The Ultimate Plyo Box Workout: 6 Exercises For Explosive Power

The plyo box is a staple in CrossFit and functional fitness workouts, but it’s often overlooked or underused by runners and gym-goers unfamiliar with explosive training. That’s a missed opportunity, because plyometric box exercises are incredibly effective for building strength, power, and speed.

Incorporating plyo box movements into your training not only helps develop fast-twitch muscle fibers (essential for sprinting and hill running) but also raises your heart rate, boosts metabolism, and improves your explosive strength and neuromuscular coordination.

These are key benefits for runners seeking to enhance acceleration, stride power, and overall performance, particularly in short, fast races such as the mile.

In this guide, we’ll break down the best plyo box exercises for runners, with step-by-step instructions to help you build a total-body workout that boosts strength, athleticism, and running power.

What Is a Plyo Box?

A plyo box refers to a plyometric box, a sturdy box used for plyometric exercises. They are typically made from unfinished wood and come in a range of sizes (heights).

Beginners often start with shorter ones to master the basic technique for common plyometric box exercises, such as box jumps and step-ups.

A good starting height is somewhere in the 8-12 inch range, depending on your height, your general fitness level, and the specific exercises plyo box you plan to do. As you get stronger and develop more leg strength and power, you can increase the height of the plyo box you use.

Intermediate athletes typically work with a plyo box that is slightly taller than knee height, while advanced athletes use one that may reach nearly as high as the hips.

Why Should You Incorporate Plyo Box Exercises Into Your Workout Routine?

The benefit of doing plyometric box exercises is that they are a great way to build power, strength, and speed by conditioning your muscles, bones, connective tissues, and neuromuscular and cardiovascular systems to support rapid force generation.¹Beato, M., Bianchi, M., Coratella, G., Merlini, M., & Drust, B. (2018). Effects of Plyometric and Directional Training on Speed and Jump Performance in Elite Youth Soccer Players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 32(2), 289–296. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000002371

They are high-impact, explosive exercises that require your muscles and tendons to generate a lot of force rapidly.

Furthermore, you will not only strengthen your legs and develop power, but you will also improve your cardiovascular fitness, especially if you perform sets of exercises with only a short rest between each bout, such as high-intensity interval training ²(HIIT).Viana, R. B., Naves, J. P. A., Coswig, V. S., de Lira, C. A. B., Steele, J., Fisher, J. P., & Gentil, P. (2019). Is interval training the magic bullet for fat loss? A systematic review and meta-analysis comparing moderate-intensity continuous training with high-intensity interval training (HIIT). British Journal of Sports Medicine, 53(10), bjsports-2018-099928. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2018-099928

The Ultimate Plyo Box Workout

#1: Box Squats 

Box squats can be a great beginner-friendly plyo box exercise, as well as an advanced move for building strength and power.

The difference lies in how the exercise is performed.

For beginners, using a plyo box to perform a squat is a good way to enforce proper squat form, as the plyo box provides a physical target to help reinforce sitting your hips back rather than squatting with your knees coming forward beyond your toes.

Here are the steps:

1. Stand upright about one to two feet in front of a plyo box that is just shorter than knee height (facing away) with your feet hip-width apart, shoulders back, chest up, and core engaged.
2. Bend your knees and sit your butt back and down towards the edge/top of the plyo box while thrusting your arms forward in front of you for counterbalance.
3. When your butt lightly taps the top of the plyo box, press through your heels to stand back up.
4. Complete 10-20 reps.

#2: Barbell Box Squats

This is an advanced progression of a plyo box squat.

Rather than being strictly a strength-based exercise, the barbell box squat uses explosive strength, so you should only use about 50% of your 1RM for weight and focus on maximizing explosive speed for each repetition rather than increasing the load being used. 

Here are the steps:

1. Stand upright with a wide stance and a barbell resting on your upper traps. You should be about two feet in front of a plyometric box that is slightly lower than knee height, facing away.
2. Sit your hips back and engage your core.
3. Lower yourself as slowly as possible until your butt lightly taps the box, and you’re in an even deeper squat than if your thighs were parallel to the ground.
4. Then, explode up to standing by driving with your hips and hamstrings.

