That was a legitimate complaint fielded from a client who has been at my gym for seven years.

“Why are we squatting to a box? Nobody cares how good my 1RM box squat is!”

That was a legitimate complaint fielded from a client who has been at my gym for seven years.

“I just want to back squat, man,” he persisted.

I had a small laugh to myself for a moment, but then realized it was worth addressing, as I frequently use a box squat with my clients for various reasons and maybe haven’t made it clear enough to them why.

To my client, and to the countless clients out there who just want to back squat, here’s the thing: Box squatting will ultimately serve to improve your back squat.

The same way you can improve your deadlift without actually working on your deadlift, as I explained in this article, you can improve your back squat without back squatting, per se. In this case, you can improve your traditional back squat via the box squat.

So, what makes the box squat useful?

1. The Box Squat Is Harder

The box squat naturally causes your momentum to slow to a halt as you reach the box.

In this sense, it’s sort of just more analogous to life in that it forces you to be more efficient and to find ways to get something done without that useful momentum we like too much.

Practically speaking, what I mean is that unlike the traditional box squat, where you can use the stretch reflex and momentum to drive yourself out of the hole, the box squat forces you to figure out how to drive out of the bottom of the squat without momentum or speed. This will translate into making your drive out of the bottom even stronger once you eliminate the box.

2. Box Squats Promote the Right Muscle Fibers

The box squat puts you in a position where you can’t cheat, so to speak, by using just your quads to stand up. Instead, it puts you in a position where you will have to activate more muscle fibers in your glutes and your hamstrings to help get you out of that squat.

3. Box Squats Improve Your Squat Mechanics

The box squat helps improve squat mechanics as it forces you to use more of your muscle fibers in your posterior chain. Furthermore, it allows you to slow the movement down, which gives you an opportunity to truly focus on your mechanics. Stopping on the box provides a chance to double check your mechanics and positioning—Is my chest proud? Are my knees pointed out? Is my shin angle correct? Is my spine in a good position?—before driving out of the hole.

This is why I definitely resort to the box squat for new clients: It’s a way easier way to help them hone their squat mechanics from day 1, which goes a long way in preventing bad habits from forming.

4. Box Squats Save Your Knees

For people with a history of knee pain, or injuries especially, the box squat is a great way to sit back a little further in the squat to reduce loading your quads too much, which can place strain on your knees if your joints aren’t yet as bulletproof as they should be.

5. Box Squats Build Consistency

Similarly, new lifters (and sometimes even experienced ones) are inconsistent with their depth on a squat, especially as the barbell gets heavier.

The box doesn’t lie. It forces you to hit a consistent depth on every single squat, which helps you develop a more consistent squat once you eliminate the box and return to the more glamorous back squat.

As a final tip, if you have reached a point where your back squat has hit a plateau and you can’t seem to improve no matter how much you squat, try mixing it up and switch to a box squat for 6 weeks. You might be surprised how much benefit it will provide.

The post 5 Reasons You Should Box Squat appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The posterior chain—you’ve undoubtedly heard people waxing prolific about this topic, particularly in response to sedentary lifestyles. It’s a great buzzword to make yourself sound smart while describing a very simple concept.

The posterior chain is the backside of your body—basically everything you don’t see when you stand in front of a mirror. Think back, butt, and hamstrings. These muscles are a big deal. For athletes, they are the foundation of power. For humans, they help keep you balanced, posturally aligned, and free from nagging pains.

In our sedentary, mirror muscle-focused world these posterior muscles tend to lie dormant most of the day. Everything from our screens to our meals pulls us forward, crunching in on ourselves. Thus, the posterior chain muscles are the most important to train and there is no greater exercise for posterior chain development than the single-leg Romanian deadlift (1-leg RDL).

It stands to reason that before you can do a 1-leg RDL, you should be pretty good at RDLing on two feet. It is critical to master the RDL and the deadlift, the RDL’s more popular big brother. Understanding these prerequisites allow for a good 1-leg RDL.

Even if you need to spend more time perfecting your RDL and your deadlift, you should begin doing drills to prepare you for the 1-leg RDL (specifically, the scales as below), the quad stretch 1-leg RDL, and the walking 1-leg RDL.

In fact, I have my athletes do these three drills every day, even before they are able to RDL. Once they’ve mastered these bodyweight drills they are ready for the kettlebell, dumbbell, and barbell versions of the 1-leg RDL.

RDL Scales

1. The Front Scale: Relax your shoulders, keep your back straight (don’t lean back), lock both legs, point the toes on one foot, and lift that leg as high as possible without leaning back. Your ribs should remain over your pelvis and you should feel your hip flexor on the leg you lifted. Then bring the foot back down to prepare for the back scale.
2. The Back Scale: This is basically a 1-leg RDL without weight. Think about linking your body into one solid plank. With everything from your hands to the foot that you are about to elevate in a straight line, begin pushing your hips back. Do not think about trying to drop your chest lower. That only happens as a consequence of the hips pushing back. You are reaching your arms to the wall in front of you while driving your elevated heel to the back wall.

Reach and lengthen more intentionally and you should feel the back of your shoulders as well as your glute fire harder. Fight to keep both shoulders at the same height. Aim to do this slowly and under control.

Once you are parallel to the ground or your hips are as far back as they will go, push through the heel of the foot that is on the ground and extend your hips forward so that you are standing straight up again. Be careful not to do this by lifting your chest.

Repeat on the other side.

Quad Stretch 1-Leg RDL

Grab your right foot in your right hand and pull your heel to your butt in a traditional quad stretch. From this position begin doing the back scale while maintaining a straight line from your back knee to your shoulders.

Rather than pushing the right heel to the back wall, your right knee will drive towards the back wall. Like the scale, you come back to upright posture by pushing through the grounded heel and extending your hips.

Repeat on the other side.

Walking 1-Leg RDL

Do the back scale, but rather than finishing in place let the hip extension bring the elevated leg forward into a step. Thus, if you were pushing your right foot back, the right foot would then step forward and become the grounded foot, so that you could then repeat the pattern on your left side. I usually work this into 10-yard moving warm-ups.

Pack Your Shoulders

Before you can add weight to the 1-leg RDL, you need to make sure you pack your shoulders. This is explained in the RDL and deadlift videos linked above, but to review, the RDL is not a pull. The arms simply connect the body to the resistance.

The upper body works to stabilize the weight in place isometrically, but it is not pulling. If you are thinking of lowering your chest to the ground and then lifting your back up, you will shift the emphasis away from the most important muscles and risk injury.

To pack the shoulders you want to retract your shoulders back and pull them down into scapular depression—think shoulders down and back.

The 1-Leg RDL

Standing upright while holding a kettlebell or dumbbell, two kettlebells or dumbbells, or a barbell, pack your shoulders and do a back scale. Be sure to stay on the grounded heel and to come up by pushing through your heel and extending your hips forward.

If you have a kettlebell or dumbbell, the weight should track straight down outside your foot. If you have a barbell the bar should slide down your shin keeping contact with the body.

The post How and Why to Single Leg Romanian Deadlift appeared first on Breaking Muscle.