I read somewhere over the weekend that a long-prominent strength and conditioning coach has completely banned Box Jumps from his training programs for his athletes; the risk/reward “ratio” was “too high.”
Okay.
I get it, I do. In the last 24 hours, I’ve watched at least 4 people trip up in a multitude of ways doing some sort of box jump. Now, I hear people blame it on all sorts of things: fatigue, ego, uneven or wobbly boxes, etc. My take? Bad biomechanics.
Yeah, yeah, I know accidents happen, and I know people are moving as fast as they can in here, but that’s even more cause for fantastic technique while performing this seemingly mindless manuever! It’s often overlooked, just like rowing technique, deadlift technique, and shoulder press technique, and just as important!
So next time you’re staring at a box, take half a second and make sure you:
- are standing in a good “jumping position”
- pull your arms back tight
- jump from a Deadlift stance, not a Squat stance
- jump through your heels, not your toes
- are looking straight ahead, not down
- pull your knees up aggressively
- land in a strong Deadlift position if possible
(If you’re rebounding instead of jumping, focus on fixating your vision, finding a breathing pattern, and aggressively driving your knees up.)
In the meantime, maybe I’ll start formulating a workout program with an adjusted Risk/Reward ratio. We can get rid of running and just row, get rid of double-unders, handstands, box jumps, pull-ups, muscle-ups, rings in general, all fast weightlifting, all free weights, and no more walking lunges. Oh, forget about rope climb, wall-ball, thrusters, GHD sit-ups, tire flips, and overhead kettlebell swings.
I’m sure there’s more, but I’ll let our math wiz, Coach Wattz, whip up a formula first. After all, judging from the picture, he’s had first-hand experience with the ratio!
I wonder who those people who tripped up were…
04.08.2010, 8:20 PMAs I recall, I didn’t make that jump. Damned if I didn’t try though.
This was not your ordinary box jump, people. Notice how my right leg is aiming towards the floor? I was coming up from a pistol, the notoriously difficult one-legged box jump, a secret CrossFit move .
While this risky move is much harder to pull off, the reward is knowing that at any time, anywhere, I can pull off the Crane Kick from the Karate Kid.
04.08.2010, 9:52 PMI know CoachD left off a few things from his Risk/Reward list but if I am not mistaken this only leaves us with…standin’ around? Now I can tell you, I was a government employee for a long time and that whole “standin’ around” thing will definitely not help you with any kind of functional movement or any other of that CrossFit stuff. Frankly, sometimes it was down right unhealthy. I vote we stick with crazy, dangerous, box jumps and all that other risky stuff too.
05.08.2010, 3:16 AMAsk Travis, he drew blood this AM doing box jumps. I bet he wants to stick with it. right TRAV?!
Bob, I hear nothing but crickets and crying babies on Trav’s end.
06.08.2010, 5:34 PMWow. What I did to myself was on purpose. I am not able to come in as often as i was so I left a little DNA so mike knows even when Im not there Im still there. But as for standing and doing nothing Im out!
06.08.2010, 8:07 PMi kinda like the living on the edge [of a box jump?]… the rewards are cool – caution tape, chalked out bodies on the ground, black & blue everywhere – It’s better than reality TV & you wont see any of it @ club 1.
07.08.2010, 10:10 PMPersonally, I’m not a fan of box jumps….I’m sure I was one of the mishaps that Coach D refers to- I can’t do them like a jack rabbit, it is slow, methodical (hopefully using all the technique advice given)- BUT they kick my ass and that is why we’re here, right? Bring on the box jumps!
08.08.2010, 2:53 PMJude – don’t tell lies, we all know there have been chalk outlines at Club One!
08.08.2010, 9:28 PMBridget,
It could be worse. It could be the infamous double-under box jump combo I have yet to show you!
08.08.2010, 9:29 PM