Box Jumps are GARBAGE, especially for beginners.
They are way more risky than any benefit you'll get. There are a zillion other ways to test or challenge your fitness level.
I've seen entirely too many shredded shins, broken bones, bloody faces etc to ever do a box jump again.
Yeah, I'm a little surprised that the box just tumbled from beneath her without much prompting. If you're going to do a jump like this, I'd want it to be on something very heavy/secure that won't tip.
The box is designed to be useable at 3 different heights... The lowest height is a 20 inch jump on the long end where the box is most stable.
There's a 24 inch mid point.
In most CrossFit workouts, men are asked to use the 24inch side and women the 20inch side.
She is using the tallest and most unstable 30inch side, and I have no idea why.
The boxes are heavy and fairly secure for the most part... But she's a heavier girl jumping with poor form onto the most unstable side of the box.
All of that said.. rehabbing an ankle injury is no joke. I rolled mine going down a set of stairs with the dogs and it took me about 9 months before I felt enough stability and strength in it to go running again, it was over a year ago now, and it still hurts if I overstretch it.
Not only is she jumping on the 30 in side but also off of a plate. If you are going to stand on a plate to jump on the highest side just jump on a lower side
Right!? What a weird choice. I've seen some strange exercise choices in open gym before but that seems like an wildly unnecessary risk and has no functional benefit other than increasing general risk of danger lmao
There is a functional benefit. She probably already did the 24 inch jump and wanted to try going a little higher but the 30 inch side is a bit too much. The plate is about 2-3 inches so she gets a more doable height this way
This goes back to CrossFit being an issue. 24 is easy in warmups and doing 4-8 probably isn't a problem by itself, but is after 3 sets of amrap and a lactic buildup for 15 minutes.
A ton of people do stupid stuff in the gym every day, CrossFit is the only place where the stupid stuff is celebrated.
Second that on ankle injuries. I'm 35, when I was like 10 I just twisted my ankle in a hole running through our yard. To this day, I call that one my tricky ankle because it still randomly locks up on me. This video made me recoil and put my phone down to try to get away from it. She is a trooper for sure, but I wouldn't be shocked at all if she will also have a tricky ankle forever.
I've rolled my ankles multiple times, once to the point it touched the inside of my leg, and I have no issues with them. Granted, I constantly flex and rotate them out of habit, so maybe that'll help.
Because of Muay Thai, grappling, and other martial arts and sports, I've dislocated/sprained both ankles, all my fingers, hyperextended elbows and knees, have had partial dislocations in both shoulders, tendonitis in both shoulders, dislocated jaw multiple times, slipped discs, and a dislocated patella in my left knee and none of those have caused any lingering pain because I've been big on stretching over the years.
Stretching is really, really going to pay dividends. Hot yoga as well, but that's not inexpensive. I'd just recommend 30 mins of stretching every day and I promise it'll at least help.
It's her left ankle, the first part of her body that hits the ground is the toes on her left foot, I'd say it's much more likely to be a sprain or a tear than a break.
All it takes is some over extension in the wrong direction.
Her toe tried to take the brunt of it while the rest of her body, and crucially, her left shin, kept falling forward, stretching or tearing the ligaments around the ankle
The bruising on her mid foot looks like she may have injured that as well. Toe first and twist is a really quick way to both midfoot and ankle injuries. I got a Lisfranc fracture from a similar motion.
It most definitely is. Rogue, and others, advertise the three different heights. While it might not be the safest, it is intended to be used like that.
Box jumps are like any other workout. They are safe if you are doing it right. I have seen more serious injuries from deadlifts than box jumps.
Edit: the downvotes need to take two seconds and Google rogues box, the tag in the Google results is literally 3 heights, 1 box.
No, it is not. If it was designed for that usage then it would be designed with a base that is at least as large as it's height.
Rogue, and others, advertise the three different heights. While it might not be the safest, it is intended to be used like that.
