Don't be intimidated by the box jump! It may look scary, but once you try it, you'll feel so badass that you'll start to love them! It's a great exercise to tone your legs, butt, and core, and because it's a plyometric exercise, it's a great calorie-burning cardio move.
If you're new to box jumps, start off nice and easy, practicing stepping onto the box at first and then moving up to jumping. At the beginning, choose a low box that's under 12 inches high. You could even stack a few plates and jump on those as you progress. As you become more comfortable, you can build up to an 18-inch box, a 20-inch box, and maybe even a 24-inch box, depending on your jumping abilities and how tall you are.
Here's how to master the box jump.
Once you've nailed the basic box jump, here are a few variations to make it more challenging.