Elliot,
I phase in bands and chains on a lot of my dynamic effort work on bench, squat and deadlift. Bands, in particular, have been one of the best things I’ve ever used for boosting my squat numbers.
Chains are OK for the squat, especially when trying to break in equipment, but bands are far superior for DE work in my opinion. Phil is right that they are nothing more than a tool in one’s PL toolbox, but they’re a pretty useful tool and can push your numbers up IF YOU USE THEM CORRECTLY.
On DE squat day, I use a 3 week wave of 50,52.5,55% bar weight plus average band on each side and hit that 3 consecutive rotations then pull the bands off the bar the last three weeks of a cycle so I get a feel for actual weight, not the fictional weight of band tension + plates. Bands (chains, too) can kill your low-end strength and they can make you unstable. Just watch videos on youtube of guys squatting at a meet; if someone looks shaky as hell at the top they probably used bands the whole training cycle, which is a bad, bad idea.
For “fun” I did use one three-week cycle with a heavy and light band on each side with less bar weight; it was a nice change of pace because using that level of tension forces you to explode or your ass is going to get planted as the tension starts to kick in.
On the third week of this, I worked up to a set using that band combo plus 295 or so in bar weight. My head felt like it was going to pop when I was ready to rack the weight.
For the bench, I alternate between bands and straight weight when I’m up for a DE day. If I use bands more than one week at a time on speed bench, my elbows and shoulders will be toast. I’m a big advocate of the floor press and I’ll occasionally put on mini bands for ME bench.
If you double-loop then double the bands over the bar, the tension stays on enough at the bottom and makes for a really strong lockout. You have to push hard or the bar will smash you.
On the deadlift, going against bands is probably one of the best bottom and top end strength builders out there. It works the bottom because it forces you to accelerate to outrun the tension and it develops the lockout because the band tension is so high at the top (~220 lbs w/ minis).
I haven’t used chains on DL, but one of my training partners has and he loves it because they don’t lock you into a motion like bands do. On the DL, you may want to lessen your bar weight if you do use chains or bands (a lot with bands), especially if your bar speed goes to shit.
Just my $0.02 worth.
[quote]elliotnewman1 wrote:
Thanks for the reply Phil, im gona stick with them, because so far they seem to do what they are designed for, to accomodate resistance. Used them today for speed squats and pulls and the speed on my pulls was noticably faster. (using the same bar weight as usual).
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