They may be advertising this usage but it's not an appropriate design. I'm not going to bother checking out the marketing material. If they are advertising them as you are saying then anyone injured should sue them into the ground.
Box jumps are like any other workout. They are safe if you are doing it right.
Yes and that means using properly designed equipment.
I was a dumbass kid who did this with stacking chairs. I get the impulse to test yourself with improper equipment. But just because people can do something dumb without getting hurt doesn't make the equipment properly designed for the use.
This is the same versatile 3-in-1 wood plyo box utilized for years in CrossFit Games competition, with built-in height options of 20”, 24”, and 30”.
American-made, battle tested, and backed by a year-long warranty, the 56 LB Games Box is designed for safe, effective plyometric training at any skill level. Add a box to a garage gym for a new workout dynamic or order in bulk to equip or upgrade a large scale strength and conditioning facility.""
These boxes are advertised this way, used this way, and are perfectly safe if used correctly. This girl is both too short and too heavy to do a jump on the highest side. step ups on the 20" side would destroy her after a few sets of 20 reps.
step ups on the 20" side would destroy her after a few sets of 20 reps.
You don't know how strong her legs are that's a foolish assumption.
These boxes are advertised this way, used this way, and are perfectly safe if used correctly.
They're not. The box setup like that is a big lever with no weight distribution system to prevent them from toppling over when a person lands on the edge. If it was perfectly safe the box wouldn't have moved out from under her.
The box did not fail, her trainer did.
No, both failed. You can see the box fail as it goes off balance when she lands on the edge rather than on the center. But you're right her trainer should have stepped in and stopped her from using that setup.
It actually is. You could build an internal frame that attaches to a foot, build a harness that attaches to the top, or build the boxes to be interlocking where you add more at the base to add height.The box remains a cuboid for aesthetic reasons while the equipment is still safe.
Wasn't trying to blame her weight.. but it certainly didn't help.
She also landed at the edge of the box with most of her body weight in front of her toes, I was more blaming it on trying to do the 30inch jump...
Especially considering that I've now noticed she's doing it from plates.
If she had put the box on its side and did 24inch jumps from the floor, the height differential would have been almost the same and the box would have been harder to flip.
I rolled my ankle badly playing basketball when I was in high school (over 20 years ago now). I was certain I’d broken it, thought I heard a crack, and I’d broken my wrists a few times so I knew what that sounded like. Went to the ER, got X-rays, and it surprisingly wasn’t broken. My orthopedist then explained that I may end up wishing it was broken, because a clean break will 100% heal in 6ish weeks, while a bad sprain could take months or more to heal. Can’t remember how long it took to heal, I was young, it was maybe a few months because I only played basketball in the winter, and was back playing soccer in the spring.
Now, at 40+ years old, I roll my ankle slightly, not even bad enough to stop playing, and it’ll be sore for ages. :(
I rolled mine while sprinting, heard a crack, went to the hospital because it looked like I'd put a baseball under my skin then decided to go home because we'd already waited an hour.
Two days later I was playing basketball on it. I miss being 14.
The whole point of box jumps is landing in the proper way so that the box does not want to tip. You essentially want to ‘float’ onto the box. I 42F have been doing box jumps regularly and safely for 15 years. You have to build to that height and ability.
Without much prompt? She landed on the edge of the box then flicked it by jumping forward. Same thing as putting your finger on the top edge of a dice, pressing down hard, then pulling your finger towards the edge. Sends that shit flying.
There are boxes from high end brands that have a weight set in them to try and steady them. The weight isn't fixed so that you can have the box set at any height. They're still light enough to carry but definitely not as easy to knock over as that looked
That box could have held weights as heavy as her it would have still fallen over. The way she set it up it's not wide enough to prevent the leverage she applied from pushing it over. The foot of the box should be at least as large was it is tall to be safe.
