How to save your shins when you do CrossFit Box Jumps

Easily one of the most dangerous moves in the sport of Crossfit., the box jump can leave you with a nasty injury to your legs (or self-esteem) if you happen to fall off the box… (just look up box jump fails on youtube). So, let me talk to you about how we can hope to build up and overcome this challenging exercise. Firstly if you can do box jumps, the number one thing you can work on is efficiency of your movement. There are a few things you can do to cycle reps more efficiently and become faster. 

Number 1 - is when you jump off the box try and drop down directly beside the box rather than half a metre away from the box. 

Number 2 - when you jump up try and land as much as possible with straight legs as this will help you to push your hips forward and reach full extension.  

Number 3 - find a focus point when you do your jumping, I personally try and look 3 metres in front of my box. This is to help keep my balance in the upper body and to help my proprioception of distance when jumping on and off the box

Number 4 - use the top of the box as your starting point, not when you’re standing on the floor. Jump off and try to rebound as quickly as your can from the floor. Start by practicing on a lower box and working your way to a higher one.

For those of us who are still building up to a box jump I would like you to start by working on rebounding box jump on a stack of 3 or 4 weight plates. This will help build up your strength, agility and balance. Once you can master the rebounding box jump, slowly increase the plates until they are the same size as the wooden box. For some reason it is that mental fear of jumping to the wooden box which can sometimes stop us. If we can confidently jump to the same height on the plates then we can move toward the wooden box. Once again it is better to be doing a faster rebounding box jump at a lower height than a slow, step down box jump at a higher height. Remember the primary goal of the box jump is to build plyometric power.

​Coach Joe

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