Have any of you guys attempted box jumps?
(Source)
The above picture is an extreme example of box jumps, but box jumps freak the crap out of me. I tried them for the first time during my one and only free session with a personal trainer and I was such a baby.
I’m afraid I’ll jump up, hit the box with my shin, fall and roll all over the gym floor, writhing in pain. I can do them as long as the box is a reasonable height, but super-tall box jumps really intimidate me.
There’s a guy at our gym that is the king of box jumps. He’s so entertaining to watch because he does 180s and balances one of those Bosu balls on top of the box and lands on it.
I hold my breath every time I watch him attempt a new trick. Today I told him he has to try out for Ninja Warrior.
(Side note: In case you’re looking for a fun plyometric/circuit workout that incorporates box jumps, click here for one of my favorites.)
My workout today did not include box jumps, but it did include a lot of great upper body exercises.
After a two-mile run, I did three sets of 15 repetitions of the following exercises:
- Superset One: Incline bicep curls + Upright rows
- Superset Two: Chest press + Tricep extension
- Superset Three: Ryan’s awesome shoulder move + Push ups
- Tricep pull-downs
- Superset Four: Kettle ball swings + Bicep curls
- Tricep dips
- Ab work: Various crunches on exercise ball
Breakfast
Today’s breakfast featured egg white French toast that I made by combining egg whites, milk and cinnamon before dunking a honey wheat English muffin in the mix.
Topped with bananas and syrup.
I intentionally used egg whites because yesterday Tiffany, a med school student, drew my attention to the cholesterol level in one egg yolk.
Of course I know eggs are high in cholesterol, but I didn’t realize that one egg has about 213 mg of cholesterol (all of which is found in the yolk) and the recommended amount of cholesterol for a healthy person is just 300 mg a day.
Egg yolks definitely have a lot of nutritional benefits as well, so I’ll definitely be enjoying them often, but as you may have noticed, I’ve been on a bit of an egg kick, eating two eggs a day most days of the week, and I think limiting the consumption of egg yolks when I’m eating them so regularly is probably a good idea since high cholesterol runs in my family. (Don’t worry – I will never give up my love for dippy eggs.) For more information about egg yolks and cholesterol, check out this Q&A article on the Mayo Clinic’s website.
The good news is that egg white French toast tastes the same as French toast made with whole eggs to me, so it works!
Godiva Coffee
Today’s breakfast also included something awfully special!
Oh baby!
I received two bags of Godiva coffee last week (pumpkin spice and caramel pecan bark) through the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program and was so pumped to try them.
Ryan, who hates coffee, even commented on how delicious the pumpkin spice flavor smelled this morning as it was brewing.
It smells like fall in a cup!
I loved the pumpkin pie spice flavor and could taste the hint of hint of cinnamon, nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice in every sip. I want to refrigerate a cup of this coffee and try to blend it up into some kind of a cold coffee drink. I bet it would be phenomenal.
Time to do some horrifically boring paperwork.
See ya soon with today’s Blog Talk Tuesdays post!
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hey julie, i’m so glad that you are helping raise awareness!
but i wanted to mention, that i am not totally against egg yolks! i am not against cholesterol in a lot of meat, either.
we definitely have to have SOME cholesterol, for a cell to even maintain living, it has to have cholesterol in its cell membranes (we are all made of cells). and the ONLY source of cholesterol is in animals and eggs. therefore moderate amounts of cholesterol intake is good!!! and i definitely would recommend eating egg yolk because they are packed with nutrients, but moderation is key.
i don’t want to mislead anyone to think that you should ban all eggs or meat.
yes, plants have STEROLS, which are SIMILAR to cholesterol, but not. actually, they are toxic! your body came up with the mechanism to extrude most of them, only about 5% of plant sterols are taken up because they are get put in the cell membrane since your body thinks they’re cholesterol even though they are not, that’s why they are toxic.
so egg and meat eaters, carry on what you do, but just keep in mind that more than 1 egg/day is probably not recommended.
also, there is a disclaimer. i am only a first year medical student and i am not a biochemist. i am just spreading a little of knowledge i am learning in class and i am not an MD yet.
i’m sorry if i implied that you were an egg yolk-hater! i didn’t mean that at all, i just wanted to thank you for shedding light on how much cholesterol there really is in one egg! and good luck as you continue on in med school!
