It’s one of the BEST bodyweight exercises you could ever do to melt fat because…
– It uses power, which boosts your metabolism
– It hits your lower body muscles (your biggest muscle group… which means more calories being burned)
– It uses muscle, but also skyrockets your heart rate so that you burn calories and get in your “cardio”
– It’s very little impact…. BUT…
… you’re probably doing it wrong.
Don’t worry, I was doing it wrong, too.
No time for a video? No sweat…
It’s called the Box Jump, but you can use a platform, a step, and even a bench.
3 times I like to use Box Jumps…
1) Early in a workout to get your legs ready for any variety of squats (including split squats). I like to do 2 sets of 5-8 reps.
This allows me to squat deeper and not feel so “stiff” when doing
2) Mixed in with a conditioning circuit
3) With a finisher (works great with ladders)
But too many mistakes are made:
Mistake #1 – You “jump” back down instead of stepping down
There is very little benefit of jumping back down from the box vs stepping down. All the muscles are being worked on the way up as well as the power.
Too many injuries happen by jumping down and it’s unnecessary wear and tear to your joints. So, step down one leg at a time.
Mistake #2 – You land “hard”
You’re landing in an elevated position. That means less impact on your joints, but the “secret sauce” is to land “soft. So when you jump on the box, be sure to land in the squat position.
Bonus points for being as quiet as a ninja. That’s the key to keeping the impact VERY minimal.
Now that you understand the “Awesomeness” of box jumps, let’s rock a finisher using this fat-melting exercise.
Do the following superset resting only when needed. In the first superset, you’ll do 8 reps of each exercise. In the next superset, you’ll do 7 reps of each. Continue in this fashion until you complete 1 rep of each exercise.
Box Jumps (or Bench Jumps) (8, etc., etc…. down to 1)
Ab Wheel Rollout or Stability Ball Rollout (8, etc., etc. down to 1)
New to these moves? Start at 5 instead of 8… your abs will be REALLY sore if you start at 8.
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