She's at a CrossFit gym, they pride themselves on not following any safety procedures or precautions. Just look at how they do pull-ups, they don't care about gym members' ongoing safety.
Whaaaaaat. CrossFit gyms everywhere still pride themselves on both box jumps and butterfly pull ups, both of which are not great. Cool that you found some anomalies though
I've been to about 20 CrossFit gyms throughout the years and it was the same everywhere. Maybe it's an American thing, I'm from Germany and nobody is doing dumb shit like this.
Box jumps are not inherently unsafe, but this girl should be doing step ups on the 20" side, not box jumps on the 24" or 30" side.
Ahhh that could be it. I’m in the U.S. and have been to a bunch of CrossFit gyms and also work with tons of cross-fitters. Still centered around tons of reps and kipping/butterfly pull ups. Many harp on form but then as soon as the workout is for time or as many rounds as possible, form slowly goes out the window and all of a sudden deadlifts are hurting people.
I don’t have a problem with CrossFit itself, just the way it’s implemented and taught. I love the idea of a full workout with good form and strict movements but every gym I’ve been to loses that along the way.
Still centered around tons of reps and kipping/butterfly pull ups. Many harp on form but then as soon as the workout is for time or as many rounds as possible, form slowly goes out the window and all of a sudden deadlifts are hurting people.
That sucks. I've seen videos of people doing stupid shit and thought those were the exception based on my experience. This seems to be in Brazil.
I was obese when I started CrossFit 8 years ago and never had a single injury, and never witnessed one either. No rabdo, nothing. All trainers I've worked with have been pretty extreme about good form. Yes, at some point you increase the speed and start kipping pull ups, but that's kinda the idea behind the whole sport and only to be done when you've excelled at the training level before.
That reminds me of the time when I was about 10 or 11, and I tore a ligament in my knee. The taekwondo instructor just pointed out where she had a leg injury, but still continued with a tournament.
As if I was going to go "ohhh, well that's so inspirational, the injury magically disappeared liked your empathy!" And get up and do another run-jump-sidekick. To her fucking face!
I get so much anxiety when I see crossfitters doing pullups, it's so much better to do 2 or 3 pullups properly than to do 10 by swinging your entire body into it.
Are you doing those moves as a beginner though? I've only done the most basic amount of climbing and don't remember doing anything too crazy but who knows if I got quality instruction. The problem with CrossFit is pullups are one of the most common exercises so I gotta imagine they're teaching beginners to do that and you really shouldn't be going from the couch to that. I hope injuries are way lower than it feels like it should be just watching them.
I've been a Crossfitter for the better part of 10+ years and any coach worth their salt won't have beginners doing kipping pull ups.
We consider that a movement that only comes after taking the time to strengthen the upper body and shoulders, along with a proper warm up. Some coaches are strict enough to set a benchmark of strict pull-ups before they allow an athlete to kip. Usually there is a progression; starting with ring rows > negative pull ups > assisted strict pull-up > strict, and then kipping if able.
With that being said, there are plenty of thoughtless coaches who push people far beyond what they have any business doing. Most of the time those are the people you see in the "CrossFit gym fails" compilations.
As someone who was an athlete for years and then a Marine for 5 years, and worked out with competitive body builders, what is the purpose, in your words of kipping pull-ups? What benefits do they offer over standard controlled pull ups or negatives?
For the purposes of our fitness tests, kipping was considered cheating and not counted as reps. So I'm just curious.
Totally fair question, I see it as a totally different movement that is as much conditioning as it is strength. It also engages more muscle groups than a strict pull-up. But generally kipping is done because it's a more efficient way to build a large number of repetitions by spreading out the muscle fatigue and using momentum to you advantage.
We often have designated section of a day's workout that has strict pull ups. We actually did it one yesterday in fact.
Thanks for the response. My training philosophy is to never go to failure, you want to protect and build slowly, and I hate dropping weights, if I can't control the weight from start to finish it's too heavy.