In high school we had a thing called, “morning gym” which was where the athletes went for gym class before school in the morning. We did plyos all the time- including box jumps! I only had one bad experience with them where I jumped up and hit my shins. It was rough, but one bad experience in four years of doing them wasn’t so bad. 🙂 Give them a try!
I’m so bummed that I didn’t get selected by FB to try that coffee! I was selected to try Godiva chocolates though. 🙂 I watch The Biggest Loser and box jumps are one of the exercises that intimidate the contestants the most. I have to admit that they freak me out too.
i didn’t get the chocolates! you win some, you lose some, i guess. 🙂
Oh no, I always knew eggs had a lot of cholesterol, but I never realized that much! I have two every day! 🙁 I guess I have to go shopping for egg whites today. Thank you so much for sharing this!
And mmm, I am all about pumpkin flavored everything this time of year!
I can’t wait for your blog talk tuesdays! They are always so informative!
Ahhhh julie since you get so many readers, so you think you would mind clarifying with my other comment?
I’m not recommending cutting out egg yolk completely and not all cholesterol is bad…but I think since I wasn’t clear on the other comment, some ppl are blatantly implying that I’m dumb (wah sad face) and some ppl may start cutting out egg yolks completely which i don’t recommend (unless you have cholesterol problems and your doctor recommended you doing so).
I don’t believe what I am saying is incorrect, but that last post had incomplete information. But also please keep in kind that I’m a med STUDENT and a first year. I really don’t appreciate all the hostile comments :((((
Box jumping/plyometrics are an awesome exercise. We do them in my boot camp all the time and I dread them but afterwards I totally see results! They used to scare me too but I just started on a low block and worked my way up! If you want a new legs excercise but not box jumps, try squat jumps. Less scary but a great workout
I used to have to do box jumps during high school volleyball… brings back all sorts of memories. haha.
Ironically this months’ Women’s Health magazine talked about egg yolks (I was just reading about it this morning!) According to the article, the benefits of egg yolks (they’re the most nutrient dense part of the egg, packed with iron, zinc, vitamin A and D and choline–which may help ward of breast-cancer) outweigh the proposed negative connotations of elevated cholesterol levels associated with consumption of egg yolks. The yolk also holds over half the egg’s protein.
I have some English muffins to use up and making french toast out of them is the perfect way to do that. Thanks so much for the idea!
i love mark’s daily apple! doing the 30 day challenge right now actually 🙂
Thought I’d add to the cholesterol talk. I’m a holistic nutrition student and saturated fats and cholesterol from animals products aren’t actually the problem. Oxidized cholesterol and trans fats in the forms of margarine, canola/soy/corn oils, Earth Balance, etc are actually the problem. If anyone’s interested in reading further, Mark Sisson wrote an amazingly informative post on the subject:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/cholesterol/
Love the spirit of healthy debate you’ve created and that French toast looks awesome!
thanks for sharing, dani!
We did box jumps in high school as winter training for track. Nothing builds strong, powerful , lean muscles better than plyometrics!
I love box jumps.. and all plyometric activities. However.. my boxes are not nearly as high as that mans.. nor will they ever be. I’d probably walk into them and injure myelf before even trying.
Another vote for eating the whole egg – when you toss out the yolk, you lose 100% of the fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K and carotenoids) that help to make eggs almost perfect food 🙂 The yolk also contains 99% of the zinc, 90% of the calcium and 95% of the folate!
That coffee looks soooo tasty!
