Perfecting the Box Jump

By Kelly Starrett and Carl Paoli

In CrossFit, Exercises, Reference, Videos

March 07, 2012

Box jumps are mainly about jumping onto a box. Simple, right? But like any CrossFit movement, you can always add a good dose of virtuosity for increased speed, efficiency and grace.

Kelly Starrett and Carl Paoli explain exactly how to set up for efficient box jumps, and they say it all starts with foot position and body position. As all supple leopards know, great body position takes work, so Starrett offers up some mobility drills to get you ready to bounce.

The experts also explain how the standard of landing on top of the box and opening the hips usually results in good positioning, while the landing on the ground is sometimes less than graceful. Often the knees go into bad positions on the ground landing, which creates what Starrett calls a “torque dump.” To prevent this, Paoli recommends keeping the feet quite close together during ground contact.

By preparing your joints and tissues properly and then using solid positioning during reps, your box-jump efficiency will improve instantly.

23min 17sec

Additional reading: Kelly’s Koffin: Five Feet Over by Larry Gallagher, published May 25, 2009.

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18 Comments on “Perfecting the Box Jump”

wrote …

Video is incomplete. It stops before the end.

wrote …

Nick,
I see that, too, with the Windows Media version, but Flash runs to the end with no issues. Give one of the other options a try.

wrote …