Barbell Box Squat

Start

Finish

How to do it

With the bar on the back and a box set just below parallel behind you, sit the hips back until the backside touches the box, stay tight, then drive up without rocking.

Muscles worked

Primary: quads · Also works: glutes, hamstrings

Equipment

Barbell, Full gym

Common mistakes

• Flopping onto the box and relaxing the trunk, which unloads the spine and then reloads it suddenly
• Rocking backward and using momentum off the box to start the ascent
• Setting the box so high the squat never gets near a useful depth

Variations

• Wide stance box squat for more hip involvement
• Pause one second seated before standing

Can't do this one? Swap it for

• Barbell Back Squat
• Leg Press
• Front Squat
• Goblet Squat

Take care: ABROFIT automatically removes this movement for anyone who has flagged a lower back problem. If that's you, use one of the swaps above and speak to a physio before loading it.

Related exercises

• Barbell Back Squatquads
• Goblet Squatquads
• Bodyweight Squatquads
• Leg Pressquads
• Bulgarian Split Squatquads
• Walking Lungequads