I didn't get on a treadmill and just run 6 miles one day. I built myself up to it. Slowly over months. To get to pressing 115lb dumbbells, I slowly increased 5lbs a week over several months as well starting from what I could rep 10 times. I also ran a minimum of 3 miles with every workout, leg day or not. (Then again there was nothing other to do in Kuwait than lift).
At my most physically fit, I was doing 23 underhand pullups while weighing 205lbs at 5'10", running 3 miles in 20m30s, 6 miles in 46min25s. My bench was never super impressive at 265lbs, squat was 365lbs and deadlift 405lbs.
Don't get me wrong, breaking myself off on an 8 mile hike in Cali with a pack was fun, or doing a run -> swim -> body weight exercises was always a good day.
I find many beginners want to just show up and start slinging things around and hurt themselves. If I get hurt, training stops, and that's lost progress.
You do dynamic moves, sure, but the kicker is that you're not subjecting your body to extreme forces in the exact same way with the exact same pattern many hundreds of times.
There's a reason why figure skaters who train jumps over and over and over get injuries in their legs. It's not the movement necessarily, it's the repetition.
Crossfit pullups are the Cybertrucks of exercise. Designed by a fucking weirdo to make you look cool, inevitably do the ass-opposite, and altogether fail to work anywhere near as well as expected.
Kipping pullups aren't for everyone and should only be attempted if you're already really good at strict pullups, and most CrossFit gyms will handle it exactly like that.
People who actually want to work out should stay away from crossfit altogether. Doing deadlifts has a better risk/reward ratio than anything I've seen come out of a crossfit gym. See kipping pull-ups as a prime example.
I think about this a lot. I go to a gym that does group fitness classes. Way way back in the beginning it was very different from crossfit, then people broke away and started their own gym. The gym has slowly evolved over the past few years to being A LOT of crossfit things. One of the trainers is OBSESSED with crossfit.
Some of the movements are just WILD and I don't get it. I don't get why me flinging and flopping and jumping and kicking and squatting to do one movement is somehow better for me than focusing on squats with proper form and then overhead presses with proper form.
Even burpees. You will get way more out of doing pushups and squat jumps on their own than doing them together.
judging by the jump (before she fell) and her snatching 60 kg at the end with insane mobility and decent mechanics (besides the donkey kick), she seems pretty athletic. overweight yes, unathletic no.
my first thought was this was a former athlete who gained a bunch of weight and tried to do what they used to be able to day 1 back in the gym after extended time off
That really isn't the same kind of athleticism. Olympic lifts like that are just strongman exercises. It's like assuming someone can field a hard hit ground ball just because you saw them play catch once.
Those gyms will take anybody and encourage anybody to try everything. And this girl got talked into box jumps and hurt herself.
I'm gonna disagree here. Raw athleticism is raw athleticism. Fielding a hard hit ground ball is a skill. Is a guy who runs a 4.3 but can't catch not a good athlete? Some of the biggest busts in NFL history have had near perfect RAS scores. Vince Wilfork was like 350 lbs and could dunk.
Additionally, Olympic weightlifting is much more than a strongman exercise. 73 kg lifter Shi Zhiyong clean and jerked 190 kg, not just because he's strong, but he's insanely explosive, quick, and mobile. If it was just strongman, pro strongmen would show up to the olympics and clean house every 4 years. Her technique isn't perfect, but to hit the positions she did you have to be at least decently athletic. Take a look at /r/weightlifting to see what non-athletes look like attempting to olympic lift.
I don't do CrossFit, but I was into it for a while and I did the CrossFit Level 1 course in 2013. They heavily emphasized form and safety. That was almost the entire course.
The thing is when you do workouts that are timed based you naturally want to do the movements fast. That's the biggest problem. There is a difference between training and testing.
For example if you are a powerlifter you wouldn't do your one rep max every time you workout. You do lighter weights and accessory exercises. Occasionally when planned you try your one rep max.