I understand your thoughts on reducing your consumption of eggs, but just in my anatomy class today we were talking about how in years past baby food companies reduced or eliminated the concentration of cholesterol in formula and the children didn’t grow correctly because their wasnt enough cholesterol or glycogen to properly form the plasma membrane phospholipid bilayer. I know that sounds wordy and I’m not trying to step on any toes but eggs are definitely a good thing and I’m glad you like them as much as I do!! 🙂
hey that is a great idea….no egg yolks..frm now..well Julie can u help me out as in how many calories should i burn daily at gym….i weight around 53 kgs and my height is smwhere around 5’2’…
I’ve tried box jumps, and oh man, they do scare me. I’m a klutz in normal life, so I know I’ll hit the edge with my toe and capsize!
French toast is amazing. I add a little vanilla extract to mine to give it a decadent flavor. So good!
That’s by far the best part about pumpkin coffee – it really does smell like Fall in a cup!
I wish I liked flavored coffee!!
Also? Box jumps are EVIL!!
Box jumps are super scary! But they can also be really fun when you get into it. My big problem is that I’m always scared that the dinky aerobic steps that we have at my gym will break in two under the pressure and I’ll end up cracking my skull open, etc.
Randomly, I’ve been reading your blog for a few months now, and I’ve started incorporating your Ryan’s shoulder move into my workouts. It is AWESOME! Even the trainers and RKC masters at my gym were intrigued when they saw me doing it. Speaking of, is there a particular reason that you do kettlebell swings with your upper body work? Do you do the swings RKC style or GS style? The reason I ask is because I train with an RKC kevek 2 coach, and he’s shown me how, when done hard style, the kettlebell swing actually asks very little from your arms, as in the force is generated from the hip snap and the arms are mostly just along for the ride. I’m not familiar with GS style at all, so if that is the difference, I would love to hear about it!
I’ve had trainers make me do box jumps and I get so freaked out! I can’t jump and I tend to avoid things where I feel like I’m flinging my body at something (hence no broken bones!), but I would force myself to do them, haha after asking if we could lower the height, and felt shaky but proud afterwards!
That box jump looks insane!! I mean, that is a high box.
PS I like your banana placement (Twss)
There’s something about drinking coffee in the fall that just makes it taste better than in the summer despite the flavor. Fall was made for sipping hot beverages.
Box jumps….I forgot about them! We used to do those in basketball and track practice. I loved them!
This is what I love about your blog—healthy debates and info to back up the comments . On a program called Health Watch which is part of our news each evening they recently covered a study about eggs and they also said that they are healthy to eat and that you should not be worried about the cholesterol from them. I am an R. N. and found this quite informative. Also, I just had a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks for the first time and now I want to try your coffee. We will be in California in Oct., do you know where I could buy it there? Have a great day.
thanks, mary! love hearing from an R.N. (my mom’s an RN, too!) as for the coffee, here’s a link to their store locator: http://www.godivacoffee.com/store_locator.asp?cm_re=ghp-_-topnav4-_-text
I definitely agree with what the ladies at the top said about eggs. I was a nutrition minor in undergrad and I am in school to be a physician assistant right now and I can tell you eggs yolks get a bad rap. I’ve read studies that show eating an egg everyday can actually lower you cholesterol! So enjoy your dippy eggs!
does he land on the flat side or the curved side of the BOSU? either way, that’s hardcore, but the flat side would blow my mind. (also, i just typed “blog my mind” lol)
I used to always have to do box jumps for soccer to increase my vertical jump, but luckily Wake Forest’s athletic facilities had a soft kind so if for some reason you couldn’t make the height, you wouldn’t break your shin in half in the process. It was padded so it took most of the fear of jumping that high out of the way!
Do you watch Biggest Loser? There was a contestant a few seasons ago that was TERRIFIED of box jumps and it became her goal throughout the season to successfully complete one box, no matter how little. She had the same fears as you and even if it was a low box, she was totally freaked. She finally conquered a box and everyone was all happy, happy.
