THE BOX SQUAT PROTOCOL

THE BOX SQUAT PROTOCOL
By Shane Robert

If you have spent much time reading about strength training, including this blog, you will undoubtedly come across the name Westside Barbell. There have been TWO gyms with this name—the original in Culver City, California and the one in Columbus, Ohio. Few are aware of the former and therefore even less aware of the influence that it had on the latter. Afterall, the Columbus gym was named in honor of the Culver City gym. However, in the current lifting culture, the Columbus Westside and its founder, Louie Simmons, are infamous. Of all the myriad contributions that Simmons and his gym have made to the iron game, one stands out as consistently divisive—box squats. 

Though many assume that the box squat was the brain child of Louie, they would be wrong. Louie borrowed it from Bill West, the founder of the original Westside gym, who likely learned of it from Alan Stephan, a bodybuilder and Mr. America winner from the 1940’s-1950’s. I have no doubt that others were doing it before him; he was simply the first (that I have seen) to write about it. Detractors will say that box squats don’t mimic a natural squat motion and are only useful for multiple geared powerlifters. The lineage of the movement counters this argument; they were being used to great benefit well before powerlifting gear or even the conception of the sport itself! 

Those who say that the movement doesn’t mimic a natural squat are simply doing it wrong. I have used the box as an introduction tool to teach beginners to squat all the way up to advanced lifters trying to break records. To make box squats carry over to your normal squat, just squat as you normally would but stop on the box and stand up. Don’t makeallof your squatting be box squats, make sure you’re used to being at the bottom of a squat without support. That’s it. It’s quite simple. 

Louie Simmons created the Westside program to be always evolving and how it currently looks is not how it looked in its early days when it first started garnering acclaim. From this time comes a box squat routine that still has a lot of merit.

The Original Louie Simmons/Westside Barbell Box Squat Routine 

1. After a general warmup, use a box 2” above parallel and do a few sets of 3-5 rep, increasing weight each set, then start working up in singles to a max single for the day
2. Take 50-100 pounds off the bar and drop the box to ½” below parallel and work up in singles to a max single for the day
3. Take 50-100 pounds off the bar and drop the box to 2-3” below parallel and work up in singles to a max single for the day

These are the simple instructions that the gym followed and, wouldn’t you know it, they worked. Today's lifters don’t seem to respond as well to such vague directions, or understand how to autoregulate while going HAM each and every week. A simple way to plan a cycle like this is to take your current max, add 100-200 pounds to it, and subtract 10 pounds per week to get your starting weight. 

For a 410-pound squatter, that would look like this:

410 + 200 = 610 

This cycle will be 16 weeks long, so the starting weight for the 2” above parallel box will be 455 (610-160). The ½” below parallel box will be 355-400, and the 2-3” below parallel will be 255-300. After the end of the 16 weeks, the lifter will hit 610, 515, and 415, respectively. Since box squats are harder than regular squats, and the lifter is now used to handling tremendous weights, this will have great carryover to their full squat. 

On a second squat day, I’d recommend borrowing from another aspect of the Westside System that came shortly after this box squat cycle, doing free squats as follows:

Week one: 70% 15 sets of 2 w/60 second rest/sets

Week two: 75% 12 sets of 2 w/60 second rest/sets

Week four: 80% 10 sets of 2  w/90 second rest/sets

Week five: 85% 8 sets of 2 w/90 second rest rest/sets

Week six: 90% 5 sets of 2 w/2 minutes rest/sets

Week seven: 95% 2 sets of 2 w/2 minutes rest/sets

Week 7: Start the cycle over a bit heavier OR go for a new gym max 70%x1, 75%x1, 80%x1, 85%x1, 90%x1, 101-105%x1

If nothing else, a training plan like this is a lot of fun. Training with crazy heavy weights is fun and builds a ton of muscle, even if the range of motion isn’t considered full “legal” depth. 

If you do decide to try this, make sure you have a competent spotter or safety arms set up properly to save you from yourself.

Here's a video from a trusted online expert.