How to Box Squat | Mark Rippetoe
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If the point of a box squat is to pause, thus removing the stretch reflex and making a given amount of weight harder to lift, why is the box necessary? Why not just do a regular squat with a pause at the bottom?
Try it. You'll see that it is extremely difficult to display a solid pause without something preventing you from making any stretch reflex -- without the box blocking your hips.
There is a distinction here:
Box squats would be appropriate for quadriceps tendonitis (I believe that is what Rip has) and possibly other knee injuries depending on what they are.
Properly loaded pause squats just below parallel will heal patellar tendonitis. The non-SS online lifting docs who either don't have time to critically evaluate the peer reviewed lit or just don't want to question their academic superiors have missed this one quite badly by stringently adhering to the literature. However, the powerlifters I have seen overcome patellar tendinopathies have done so with progressively loaded 5 second pause squats.
I have been using 5 second pause squats as a workaround if the trochanteric bursitis is flaring up.
