it right. You also don’t want to be picking things that get you injured. So, let’s fix that and teach you how to use them to become a better athlete by using box jumps.
So, why do box jumps instead of some other kind of jumping or bounding? First, they’re probably the easiest variation on your joints. We want to spare your joints as much as possible when doing non-sport things. It would be stupid and embarrassing to pull out of a fight because you hurt yourself jumping hurdles. For people with joint problems or who are new to doing explosive work, box jumps are a great thing to add. Remember how when you jump straight up there’s that split second where you feel like you’re stopped in mid-air? That’s about when you land on the box. Landing at that point in the movement when you’ve got the least momentum (near the top of the jump) means your joints will like you more.
You’re sold on needing to do them, but how do you do them right? It’s actually pretty straight forward. Start by picking a box that’s the right height. This might seem obvious, but I see this getting botched all the time. I lost count of how many times I see somebody do a box jump where it stops being a test of explosiveness and becomes a test of how much they can tuck their legs against their chest. A good height would be an inch of two (3-5cm) below the highest you can jump. This gives you lots of incentive to jump as high as you can, but stops it from becoming a tuck and roll drill. If you’re at a total loss, start with the smallest box and jump onto it. Keep going up until you notice you have to tuck your knees to land on top of it. Then go one size down.
There’s also the matter of how to jump. Now, you’d think this would be obvious. But based on watching most people, it clearly isn’t. First, find your stance. You do this by standing still, then jumping up and down three times. Wherever your feet are positioned after the third jump is your stance. Stand in front of the box, about six inches to one foot (15-30cm) away. Now, as quickly and forcefully as you can, do a quarter squat and then explode up. Good cues to think of are trying to jump your head into the ceiling or blast off from the earth like a rocket. Land with both feet (I can’t believe I have to say that) on the box as softly and quietly as you can. This will look like landing in a quarter squat. Step, don’t jump, down from the box. Repeat as many times as prescribed.
The second biggest mistake I see people make is in how they program box jumps. They love to make it a part of a circuit and/or do about 700 reps. The first one isn’t helpful because you’re too tired to actually be able to recruit the muscle you need to really train explosive power. The second isn’t helpful because you’re just making yourself tired with no benefit. Box jumps are like a potent spice: a little goes a long way.
There are two main ways I program box jumps. One is to do them by themselves, first thing in the workout. Once you’ve warmed up, start working your way up in box height. Try to have two to three heights before you get to your working sets. How many reps and sets should you do? I usually prescribe 10-20 total jumps per workout, no more than twice a week. Each set gets no more than four jumps. This is because after the fourth rep, a serious drop-off in power usually happens and now we’re just making you tired, not better. How do you implement that? You could do 5x3 (five sets of three reps), twice a week. Or 4x3, twice a week. Or even 5x4, once a week. It’s going to depend on how much other training you’re doing. More training in other areas (strength, skill work, sparring, conditioning, etc.) means less training here and vice versa.
The other way (and this is what I prefer), is to pair it with a heavy or max effort exercise of the same pattern, usually the squat. One set-up I’ve found to be very effective is doing a set of heavy squats (two reps at about 87-92%), then immediately doing a set of box jumps. The very heavy weight activates more muscle that will stay active when you do the jumps, allowing you to jump higher than you normally could. Think of it like picking up a bunch of heavy boxes, then picking up one that you didn’t know was empty. Your body automatically makes you exert more force and the box flies up.
For both of these methods, you have to rest a long time (3-5 minutes) between sets. I know, it seems like overkill. It’s important to remember that we’re training the nervous system here. It takes longer to recover than pure muscular work. What can you do in that time? If you have any rehab work or mobility you need to do, now’s the time. You can also do extremely light skill work like shadow boxing or footwork drills.
Using box jumps wrong will get you nowhere at best and injured at worst. Using them right, however, will help take you to the next level. Pick the right box, do the jumps correctly, and program them like a sane person, and you’ll excel. And, for the love of God, stop doing that stupid “jump, tap your toes on it, and drop back down” thing. You look like you’re playing patty-cake with the box.
