OK, your right. LOL…I forgot to mention another reason I don’t squat in running shoes. The heals of the shoes aren’t stable like lifting shoes. Lifting shoes are great, but i’m cheap so I lift barefooted. On deadlifts especially, I don’t feel like that I can “sit back” like i should. Maybe it’s just my poor technique.
ok you attach the bands to other weight. Nice pic coolcolj. I enjoyed your video also you posted a while ago, which had you going for a max. nice posts.
Question you have 205 on there in the video but how much more weight is that adding to the squat…say a rough estimate. Also I hear all this talk about blue blands, yellow bands, green bands, using more than one. What the amounts of weight it resists you from doing for each one? Or any info is good thanks!
Originally posted by Timothy Lane
Question you have 205 on there in the video but how much more weight is that adding to the squat…say a rough estimate. Also I hear all this talk about blue blands, yellow bands, green bands, using more than one. What the amounts of weight it resists you from doing for each one? Or any info is good thanks!
The way I have it setup on that day - cinched around a 25lb plate with a 45 sitting ontop - there is some tension at the bottom, maybe 10-25lbs and about 120-130lbs at the top. The 140lb worth of plates holding the bands only just stay down.
this is from the people that make em - Jumpstretch
http://www.jumpstretch.com/PressureChart.htm
there is a chart there, but it all depends on how you much you stretch em.
The purple ones I used above are the the Average bands - these are the most commonly used. I also have the green ones, these are a lot heavier in tension.
You do have to experiment a bit
the easier way to use bands is to get the Bungee system - these are properly made for benching and squatting so they setup fast. Bands take ages to setup unfortunately.
http://www.strengthcats.com/big-n-strong-home.htm
But bands can be used in more ways, ie great for stretching, joint traction work, rehab, use with dumbell exercises etc
Its good for active recovery, since the eccentric is greatly reduced when used by themselves.
Handy for for really explosive squats with no weight, there is no inertia. Get the platform the company makes for it, and you can do deadlifts with them pretty easily.
Great stuff!!!. In the second link it has a guy benching with bands. But underneath the bench it looks like he hooked it up to some sort of special appartus. How do you hook it up to a bench regularly. Say using lights bands that add 50 pounds of resistance?
CoolColJ,
It looks like your toes are pointed out when you squat. Do you start this way or do they turn out on you during your squat? (also, have you tried toes parallel squats?)
Originally posted by Timothy Lane
Great stuff!!!. In the second link it has a guy benching with bands. But underneath the bench it looks like he hooked it up to some sort of special appartus. How do you hook it up to a bench regularly. Say using lights bands that add 50 pounds of resistance?
Tim the 2nd link is a different band product, it’s especially made for using with squats and bench press either in a power rack or proper bench.
With bench, I normaly either use dumbells on the floor to cinch em around or plates as per the squat. But I bench in a power rack these days.
Originally posted by Rockjumper
CoolColJ,It looks like your toes are pointed out when you squat. Do you start this way or do they turn out on you during your squat? (also, have you tried toes parallel squats?)
My toes point outwards at the start. If I use a narrower stance the toes are pointed more straight ahead, but never really parallel, it’s just more stable and natural to have the feet angled out.
I dunno, I feel knocked knee to have the pointed straight ahead, the structure of the human body doesn’t make that natural IMO 
Watch any Olylifter squat and they have their feet angled out. And who vertical jumps with their feet pointed directly ahead?
ok I see hook them underneath the power rack. I saw a picture of it. Goodstuff. CoolcolJ. How long do you train with them for: 4weeks? Also what about chains for benching or squatting?
Originally posted by CoolColJ
My toes point outwards at the start. If I use a narrower stance the toes are pointed more straight ahead, but never really parallel, it’s just more stable and natural to have the feet angled out.
I dunno, I feel knocked knee to have the pointed straight ahead, the structure of the human body doesn’t make that natural IMOWatch any Olylifter squat and they have their feet angled out. And who vertical jumps with their feet pointed directly ahead?
But for running, do you feel that strengthening the external rotators in a shortened position combined with the internal rotators being stretched during the squat (with toes out) will affect the overall foot position.
4 weeks tops.
But I use em all the time with speed squats as seen above. If the tensions is fullr ange the the intensity is greater. I sometimes use top end only band tension with heavier weights
I don’t use chains. Not the handiest things to carry around! 
I read a protocol that suggested 4 weeks of bands/ 4 weeks of chains…with chain work done fast with 3x8 reps and band work done on speed days? Thoughts
Tim thats for powerlifting Westside style, you will have to adapt it to your own program
Well I squat to increase the strength in the muscles, the stance I use is much wider than what I would use in sprinting or jumping so it’s not like it’s exactly the same movement.
