Power Bands

Most people who are involved in strength and conditioning know about Power Bands. They offer a wide variety of applications across and broad range of mobility, rehabilitation and strength exercises. They offer something more than a way of varying existing movements. I use bands a lot in my rehab, prehab and conditioning, but here I will focus on how I use them to help me improve my performance in squat, bench and deadlift.

Bands don’t just add tension to a movement. The loading is variable. If you set up a bench press against bands, the load increases through the lift. It doesn’t just overload the top of the lift. It enables you to overload the movement and helps develop explosiveness. I have found that this is an extremely effective way of building strength. You can set bands up to simply increase loading through the movement. This has a similar effect to a partial movement, but I believe it is much more effective since you train the full range of motion. Personally, I have found partial movements to be limited in their effectiveness and improvements in partials often do not translate into improvements with the full movement. If you are finding that things aren’t moving in the right direction, try adding 3-4 weeks of band work to get things moving again. I frequently use reverse band squat, bench and deadlifts with good results. I also add in squat, bench and deadlift against bands.

If you are working on a percentage based program or want to track your results there is a relatively easy way to work out how much tension you are adding. With reverse band all you do is add weight and record how much weight it takes to bring the bar set heights. For example, for bench if it takes 20kgs to get the bar to lockout height and 40kg to get it to chest height, then the bands are taking 40kg at my chest and 20kg at lockout. If my 80% bench is 180kg I would add 40kg to the bar weight to give me the equivalent of 180kg at chest height- it would be 20kg heavier at lockout. I usually work this way, using the weight from chest for reverse band, which obviously overloads things substantially at lockout. The dynamic qualities of the bands will make things slightly easier than straight-weight equivalents. To start with it might be wiser to start out light and build up weight slowly.

To work out band tension with movements against bands you will need a good set of scales. You set up the bar with bands and stand on the scales, Lift the bar and record the weight on the scales at set heights as described above. If you weigh 80kg and the bar is 20kg and you lift the bar to lockout in deadlift and the scales say 150kg, then the band tension is 50kg, since 150kg minus bodyweight and bar weight is 50kg. A word of warning: you need high quality scales to do this as you will probably load them up a lot. I weigh 132kg. Add a 20kg bar and 50kg tension and you have over 200kg on the scales. That’s more than most scales can take. If you don’t need to be precise, you can just gauge things on feel. Remember, however, that small adjustments can dramatically change the band tension. How much tension? I know guys that use a tonne of band tension. Personally I keep the tension for both reverse band and against bands between 5-20%.

You can also set bands up to load across a variety of planes, including horizontal and diagonal. Why would you do this? Many coaches use bands to help train the body to move in a particular way. One example is the use of bands to help teach a lifter to push their knees out while squatting. They double a small band around the legs and the lifer pushes out against the band as they descend. It helps provide cues that they help them improve technique. Some lifters do exactly the same thing for sumo or wide stance deadlifts. A similar technique is used on bench to teach a lifter to ‘pull the bar apart’ and activate their lats. They double a small band around the arms while benching. Incidentally, this same technique can be used to overload bench, since the stretched band at the bottom of the lift provides a rebound effect. Another similar technique is used to teach a lifter to stay upright and push their chest up while squatting. Lifters attach a small band from the bar to pegs set out in front of them. As the lifter squats the bands not only pull down, but also forward.

Bands will change things a little. If you are preparing for competition I recommend dropping bands a few weeks out so you can readjust to straight weight. I think bands are ideal for the preparatory strength building phase of a training program. They are also an ideal way of working through minor injury or fatigue as the bands absorb some of the impact of straight weight, particularly at the point of reversal at the bottom of a bench or squat.

To do most of this you need a good set up. You can use Power Bands on their own or with a basic set up. But, to utilise them properly you need a powercage with band attachments. If you aren’t using bands, I would recommend giving them a go.