For added difficulty, use chains or resistance bands on the ends of the barbells so that the resistance increases at the end of the range of motion. 

Perform 3-6 reps per for 3 sets.

#3: Step-Ups

The weighted step-up is one of the most effective lower-body strengthening exercises for targeting the glutes, quads, calves, hamstrings, and hip flexors. 

Additionally, it is low-impact, making it ideal for beginners, those with joint pain, or as a break for your bones and joints during a high-impact workout.

Focus on really driving your leg into full extension as you step up onto the box to isolate the glutes.

Here are the steps:

1. Stand facing a plyometric box that is approximately knee height (shorter for beginners and taller for advanced athletes). Hold a heavy dumbbell in each hand with your arms down at your sides.
2. Engage your core and glutes as you step up onto the box with your right foot, pressing through your heel to step all the way up and straighten your right leg fully.
3. Step your left leg up onto the box to follow so that you are standing completely on the box.
4. Step back down with your right foot first, then your left foot.
5. Continue leading with the right foot for all of your reps, and then switch sides.
6. Complete 10-12 reps per side.

#4: On-Box Jumps

Jumping up onto a plyometric box and then powering up into a completely upright position is an excellent exercise to build explosive leg strength, improving power and vertical jump ability.

Here are the steps:

1. Stand facing a plyo box with your toes about two feet from the box.
2. Drop down into a bodyweight squat by bending your knees and hips, simultaneously driving your arms behind you.
3. In one smooth movement, thrust your arms forward as you squat and jump up onto the plyo box using the momentum from your arms.
4. Cushion your landing by allowing a natural bend in your knees and allowing your arms to slowly trail back behind your body, but seamlessly press through your heels when you land on the box with both feet to stand up straight. 
5. Hop down or step down off the box and repeat for as many reps as you can or intend to perform.
6. Complete 10-20 reps.

#5: Single-Leg Box Jumps

You can also do plyo box jumps, one leg at a time.

When performed as a unilateral exercise, the movement pattern better replicates the musculoskeletal demands of running or jumping in sports.

Additionally, unilateral exercises are more effective for strengthening your legs because your entire body weight is loaded onto a single leg.

Perform the same steps as above, but land on the ball of your foot with one leg only and keep the other leg lifted off the ground the entire time.

Complete 10-12 reps per side.

#6: Depth Jumps

This challenging plyo box exercise is great for developing explosive speed for jumping higher.³Markovic, G. (2007). Does plyometric training improve vertical jump height? A meta-analytical review * Commentary. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 41(6), 349–355. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.2007.035113

‌This exercise has a strong eccentric (lowering) muscle action because you start on a raised plyo box rather than the floor.

This allows you to get the true stretch-shortening cycle of plyometric exercises to activate the central nervous system, increase muscle firing rates, and increase the amount of force your muscles can generate.

Here are the steps:

1. Start on a plyo box that’s 6-30 inches high, depending on your experience level.
2. Step down, one foot at a time, as if you’re sort of falling into the ground in order to store potential energy in your legs.
3. The instant both feet have landed, jump as high as you can, straight into the air, without pausing or lowering into a partial squat beforehand.
4. Thrust your arms upward as you jump to enhance momentum.
5. Pause and rest before repeating the next rep.
6. Perform 3-6 reps for 3 sets.

If these plyo box exercises have sparked your interest in CrossFit workouts, check this next guide:

References

• 1
  Beato, M., Bianchi, M., Coratella, G., Merlini, M., & Drust, B. (2018). Effects of Plyometric and Directional Training on Speed and Jump Performance in Elite Youth Soccer Players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 32(2), 289–296. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000002371
• 2
  (HIIT).Viana, R. B., Naves, J. P. A., Coswig, V. S., de Lira, C. A. B., Steele, J., Fisher, J. P., & Gentil, P. (2019). Is interval training the magic bullet for fat loss? A systematic review and meta-analysis comparing moderate-intensity continuous training with high-intensity interval training (HIIT). British Journal of Sports Medicine, 53(10), bjsports-2018-099928. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2018-099928
• 3
  Markovic, G. (2007). Does plyometric training improve vertical jump height? A meta-analytical review * Commentary. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 41(6), 349–355. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.2007.035113