A sudden silence falls on the box. The athletes stop halfway up, hold their breath. The clouds of chalk settle. A drop of sweat falls from a guy's forehead and hits the floor: silently.
You look at the stack of wooden boxes in front of you. The stack of boxes looks at you. Everyone present looks at you and the stack of boxes. Then they look at the silent drop of sweat.
It's time: do a half squat and take flight, direction "the top of the last wooden box".
Now, the consequences.
Blue pill: you have well calculated the height of the obstacle, your skills and residual energy. The box takes a breath and starts moving again.
Red pill: goodbye shins, back to the ground, 100k views of your very personal video CrossFit® fail 2021 the best fail.
Index
Squat jumps: why do them?
Basically the red pill of the introduction is the one that Sara Sigmundsdottir recently took. An error of judgment in the box jump, and so on injuries.
But let's take a step back. The question you are about to ask me is:
But if you always say that the squat is the king of exercises, why complicate it by putting a jump (and an obstacle) into it?
Simple, I answer. The squat jump and its variants are great exercises to work explosively on the lower body. The benefits of this explosive work are quite important:
- increased power of muscle fibers
- increase in muscle "concentration" capacity
- stimulation of the muscle masses different from that of weightlifting work
- great carry over on the barbell squat
The last point is particularly important: working on explosiveness with the squat jump allows you to "get out" more easily bottom position of weighted squats.
In addition, like all plyometric exercises, the squat jump allows you to calibrate the intensity towards a work on conditioning.
Muscles affected by the squat jump
The squat jump is a plyometric exercise focused on the lower body. The affected muscles are
- buttocks
- quadriceps
- hamstrings and calves
- trunk stabilizer muscles e core
How to perform the squat jump
The sequence of this movement is quite intuitive:
- position of the feet slightly wider than the shoulders, with tips forward
- perform a half squat (no need to reach parallel)
- jump!
The direction of the jump in a squat jump is the perpendicular. At the highest point of the jump, the body must be perfectly straight.
Variations of the jump squat
There are several variations of the jump squat. The most common are:
- squat jump with load. You do this by holding a dumbbell or kettlebell tight to your chest. You can also do it with a barbell, but you have to be aware of what you are doing: you risk being classified as a circus operator, or serious injury.
- split squat jump: the starting position is roughly that of the lunge. While in the air, reverse the position of your legs
- squat box jump: after the introduction you should have understood what it is. The box jump requires the jump to occur simultaneously forward and upward, so that you land on an overhead obstacle (a wooden box, a low wall if you are training in outdoor)
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