More Use Of Band And Chain with PTP, Kettlebells, and Pullups
Craig Culver
I have covered the use band and chain on the kettlebell as accommodating resistance in my last article. In this article I am going to cover to use band and chain on Power To The People exercises which are deadlift and side press. I will also cover the use of a band for deloading a kettlebell and on pull-ups. I strongly urge you to read the article Accommodating Resistance article by Dave Tate.
The bands are available at www.jumpstretch.com and the chains are available
at your local hardware store.
Setting up the band for deadlift, you will need four dumbbells around 50lbs.
Put two Dumbbells on each side of the barbell. Place the band on the dumbbell
and center the band. Picture below will give your the idea on how to set it up.
The set up should be like a H pattern. As a rule use 1/2 inch bands under 200
pounds, 1 1/18 inch bands between 200lb to 400 lbs, and 1 3/4-inch bands
between 400lbs to 600 lbs. But these guidelines are not written on stone.
See the band and chain chart for squat in Dave Tate's Accommodating
Resistance article. These Band and Chain chart for Squat also the same
numbers for deadlifts.
You can also use the band to deload the barbell. The advantage of deloading
the barbell with band over partial lockout is that you do lock out with full ROM
then partial ROM. The band will lighten the load at bottom out but it is up to you
complete the lock out. You will able to lift heavier weight then you can handle
and do lock out with full ROM. You will need a power rack and 2 1/2 bands.
Just loop the band on the top of the power rack and loop the other end of the
band on the Barbell. Dave Tate's accommodating resistance article has a picture
on how to set it up. Just go to Reverse Deadlift section of the article.
Setting the chain for deadlift is quite simple. You will need some pieces of five feet 5/16 and 3/8 chain. Five feet of 5/16 chain weight about 4.4 lbs and five feet of3/8-chain weight about 3 lbs. Just lay and center the chain on each end of barbell.
Here is a example of my PTP workout using the chain. One my first set I will do
first set of 5 reps of 325 lbs. On my second set I will drop 10 lbs plate and add
12 lbs of chain. That'll give me about 327 lbs at the lock out and bottom out at
315 lbs. Or I might drop 20 lb of plates and add 21 lbs of chain on my barbell
on my second set.
On using band and chain on side press or any one armed press, you will use
just one band or chain on the center of the barbell. A couple of picture below
will give you an idea on how to set up the chain or band. See my Accommodating
Resistance on KB article on setting band and chain on KB. Barbell set up is the
same way as KB set up. For under 100 lbs use one 1/2 band or 10 lb chain and
100lbs to 200lbs use two 1/2 band or 20lbs chain . I came up these numbers
from the band chart and chain chart for bench press in Dave Tate's Accommodating Resistance article divide the numbers in half
I already discussed the use of band for deloading deadlift. You can also use the
band to deload a KB. You will need a 1 1/ 8 inch band to deload 2 pood or
72lb KB and a pull up bar. There are different ways of setting up the band on
KB. I personally double loop the center of the band on my KB handle and attach
both ends of the KB on each side of my pull up station. You can now do
full ROM lock out with 2 pood KB.
Pull-up with bands are another use of bands. I find about three uses for band with pull-ups. You will need a pull-up bar and one 1/2 inch band. For deloading for one-arm ladders or speed pull-ups, just hook up on one end of the band on one
end of the pull-up bar, run the other end of the band under between your legs
and put hook up the other end of the band to other end of the pull-up bar. You
should be able to do one-armed pull-up ladders alternating reps on each arms.
Or you can do (Compensatory Acceleration Training) speed pull-ups for 10 sets
of 2 reps.
You can also do accommodating resistance on pull-up with bands. You need a
DB, one 1/2 band and a belt. Just loop the center the band on your belt on your
waist and hook both end of the band to the dumb bell. Pull away!
I shall cover on how to get poundage on tension on the band on different lifts.
In order to measure the tension of the band, you need a bathroom weight scale
and some dumbbells. You going have to measure the band tension on each lifts
that you plan to perform. I will give a example on a couple of lifts RKC military press and Deadlift. As for RKC military press. Loop the 1/2 band on the KB handle and put the another end of the band on the 50 lbs dumbbell. Stand on the
the bathroom scale and perform the military press. Subtract your bodyweight
and your kettlebell weight and you got the band tension.
Let's go to the deadlift.
See my previous paragraph for attaching the bands on a empty Barbell for
deadlift. Again perform a deadlift and subtract your bodyweight and your empty
barbell. That's tension of the band your are using. Measuring tension on the band
for pull-ups is little tricky. Loop both end of the band on a DB. Grip the center
of the band and raise it where the would be locate at the pull-up lock-out while
standing on the bathroom scale. Subtract your bodyweight and you got the tension
I like to point out there are different types of workouts using band and chain.
PTP height tension training. Compensatory Acceleration Training know as speed
squat and speed bench covered in The Periodization Bible Part2 by Dave Tate.
I just covered more use of band
and chain for PTP lifts, KB, and pull-ups. Explore them and post your results
on the dragondoor forum.
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here may not be in agreement with those of Dragon Door Publications, Inc., Power by Pavel, Inc. and Tactical Strength, Inc., and their employees including Pavel Tsatsouline. The above parties are not responsible in any manner whatsoever for any injury or health condition that may occur through following the opinions expressed here. Consult with your physician before starting any exercise program.
