19 November 2012 ~ 0 Comments

Jumping For The Gingerbread Man: How To Increase Box Jump Height

By admin

After spending most of the entire weekend slaving away in the kitchen making food like this:

vegan gingerbread carrot cake

 Vegan Carrot Gingerbread (Carrot cake + Gingerbread = spiced deliciousness)

Dan and I decided it was necessary to get to the gym for a great workout. We started with deadlifts, because I am weak not as strong as I used to be but am working on it. I was able to get up to 135 lbs this week, which is 10 up from the last workout. Let’s just see what my butt has to say about it tomorrow.

From there I did bench presses using 40 lb dumbbells and then cable rows. I love the idea of using cables, but I always find myself annoyed with them when I actually go to do the moves. Anyone else?

After that it was time to tackle the beast… box jumps.

Last weekend Dan set out to see how high he could jump. It was at the end of a very tough workout for me, so I just sat and cheered him on.

This week, it was time for us both to see just how low high we could go.

We each started with a few sets of 5 jumps at heights we felt comfortable with. Then we added two tiers and would do 2 jumps. If they were successful, we would add 2 more. That is until we could tell our max was near, so then it was just 1 tier added at a time.

Here’s some footage of our max challenge!


My final box height was 15 levels, Dan’s was 20! He’s really impressive to watch, I won’t lie. And I am not just saying that because he’s my husband. Watch his form if you want to see perfect box jump jumpin’.

Tips On Increasing Box Jump Height

Neither of us started out this high. I am pretty sure when I first started doing box jumps, I was only using 8 tiers (if that many).  Follow these tips so that no matter where you’re starting you can progress up!

  1. Don’t Get Psyched Out. The biggest obstacle when trying to do box jumps is to get your head on straight and not let the height intimidate you.
  2. Commit. When you decide to try a height, you have to really go for it, otherwise it’s really easy to get injured or more psyched out. One good psych out and you will be avoiding box jumps for months!
  3. Good form. When taking off, don’t stand right in front, stand far enough back so you can get a deep squat in, lean your weight forward, use your arms and jump/explode off the ground. Use your core to pull your knees up towards your chest so your toes don’t hit the block prematurely. From there aim to land softly on top, chest up.
  4. Add another. Once you get one height, make it your goal to add another block. It might take a few jumps with the first height but as you get comfortable it’s time to progress up. From workout to workout, make it your goal to add just 1-2 more  layers to the blocks.

Now that those jumps are done, I feel less guilty for eating the gingerbread men! The cake (and the cookies) are sugar free, vegan and oh so good! I can’t wait to eat a slice for breakfast with a smear of peanut butter heated up in the microwave.

gingerbread man vegan

Don’t worry, I will post the recipe tomorrow, along with all the other vegan Thanksgiving dishes I put together this weekend. I can’t wait to share them! If you haven’t put together your meal plan yet for Thursday, you’re going to want to try one of these out.

  • What’s your favorite Thanksgiving side dishes? 
  • When you eat gingerbread men, gummy bears or animal crackers do you have an order to which you eat them?
  • Gingerbread, Yay or Nay?
My favorite side dish has always been sweet potato casserole. I can eat the whole dish by myself. Just don’t ask me to prove it. When I eat animal food items, I start with the feet, then the arms then the head and safe the body for last. And yay, yay, yay for ginger. I love all things ginger, especially sugared ginger candies!

The post Jumping For The Gingerbread Man: How To Increase Box Jump Height appeared first on Lifting Revolution for Women – Change Your Life With Taylor.

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