Be aware that training with bands is uniquely specific to Powerlifting since powerlifters use wraps and suits/shirts that contribute to force production in the ‘bottom’ position.
For example when wearing a heavy ply benching shirt lifters cannot even lower the bar unless it’s loaded. That’s why Westside dedicate significant training time to lock out work.
I have found bands to be most effective for general strength training when tension is present only in the outer 1/3. THis encourages the athlete to accelerate through the entire range and also reduces the risk of the bar jumping.
Jim: Depth looks ok. He has big hammies!
posted by David W
I have found bands to be most effective for general strength training when tension is only present in the outer 1/3.
Dave could you go into more detail about this im not sure if I follow you. Outer 1/3? Any diagrams to show this? Thanks!
Tim: Using the squat as an example - tension is not provided by the bands until you hit the 1/3 squat position.
For those that care… A band’s resistance is determined by Hooke’s Law:
F = kx
Where k is a constant specific to the material and x is the extension. THerefore there is a linear relationship between length and tension. Unfortunately there is certainly not a linear relationship between joint angle(s) and maximum force therefore Westside accomodated resistance is not truely isokinetic.
even if the bands kick in right of the bottom - you still have to acclerate anyway, because the tension increases each inch you stretch it, it forces you to explode hard, to lockout the weight, if you don’t well you go back down to the bottom
I find the purple bands setup to kick in right off the bottom of my full squat - cinched through a 25lb plate works perfectly, The tension is just about right when used with 40-55% of my 1RM. I can still jerk it off my back by 2 inches, so I go up on my toes at the top to stop the bar crashing back down on me.
If I just want to use top end tension only I use the green bands, which are stronger, and used this way weights in the 65%-75% area work great. closer to 80% can feel a tad to heavy.
Becuase the band pull at the top makes the bar feel much heavier, when you go back to working out without the bands, the weight feels so much lighter, even though the weight at the bottom is about the same.
Can you full squat without putting anything under your heels?
David… do you think an athlete should be able to full squat with perfect form sans oly shoes before they are deemed proficient enough to use the movement as a limit strength exercise?
Also, how long do you find it usually takes to develop?
I could not full squat at the beginning of this year without bending forward at the bottom not to mention rounding my back. Through much hard work I can now full squat 345lbs with back just rounding a little at the very bottom. I can parallel squat 385lbs now.
What did I do?
-
I could not squat with my toes forward, so I turned them out to out 60
degrees. -
I could not squat with my legs at shoulder-width apart, so I squatted a
little wider that shoulder-width apart. -
I could get lower to a full squat position using dumbells instead of a
barbell so that’s what I did. -
With no weight I would start to bend forward, with some weight (95lbs) I
could get lower to a full squat and no bend so much forward from the hip
because there was more weight putting more force downward through my
center of gravity so it was easier not to bend forward as much. -
I used a board when I switched from dumbells to a barbell because my
coach said it would be easier to learn the proper movement pattern even
though there was more emphasis on my quads. He was right and with
increased flexibility I no longer needed the board. -
I used mobility drills before each squat session and man oh man there’s no
comparison to how much more flexible you are when you do these drills.
These drills included squatting under a series of 5 hurdles, repeat doing
doing the drill twice starting with your opposite foot. Then do the same
for lunging underneath the hurdles. You progressivly lower the hurdles
thereby increasing your dynamic flexibility. I believe these drills are in
“Complete Conditioning For Football” by Arthur/Bailey or you can do some
of Charlie’s mobility drills in the GPP Essentials DVD. -
Do some static flexibility, i.e. Do a fullsquat without any weight and then
at the bottom of the squat push your knees out with your elbows like your
praying. Also figure 4 on your back against the wall for tight hip flexors.
IT-band stretch. All done at 1 minute on 1 minute off for 3 times each leg
each exercise. -
After some time doing all of the above, the next step is to continually
add more weight to the bar as long as you can at least parallel squat this
weight with proper form. -
In accordance with step 8 assuming your doing 6 sets of squats, do 2
fullsquat warmup sets with lightweight and going as low as you can and
also your first 2 real sets after your warmup. Doing this will help you gain
the correct motor pattern before each session and following sessions.
You then parallel squat your last to sets. -
After perfecting the 9 steps above you can full squat till your hearts
content; however, I personally stop at step 9 because I can lift more
wt at the higher percentages of my 1RM. I still full squat because there
is a place for that in training as well. With my increased static/dynamic
flexibility and because with more wt on the bar I can keep my perfect
form longer I can now put my feet shoulder-width apart.
P.S. I use regular reebok black basketball shoes that are low-cut with
orthodics because I have fallen/falling arches with my feet.