Point of my long story?! Go jump on box and I bet it will be the best day ever!! Plus, I bet you’ll be a pro immediately! 🙂
Just curiou if any of you ladies use a multi-vitamin and if so what is your preferred brand?
I thought the cholesterol in eggs was the good kind (HDL)??
I do box jumps regularly at CrossFit, and I’m up to 20″ now and I’m not comfortable moving up. I had the fear of banging my shins when I first started too, but now I always have the box aligned against the wall so there isn’t any falling forward happening.
He box jumps on a BOSU? I can barely do a squat on the Bosu. On the ground. That’s stable. Good golly.
I need that coffee in my life. Caffeine + pumpkin = the perfect combination.
I never liked box jumps, and I play volleyball so we did them all the time for conditioning. At one point our coach had us put our kneepads over our shins to prevent injuries. It looked super silly, but was pretty effective!
I’ve done box jumps, I need to try to push myself to get up higher though… right now I can do a 24 inch box. On another note, we have this guy at the gym I work at (in his 60s) who can jump rope on a BOSU ball! Him and this woman are competing and right now the record is 10 jumps… they’re nutzo!
Oh, those jumps actually have a name! I first saw this crazy guy do them on Youtube O.O http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVBH1m4Z7kc
I was doing box jumps a few months ago and was landing them just fine. On the last one, I realized that I probably shouldn’t be doing them right after coming out of a stress fracture (I was landing on one leg). It was on that last one that I missed it and developed a nice big bruise on my leg. I don’t think I made anyone else at the gym want to try those out after that!
Ummm no I will not try box jumps. They remind me of Jillian yelling at the Biggest Loser contestants to jump on them and the contestants crying and falling!
Sooo I just wrote a giant (and well-thought out) response and it disappeared! That’s what I get for taking so long to respond.
Anyway – everyone is right on with their “egg-facts”. The yolks also have lutein an important phytochemical for eye health.
Also there is some debate and emerging science that the cholesterol in eggs is only bad once oxidized. So dippy eggs, yolk remains intact, we’re all good.
I tweeted you my post about it!
i’ve seen people doing those box jumps at the gym. that stuff terrifies me!! lol.
I love box jumps! I CrossFit and they are often part of our WOD. But I do have a pretty nasty scar on my shin from a little box jump mishap. I think it makes me look tough, though!
Box jumps seriously freak me out as well! I have the Dunkin’ Donuts Pumpkin Spice coffee right now but I bet the Godiva is good as well. I would love to try any variety I can get my hands on! 🙂
who knew that eggs could be so controversial?
thanks for the link to the plyometic workout! i find the plyometric part of body attack super hard and annoying but love the benefits! i’ll definitely be trying this out!
Sounds like the best coffee ever! I’ve been looking for a way to make Pumpkin Spice Lattes at home and this may be my ticket! You should try Einstein Brother’s Winter Blend that they have over the holidays, its also delish!
I couldn’t do those box jumps! Too scared to do it! 🙂
Ha, I have scars on my shins from box jumps. 24″ is our standard height at my CrossFit gym, and I’ve definitely gotten tired and missed the box a couple times — not fun, but not the worst thing in the world. They are not my favorite exercise at all, but I will admit they’re effective. I can’t even imagine landing on a Bosu ball. Good for that guy!
I have heard such good things about that coffee! Hope I can find it somewhere! 🙂
Where can I buy that coffee? I NEED it ,it sounds amazing!
My trainer had me do box jumps once and attempted a second time… It took me a good 15 minutes to get over the fear of falling off of the box before I would do a set. He even had me practice on a step that is used for step aerobics. Then a few weeks later he had me try again and I just wouldn’t. I was just too scared!
Oh, and I picked up the Godiva coffee a few weeks ago and haven’t tried it yet. I had two bags of fall-ish coffees I wanted to drink first. And a bonus on the Godiva – It was on sale!