Upper Body Power Training: Box Drills

Upper Body Power Training: Integrating upper body movements into your speed programs.

Part 1 Box Drills

By John Gaglione

Lower body plyometrics are generally appropriate for almost any athlete and any sport. Various sports require athletes to produce a maximal amount of force in a short period of time. When people think of plyometrics, power, or speed training, most people think about training the lower body. Just like strength training it is important to balance out the body. It would be foolish to train solely one part of the body for strength and I believe power training should be done in a similar fashion. In many sports upper body power is just as important as lower body power.

According to plyometrics expert Don Chu plyometric drills for the upper body are not used as often as those for the lower body and have been studied less extensively, but they are nonetheless essential to athletes who require upper body power.  He also explains plyometric training for the upper body may also prevent injury to the shoulder and elbow joints. There are many situations in sports where hand speed, upper body agility and quickness are of paramount importance.  Think about a defensive back jamming a receiver off the line of scrimmage or a wrestler aggressive snapping his opponent’s head to set up for a takedown. Both of these situations involve athletes aggressively using their upper body in an explosive manner in order to control his or her opponent.

In this series of articles I will cover some familiar speed, agility and power drills for the lower body and show how they can be applied to the upper body as well. Of course it would be important for the strength coach to first analyze the specific demands of the athletes sport and then pick an appropriate progression for the particular athlete, but hopefully these drills will inspire you to include more upper body plyos and movements skills into your programs. It is important to note to make sure all athletes understand proper upper body and lower body alignments during these drills and they have no orthopedic limitations that prevent them from doing high speed drills. The athletes should also have a solid foundation of relative body weight strength for attempting any plyometric drills.

For the first installment of the series I thought it would be appropriate to start off with simple box drills. Although it is not a true plyometric in nature the box jump is one of the most fundamental drills for increasing lower body power. Before box jumps are performed it is wise to teach your athletes how to land properly. This will help prepare the joints of the body to absorb force. When people get hurt jumping it is almost always during the landing phase not the take off so it is very important we spend time just on landings.  We will start with what we call altitude landings as our first progression. Teaching proper landing mechanics should be the foundation of any athletes speed and power program. The athlete should land in a good athletic stance soft and in control.

Here are some of the exercises athletes can perform with boxes for power development for both the upper and lower body.

Box Drills Lower

Box Landing

The athlete will step on a box and step off and land in an athletic stance. The athlete should have their head up, shoulders back, back straight, hips back and knees bent when they land. The athlete should try and land soft. Strength coach Joe Hashey has a great cue to try to “land like a ninja”.

Box Jump with Stick

The athlete should have already mastered the landing at this point. The athlete will jump on the box and stick the landing for a set amount of time and then step off. The goal is for the athlete to learn to express power and also be able to control that power and stabilize their own bodyweight.

Tuck Jumps with Stick & Continuous

The athlete now has mastered the box jump so now the coach can take the box away. This introduces gravity into the equation and therefore there is a lot more stress on the body. The athlete will jump as high as he or she can and tuck the feet as if they were jumping onto a high box. The athlete should first learn to stick and then he or she can progress to a continuous action next. This exercise can be a great addition to a metabolic conditioning circuit as it required no equipment.

Depth Box Jumps

Depth Jumps are great progressions from regular box jumps. The athlete will land off one box and then quickly jump up onto a second box. This exercise is really great for teaching the athlete to be reactive since they are landing and reversing the motion very quickly in order to get onto the second box. Depth jumps are a great exercise, but again can be hard on the joints if used too frequently. Make sure to monitor the volume closely when performing this variation.

Kneeling Box Jumps

Kneeling Jumps are one of our favorite progressions for developing power in our athletes. The athlete will assume a kneeling position and jump up into their stance. This takes a lot of stability as well as relative body weight strength. The athlete will then quickly land and jump up onto a box. Much like the depth jump the kneeling jump is very reactive in nature and is a great drill to improve power. The difference is the kneeling jumps requires a lot more strength to perform the move since the athlete start in a static position and must explode to get into their stance and be in good position for the second jump. This drill is great for teaching athlete to explode out of their stance quickly and produce force in a short period of time.

Box Jump Continuous

The athlete will now go back on the box but the jumps will be continuous. Since it is a continuous action the exercise is truly plyometric in nature and causes a great deal of stress on the athlete and should be considered an advanced progression. When done for higher repetitions or time this exercise is great for power endurance.

Box Drills Upper

Box Push Up Landing

The athlete will assume a push up position hand walk up on a box and step off and land in a proper push up position. The athlete should have their abdominals tight, glutes tight, back straight, and have their shoulder in good alignment with their hand and elbows when they land. The athlete should try and land soft just as in the box landing.

Power Box Push Up with Stick

The athlete should have already mastered the box push up landing at this point. The athlete will perform an explosive push up and in essence jump on the box and stick the landing for a set amount of time and then hand walk off on hand at a time. The goal is for the athlete to learn to express power and also be able to control that power and stabilize their own bodyweight just like with the box jump.

Power Push Ups with stick & Continuous

The athlete now has mastered the power box push up so now the coach can take the box away. This introduces gravity into the equation and therefore there is a lot more stress on the body. The athlete will jump as high as he or she can and lift their arm up as if they were performing an explosive push up onto a high box. The athlete should first learn to stick and then he or she can progress to a continuous action next. This exercise can be another great addition to a metabolic conditioning circuit as it required no equipment. There are also many clap push up variation that can be substituted here as well, such as clapping the hand in front of the body, behind the head, slapping the chest, slapping the thighs or clapping behind the back.

Depth Box Push Up

Depth Box Push Ups are great complement to the Depth Box Jump. The athlete will land off one box and then quickly jump up onto a second box. Just like the Depth Box Jump this exercise is really great for teaching the athlete to be reactive since they are landing and reversing the motion very quickly in order to get onto the second box. This is a great way to train the upper body to be reactive and explosive.

“Kneeling” Box Push Up

“Kneeling” Box Push Ups are a very advanced upper body move. The athlete will assume a plank position (on the elbows) and explode into a push up position. This takes a lot of stability as well as relative body weight strength. The athlete will then quickly land and perform an explosive push up onto a box. Just like the kneeling box jump the “kneeling” Box Push Ups requires a lot of strength since the athlete starts in a static position. Starting in a static position it takes a lot more effort to explode and get moving again.

Power Box Push Up Continuous

The athlete will now go back on the box but the power pushups will be continuous. Since it is a continuous action the exercise is truly plyometric in nature and causes a great deal of stress on the athlete and should be considered an advanced progression. The athlete will perform an explosive push land on the box and immediately push off and land on the floor and explode back up again. This can also be done in between two boxes as well. When done for higher repetitions or time this exercise is great for power endurance for the chest, shoulders, and triceps.

Educate, Motivate, Dominate

-Coach Gaglione