Actual active sports are already proven to be more dangerous than a standard gym visit. So, being on par with track and field means yes: it's more likely to result in injury than a normal gym routine. It's just not physical suicide like some people say either.
I think adult forget just HOW LITTLE you jump in day to day life. I used to love jumping rope, as an adult it's one of the worst activities for me to do. you just do not use those muscles. I would never advise someone starting with box jumps. burpees and yoga to build up balance, then rope are much better especially considering this was her starting out her workout journey.
Haha I know right. Have you ever been going through life and randomly stopped and been like wow I practiced jumping a lot when I was young and I can’t remember the last time I jumped. And then had that microsecond where you were like wait so I still know how to jump? And sent the jump command to your legs and been like fuck why isn’t this working? How is jump? What is jump? Where is jump? Why is jump? Who is jump? And then you jump and breath a deep sigh of relief and move on.
I half agree. I agree they are typically impractical. However, I think they are good practice for coordination in preparation for sports that are already dangerous and require that level of coordination (Boxing, Powerlifting, Rock Climbing, Parkour, etc.). The avg person just trying to lose weight or gain muscle probably should avoid them.
There are some workouts that elite athletes do that can really only be done with a box. Really it’s mostly just basketball players though so I don’t think it applies to 99% of people
The landing for a high box jump is nonsense, but being able to jump really high is indicative of performance for basically any non pure endurance sport. Jump rope is just cardio.
Box jumps can legit help for climbing if you're doing competition climbing. Explosive power for the dynos is really important. It isn't the only exercise for it, but it's one of many.
Yeah, that makes sense. There are plenty of sports that box jumps would be an appropriate training tool for, just not rock climbing or powerlifting. I'm not sure how this relates to my comment.
I've still seen people bust their shit on the padded ones, it's just not the best exercise for the vast majority of people. I can't remember what they're called but there's a machine where you lay on your back and jump that serves a similar purpose, at least for normal gym goers.
I've never heard of a gym connected to a rehab facility like that. Honestly, it's a really cool idea on managing costs to give both access to more equipment.
I purposely picked it because the age of the gym goers skews older, after one too many bad incidents lifting at "bro gyms" I decided that I can spend a bit extra and go to a more health focused gym.
That's what I was going to say. No shade to this woman, she's clearly working hard. But she BARELY cleared the top of that box, which led to her only catching the edge, which led to it tipping over and a pretty serious injury that actually could have been a lot worse. Someone her height and weight should have been on a shorter box, something she could have easily cleared in order to have good consistent repeat jumps. All about working within your limits.
30" Box jumps are already hard to perform cleanly as a man, harder as a woman, and harder as a big woman still. Dumbass trainer who allowed this (if any)
Yep. They're definitely not the safest exercise you can do, but we uses to do them every day at basketball practice and never had any injuries. You just had to stop at the height that was your limit.
Those are just light plywood boxes. They will fall like in the video if your balance and technique are bad. I have never seen those boxes bolted down or anything.
Was thinking the same thing. Missed a box jump once and now I just do step ups. There are plenty of other ways to work those muscle groups. It isn't worth the risk.
If your goals are not centered around explosive athletic performance, don’t do box jumps. If you are overweight and your trainer programs box jumps for weight loss, your trainer is trash and you should fire them. Yes, the risk/reward ratio is that bad.
Plyometrics should be programmed after the fundamentals are locked in. There's no reason somebody who lacks conditioning should be working on their power output.
Box jumps are good if they are training for a specific skill in a sport.
For example, they are good for lineout jumpers in rugby union, where you have to jump from a static start. Or outside backs in both rugby codes, or soccer and Aussie rules, where you are jumping to compete for the ball. Likewise for jumpers in athletics.
However, for general fitness, step ups are probably as beneficial.
