USING CHAINS

I remember walking into Met-Rx gym with my chains for the first time. I have never seen more bizarre looks from fellow gym members. For the next few months I would get a variety of comments. I usually told people one of three things:
A) My boat had been rented to a guy name "Gilligan"for a "three hour tour", and "the tiny ship was lost". I would never give up until I found it.
B) I was an actor rehearsing for a new version the ghost of Christmas past. Sometimes it was the Grinch who stole Christmas, I think.
C) Yes, I forgot my whips.
Hey, in California you can get away with things like that.
What I did is attach the chains to the ends of the bar while squatting and benching. Eventually I used them while doing power cleans and hang cleans. The idea is called accommodating resistance. Louis Simmons will use that phrase in his explanations but a famous strength and conditioning researcher, Dr. Zatsiorski of Penn State University, I believe initially popularized the phrase. What it means is as you examine a lift, you will notice that the weight will either lighten, or get heavier as you go through the range of motion.
For example in the bench press, as the weight is lowered to the chest, the weight is actually lessening. When the weight goes from the chest to full extension of the arms, the weight is increasing. It is possible to load on more weight, at the top of the bench, than the lifter is capable of lifting under normal circumstances. The lifter might only be capable of benching 200 for 5 reps. With the proper use of chains, the bar could weigh 190 on the chest and 205 at full extension. Thus exposing the lifter to a heavier load than he/she is capable of. A combination of more chain and manipulation of less traditional style weights on the bar can increase the overall strength of the athlete. The range of motion (ROM) that an athlete has in a lift, and the variances of strength along that ROM is referred to as the strength curve. There is also a velocity curve, or the rate of speed at which the bar accelerates, decelerates, and so on, but that is to be discussed in a future article on rate of force development (RFD).
So what the hell is got to do with any thing Coach B? There have been studies, and coaches have seen bar speed decrease as a lift is near completion. When you have viewed enough lifts, you know when a person will successfully complete a lift because they have gone through the hardest part of the lift. This is known as the "sticking point"(SP). After the SP has been crossed the bar speed will decrease. In sports we want acceleration, and the ability to control deceleration. We don't want deceleration to control us. The use of chains creates an atmosphere of more hurdles to overcome throughout the entire range of the lift. Another common way to develop explosiveness in this portion of the lift is to release the bar or object. Medicine balls is a common example. There are others, but they are typically not used in commercial gyms, or high schools. Yes, I use some of these other things in my personal training.
For a demonstration on the various uses of chains, I can be contacted at acudave@yahoo.com