On the 4th day of #RulonRules, Coach Jen gave to me:

Add Box Jumps to your strength routine

Box jumps require even more power to launch you high enough into the air. This is in some ways just as challenging as a squat, and a great way to build hamstrings, quads, calves, and hips. If you don’t feel comfortable doing high box jumps, you can always modify.

Strength Sensei, Charles Poliquin, talks about improving your running with box jumps. Box jumps are like “power training.” Poliquin explains that if runners are going at a constant pace for so many runs, they are not developing a powerful run. He suggests that if you are not comfortable with box jumps, go ahead and try bounding exercises or short hill repeats with hard effort. I have suggested to athletes to start using a curb or a 25 lb. plate from the gym; work your way up from there to 10 inches to 20 inches. For example, do 3 x 15 curb jumps or plates once a week during your strength workouts.

I don’t recommend this to beginners, but it can be quite fun to do a max box jumps. Athletes’ explosiveness is pretty amazing. Check out J. J. Watt & his Reebok “promotion.”