Plant heels firmly on the floor, and curl your toes. Heels keep you from losing balance. Push from the outer side of your feet, and explode. You can't do Box Squats slowly. Think: Explode upward from hips. That's how Box Squats build hip power.
As with any weight lifting exercise, the lower back can become compromised if you don't execute correct form. The key is to sit on the box and stay tight, not to bounce or relax at any point.
Mistake 1: Bouncing off The Box - This sandwiches your spine between the bar and the box, causing back injuries. Lower yourself under control to sit on the box for a brief moment and begin coming up.
Mistake 2: Relaxing on The Box - When you do this, your spine gets the whole load as surrounding muscles can't provide support. Stay tight, push your abs out.
Mistake 3: Keeping Knees Forward - It kills posterior chain strength. Keep your shins at perpendicular to the floor - or past. Lower yourself by pushing your hips back.
Mistake 4: Rocking Forward - Won't allow you to use your glutes effectively and will risk back injury. Squat up by moving your hips up. Keep your torso still.
Mistake 5: Leaning Forward - Can make your back round. Instead, look forward, keeping a big chest, with shoulder blades back and down; arch your back, push your abs out. Squat.
Mistake 6: Keeping knees in - This puts uneven compression on knee joint. Push your knees out from start to finish. Keep your thighs in line with your feet.
By squatting deeper than you imagined in a cage, box squats allow you to isolate all the correct muscles. Through isolating all the correct muscles, it enables you to develop additional flexibility, and muscle development, and quickly improves your pulling strength for things like deadlifts and Olympic pulls. In a word, box squats are the versatility lifters need to move past those plateaus, and a great start for beginners to ingrain the most correct form.
