Can someone recommend a band that would give enough assistance in performing this exercise
elitefts sell some pretty hardcore ones.
Looks like you’d get a nasty smack in the back of the head if it snapped…
If you don’t feel as if you need to buy a band, you can always just keep working towards a slower eccentric portion on the exercise, and then push yourself back up to the starting position.
I never really liked using the band. For me the most important thing is having something to brace my feet against…not the back of my heel, but the balls of my feet. Otherwise I always get a cramp in my calve. I’ve seen people use a broom stick to help during the progression, but a committed lifter should be able to get 6-8 without assistance in a couple of months.
I used standard bands w/ handles as well as standard strips of rubber used in rehab a lot. Sorry, I don’t know the brands (they were the gym’s, so I’m sure nothing special).
I used a real GHR bench and, like blue said, having something to brace your foot against helps a lot. Also, I found that having nothing beneath my knee and just having the top of it against the edge of the pad helped. I did them about once or twice a week toward the end of my session, using ben bruno’s progression on this site. I could do them unassisted in about 3-4 months.
Progression was odd, though. Sometimes I’d struggle with 2-3 assisted, then all of a sudden I’d crank out a bunch unassisted the next session.
Matt Goodwin from Elite fts emailed me back and recommended the pro light band
Thanks for the responses