Box Jumps, Yay? or Nay? as part of a training program

I used to be right all the time.  That was in my first marriage which lasted less than a year, but I learned from that experience and applied it to my marriage now and just had our 10 year wedding anniversary so I haven’t been right in over a decade.  To be fair though, my ex wife wasn’t that bright and my wife now probably is smarter than I am.  She keeps me around though because she can’t handle dealing with spiders or the clog in the shower drain and those are things I can handle without issue.

When I first embarked down the road as a fitness professional I made a lot of mistakes but I learned from them. I experimented with many things from workout machines, traditional weight training, to fitness bootcamps, kettlebells, calisthenics, corrective exercises and probably a ton of things across a 20 year career I’m forgetting at the moment.  Some of it had merit so I kept it around adding it to my quiver, and some of it I found to be complete nonsense so I got rid of it.

Yesterday one of my long time clients came to me with a question out of the blue.

“What do you think of box jumps?”

“The risk reward ratio just isn’t there, and I think anything it can do, can be done better with a kettlebell swing which has less impact and safer….why?”

She proceeded to tell me that one of her friends, was doing a circuit bootcamp type of deal which had box jumps in it and had broken her foot.  She has a wedding next week, and a vacation the week after that.  Now with a broken foot, her summer is ruined.

I don’t often like to poke holes in other people’s programs when I don’t know the full story, but I’m pretty sure it’s a bad one.  Before putting an exercise in one of my clients programs, I ask myself…why?  What purpose does it serve in the program?  Does it affect other exercises in a negative way?  What could go wrong?

In the case of the box jump, it does have some sport specific applications for power development but 9 times out of 10, I’d put the kettlebell swing or snatch, barbell clean, hexbar jump, or rear foot elevated split squat jump in there first.  And when I say first, it would literally be the first exercise performed.  Power is best developed while fresh, not under fatigue.

Fatigue while somewhat useful for building muscle or conditioning also brings issues.  Form tends to go south while tired and in the case of the box jump, that’s not the sort of thing you can get away with while being sloppy…too much can go wrong.

Gashing your shins open (fairly common) is the lesser of the evils.  Falling backward or forward and cracking your head open being the greatest of all possible evils and, rupturing a tendon or breaking your foot is somewhere in between.

Doing it as part of a circuit, is quite simply a bad idea.  I hope the trainer learns from it.

In the case where I might use it, it would be for a young athlete that needs that specifically, like for a test or something.  Definitely not for the average person that simply wants to look and feel better.  Nothing makes you feel better than spending your summer vacation in a cast.

So the takeaway?  Just say “no” to the box jump.  Say “yes” to safe and effective training that puts you closer to your goals.  The good news is you don’t have to figure this out yourself.  I can put a program together for you that gets you to your goals, quickly, safely and sustainably.  I also offer a free trial so you can see if you like it before making any kind of decision.  Just send me a text at 973 476 5328 to get started.

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Eric Moss is a personal trainer in Boonton and moonlights as a world-record-holding modern-day professional performing strongman, author, and motivational speaker. In the tradition of the strength performers more common during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a live show and travels across the country doing presentations on goal achievement for conferences, corporations, associations, nonprofits, and government entities as well as for schools and universities. His personal training studio is located on Main Street in Boonton New Jersey and is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, Montville, Kinnelon, Pine Brook, Butler, and Parsippany New Jersey.