One time in elementary school gym class we had to do box jumps as part of a circuit. I kid you not, these boxes had a rough almost serrated edge. I don’t recall what they were made of, perhaps it was just from them getting beat up over the years. Anyway, as you may presume, I missed the taller jump and absolutely destroyed my shins on the edge of the box, and bled through my leggings. I had to just go about the rest of gym class and the day like that. I’ve refused to do a box jump ever since.
i dont get why some trainers recommend box jumps for beginners while there are ton of other safer options like lunges or step ups. such an unnecessary injury for her :(
I use box jumps for some more intermediate and advanced clients, if it actually matches their specific athletic goals, but I don't use high boxes as this just turns it into "explosive hip flexion" to get your feet up in time so you don't eat shit.
Just use a low box or bench - nothing is lost if you can jump several inches higher than the box, just enjoy a moment of hang time and land safely.
That said, again, as you already noted, most gen pop beginners don't need to be doing any variation of a box jump anyway, especially the janky, extremely risky style shown in this vid.
Box jumps aren't for beginners. You have to both control your own body and feel / react to external changes in your newly grounded object. Without knowing how to at least fall, it'll be painful when you do. They aren't though, garbage. They're a great test of strength and a nice cardio exercise
Came here to say this. It's super cool she persisted, but realistically she would have likely been WAY better off (and farther along) in a lot of regards if that hadn't happened, and it really should not have happened to her, especially when she was in a place where there are professionals. Accidents happen of course, but this one really shouldn't have.
Exactly my thought. Why would someone box jump or jump when overweight? Its not good for the knees and there are so many other exercises that can be done instead
It's so refreshing to hear this. You know that voice in your brain that tells you not to jump off things? Like that fear if you run to a ledge?
THAT is the feeling I get when asked to do a box jump. Theres a part in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire where a teacher is practicing putting a curse on them that makes them do things and he tells Harry to jump on a desk. And Harry is resisting the curse. And the result is that "he both tried to jump and tried to stop himself from jumping at the same time" and that's what I think of when trying to do a box jump. And I mean a 12 inch one. Not something super challenging fitness wise.
And i did it finally. A set of 10. And it still gives me these weird feelings and I feel like I'm going to injure myself and I was finally like why the fuck do j care about this! I do a million other fitness things and as a runner, the last thing I want to do is injure my ankle doing a fucking box jump.
There's nothing wrong with box jumps, you simply don't need a box higher than you can jump with straight legs. This person likely requires a platform no higher than ruler, probably lower.
If you need to bend your legs to put your feet onto the box then you are increasing the height of the platform you are jumping onto needlessly.
I've seen entirely too many shredded shins, broken bones, bloody faces etc to ever do a box jump again.
I think this is a bit of an overcorrection. Maybe try things like putting the box against a wall and using the new foam boxes rather than just throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
What's the best way to train to jump higher? Is the problem the box specifically? Like if you instead stacked some mats on top of each other for a more stable landing, would that be better?
Calling them garbage is a little over the top. However, I agree that they are dangerous. I think that the box was too tall for her strength, overall coordination and power that her legs could produce.
And at 30 inches ta boot. Just too much. I've had my level 1 for over ten years. And I hate box jumps. Too much impact for under conditioned ligaments / over worked joints. I've seen far too many knee and foot injuries that are 100 percent avoidable.
I always felt like the risk to reward ratio was very low when I came to box jumps. I make sure to only do a proper box jumps when I’m feeling 100%. If I’m gassed from a previous workout I just do step ups like you mentioned.
Definitely! She's showing some serious strength and perseverance. It's inspiring to see someone keep pushing through, no matter what. Respect to her for sticking with it!
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u/ehg2001 1d ago
Very inspiring persistence!
Side note:
Box Jumps are GARBAGE, especially for beginners.
They are way more risky than any benefit you'll get. There are a zillion other ways to test or challenge your fitness level.
I've seen entirely too many shredded shins, broken bones, bloody faces etc to ever do a box jump again.
Step ups are fine! Keep up the great work!