Band Question

[blackbeard]

i realize only a few people will respond here..anyway basically im looking at the mini bands used for speed bench where the bands are run under a d-bell handle and bothe ends of the band are on te sleeve of the bar (double looped)..

these numbers were tested by Jim Wendler for the minis
Slack = 18.5"
45 = 3.75"
65 = 8.25"
85 = 14.0"
95 = 18.5"

I have learned that a heavily-used (for over a year) miniband will
stretch 50% more than its new counterpart. i.e. 95 pounds will
stretch 27" instead of 18.5"

my question is if im reading this right the band tension at te bottom of te bench maybe around 60lbs? and not 40? at the bottom of the press there is a lot more than 4 inches between my chest and the bottom of the bands?

 

[jcp2]

I honestly don't really care about the amount of weight, as someone suggested to me before band tension does not really equate to lbs anyway. I do all my speed work by feel.

 

[blackbeard]

I honestly don't really care about the amount of weight, as someone suggested to me before band tension does not really equate to lbs anyway. I do all my speed work by feel.

it may not be equivalent but the amount of tension provided by the bands is pertinent..

i feel im slow and need to reduce the bar weight but if the bands were giving more tension than what i thought (around 30 at the bottom) then that would expalin why im slow..

also im assuming they measure on a comp bench whic i think i lower to the floor?

 

[jcp2]

it may not be equivalent but the amount of tension provided by the bands is pertinent..

i feel im slow and need to reduce the bar weight but if the bands were giving more tension than what i thought (around 30 at the bottom) then that would expalin why im slow..

also im assuming they measure on a comp bench whic i think i lower to the floor?

If you say so. If it was so pertinent the numbers would be posted all over the place. I either use bands or i don't, i drop the weight down a bit when i do, and i know that greens fell good on squat day, and doubled minis feel good on bench. If i wanted to screw with that, i would either add weight or drop it depending on wheather i was going to upp band tension or drop it. I stopped using the "percentages" about two weeks into it as suggested by other people, and go strictly on feel. I get better results that way, weather the dave tate bible preaches this or not, i have a few people i go to with when i need advice on adapting westside and no one has ever told me to go with the suggested percentages. Not to mention alot of what i read from the westside articles makes no sense when going from percentages of lifts, as to what they recommend. 50% of your Max shirted bench is over 250lbs, you cannot maintain good speed with that much weight i would assume. I think the percentages are based on old equipment and do not even come close to justify what i am lookig at.

 

[blackbeard]

If you say so. If it was so pertinent the numbers would be posted all over the place. I either use bands or i don't, i drop the weight down a bit when i do, and i know that greens fell good on squat day, and doubled minis feel good on bench. If i wanted to screw with that, i would either add weight or drop it depending on wheather i was going to upp band tension or drop it. I stopped using the "percentages" about two weeks into it as suggested by other people, and go strictly on feel. I get better results that way, weather the dave tate bible preaches this or not, i have a few people i go to with when i need advice on adapting westside and no one has ever told me to go with the suggested percentages. Not to mention alot of what i read from the westside articles makes no sense when going from percentages of lifts, as to what they recommend. 50% of your Max shirted bench is over 250lbs, you cannot maintain good speed with that much weight i would assume. I think the percentages are based on old equipment and do not even come close to justify what i am lookig at.

i dont disagree with you..a lot of the articles written are outdated as guys are not using 50% of a shirted max..i know i can bench more than 515 with a shirt..but thats not my point according to that i should be using 255 for speed day..there is no way i will have any speed after the 3rd set or any shoulders left either lol..

i feel i learn a lot more reading the questions and looking over the logs..i also dont know how fast is "fast" when doing speed bench

 

[DADAWG]

i dont disagree with you..a lot of the articles written are outdated as guys are not using 50% of a shirted max..i know i can bench more than 515 with a shirt..but thats not my point according to that i should be using 255 for speed day..there is no way i will have any speed after the 3rd set or any shoulders left either lol..

i feel i learn a lot more reading the questions and looking over the logs..i also dont know how fast is "fast" when doing speed bench

the problem with the % method based on bench shirts is that it was written back when people werent getting anywhere near the carryover from a shirt as they do know , specialized training meant to improve mid to upper level power almost exclusively andthese new generation shirts which provide double or even triple the amount of carryover than the old plain cut denims or blast shirts . i would definalely look at starting out at around 40% of a shirted max or even 35 % if you need to get the speed up then just SLOWLY up the % as your speed increases . a lot of people still go by the 50% rule but they use their raw maxx as the base .

 

[blackbeard]

thnks dawg..i really wasnt concerned about what % to use..i was really more curious about the band tension..

i already know i have to lower the bar weight

 

[pullinbig]

i use the purple bands dbld. it is prolly an aditional 250 at lockout. how do i know? cause it picks the 110s up no prob (thats 220) and that in the racked postion. with 215 on the bar at he bottom it feels like 315 total weight and at the top its 450-500 with my long as arms. for speed work il go 135 bar weight and for heavy weight ill og 200+ for low reps. this is raw numbers.

heres the set up in the power rack

http://ironaddicts.com/video/bandsetup.power.rack.AVI
http://ironaddicts.com/video/bandsetup2.power.rack.AVI

and heres brett doing some speed work with just the bar. hes a 500lb+ bencher in the 181s.

http://ironaddicts.com/video/speed.band.brett.AVI

 

[blackbeard]

im set up using the dbells to keep tension at the bottom of the lift..plus my rack does not have a pin setting low enough to use the bands in it

 

[pullinbig]

i use dbs too at my new gym cause they dont have a power rack. i use a 110 (big as they got) and stack an additional 60 on top of it. block the bottom db off with 4 5lbs plates so it dont roll around. two on each side. if you got some 150s they will hold purples dbld but not greens dbld.

 

[blackbeard]

we go up to 130's but im only using the mini bands big fella so im good

 

[pullinbig]

we go up to 130's but im only using the mini bands big fella so im good

well quit being slack and use the purple ones!!!!!!!!!!