How to Do Box Squat: Muscles Worked & Proper Form

Muscles Worked in Box Squats

Primary muscles worked:

• Quads
• Glutes
• Adductors
• Lower Back

Secondary muscles worked:

• Calves

How to Do Box Squats

1. Place the bar on your upper back, inhale and brace your core slightly, and unrack the bar.
2. Take two steps back, and adjust your foot position.
3. Squat down to a box, set at your desired heigth.
4. Stand up again. Exhale on the way up, or exchange air in the top position.
5. Inhale and repeat for reps.

Commentary

The box squat is a variant of the squat where you use a box (or bench or similar) to squat down against.

The exercise can be performed in several ways. One way is to only slightly touch the box with your glutes when you squat. That is: you never really put much of your weight at all on the box. Used this way, the box can serve as an indicator for you, helping you make sure that you are reaching your desired depth.

Another common way to perform the exercise, is to actually sit down and put your weight on the box for a few moments, before you rise up again. Used this way, box squats can spare your joints from the otherwise high forces that are generated when you turn in the bottom of a squat. It can also teach positional awareness and train force generation from the bottom.