Russian Box

[lohnman 0]

I'm looking at purchasing a "russian box" or lateral plyo box like the following.

http://www.power-systems.com/nav/closeup.a...%20a%20quantity!

Just wondering if anyone can recomend one that won't drain the wallet. Has anyone ever made thier own? Do you have plans?

Thanks

[sdcopp 1]

planning one would be pretty easy if you want it to emulate that one, it would be the choice of materials and then constructing the adjustable platforms to be solid that would be the work behind it.

[Guy Incognito 0]

I was hoping this thread would be about something else... <_<

[biff44 0]

I made one once.

Just take some 2X12's and make two sets of the 3 box-wall sides, angled down to a point at either side (12" tall at the back, 0"tall in the front, glue and screw the two corners). Cut some 1/2 inch plywood to size and glue/sheetrock screw it to the 3 sided frames. Round off the sharp edges of the plywood, especially the corners, with a wood rasp/sander. Then you have two wedge shaped boxes to jump on. The 1/2 inch plywood is strong enough to not break easily, but thin enough to give a little on impact.

Finally, the only way I could figure out to keep the two wedges from moving apart in use was to screw them down to a piece of plywood lying on the floor between them. I would screw them at the two sides near the front that is closest to the ground, as the wedges tend to tip up as you land on them, and it is annoying.

BTW, I looked at your link. The angling system did not look all that robust in that picture. I would try that thing out before buying it. It looks like the support rod is midway up the ramp, and it would have been twice as strong if it was indtead at the end (highest part) of the ramp! A big guy will be putting around 1000 lbs of impact force on the thing!

[usahockey22 0]

I wouldn't waste money on one of those...you could build your own pretty easily, or just work the same muscles through a variety of plyos for free.

[gman 0]

I was hoping this thread would be about something else... <_<

Something about Ivan Drago from Rocky IV right??

[Guy Incognito 0]

I was hoping this thread would be about something else... <_<

Something about Ivan Drago from Rocky IV right??

Of course!

[biff44 0]

I used the thing myself, and there is no doubt in my mind that if you were doing intense enough lateral plyo, that you would injure you ankle if you did not use one of these russian boxes. With the box, you can land with your foot in line with your leg, and put full force on it to bound back. If you are just doing a cone jump on a flat surface, you end up putting a lot of force on an out-of-alingment ankle, which can not be too good long term!

Think of it another way. When you are pushing off in a hockey stride, the ankle is straight with the pushoff leg, not bent. So that is the way you want to develop explosiveness, with the ankle straight with the leg.

[mack 44]

Nevermind, I totally had the wrong idea when I saw this thread's title. It won't stop me from giving a shout out to Anya O. though, where ever her skeezy self is at.

[biff44 0]

BTW, the one I built had a landing surface at least twice as wide as the one in the above link's picture, and maybe another 50% higher. As you use it and get tired, your aim gets worse, and you do not want to miss the landing box, especially if you are inside with a lot of gym equipment around.

[sdcopp 1]

just build a slide board and call it good. Just as easy to build, same workout style for skating and a lot less practical geometry to screw up in the process.

edit: here's a link to some simple construction:

http://rockymountainracing.net/FRS/slideboard.pdf

[biff44 0]

Nothing wrong with a slide board. But it trains different muscles. The Russian box trains your fast twitch leg muscles, the slide board builds endurance.

[sdcopp 1]

Nothing wrong with a slide board. But it trains different muscles. The Russian box trains your fast twitch leg muscles, the slide board builds endurance.

To be fair that's a yes but no statement. Both work the same muscle groups in different ways. You are right that the plyo box will work for short twitch where the slideboard works endurance.

The underlying reason for both lateral exercises is not to train the major muscles like the quads for either though, it's a side effect. The reason to do lateral like this is to work the hip abducters and adducters for flexibility and strength.

I suppose the question is, why do you want the box or slideboard? If you're trying to work those major muscle groups, gym equipment is generally better since the weight can be varied more than just your own body weight. Your minor muscles in the hips and groin are not going to play the huge part in bursts of speed or skating forever endurance, but by strengthening and making them flexible they support those major muscles better and help prevernt things like groin pulls.

That being said, both will work to those ends and slideboards are a bit easier to tuck away when you're done. If you want to supplement the short twitch, the plyo box is good but shouldn't replace a good gym strength routine. Similarly the slideboard is good for form and endurance but shouldn't replace a good gym cardio workout.

[Chadd 916]

I was hoping this thread would be about something else... <_<

Something about Ivan Drago from Rocky IV right??

Of course!

Or the pic I posted last time we had a topic about it?

I count four topics on the Russian box but I may have missed one.

http://www.modsquadhockey.com/forums/index...lite=%2Brussian