coolcolj
New member
see what you can get away with, usually your body can handle quite a bit for 2-3 weeks and then breaks down. So My advise is to stack up for 2 weeks and the backoff for 3 weeks.
Its the CNS and tibs you have to worry about, shin splints and knee patella pain is a real danger.
You'll have to experiment
Bands are like giant rubber bands. Stretch a band, and the resistance increases with each inch that it is stretched. I used failry low tension/stretch in those vids - they only kicked in halfway up. But ideally you want them to start kicking in as soon as you start to rise.
They do add a slightly unstable feel to the exercise, which helps to make you more aware of tigtening up the core muscles.
Lately I've been squatting 3-4 times a week, and I experienced first hand how much my abs were being used with the bands on!
When you squat you know how easy the top is right? Well the bands add more resistance as they stretch, so they load the top end. SO adding the bands accomodates your increasing leverage at the top of the squat. This is the money area of the squat for vert training. The last thing you want is to train yourself to slow down here, which is what you would normally do. WIth band tension in place, one must now explode all the way to the top. Even if you don't, the bands somehow force you too, because as you squat up, the bands start to stretch and the weight increases, this signals the brain to increase the force of the muscles to compenstate.
Training the CNS to do this is what you want for Vertical Jumping, so much so you may not need to do any olympic lifts
Another thing, Bands slingshot the weight downwards, creating greater eccentric stress, and thus a better stretch reflex off the bottom much like depth jumps and plyos.
Basicly if you don't push hard all the way you will not lockout. Also when you do push hard, the bands add a lot of tension to the bar, and that keeps the bar on your back. Anyone who has squatted explosively will know that the bar will come off your back and crash back down on your traps...the bands limit this movement to half an inch at the most, if at all, depending on the band tension off course.
Its the CNS and tibs you have to worry about, shin splints and knee patella pain is a real danger.
You'll have to experiment
Bands are like giant rubber bands. Stretch a band, and the resistance increases with each inch that it is stretched. I used failry low tension/stretch in those vids - they only kicked in halfway up. But ideally you want them to start kicking in as soon as you start to rise.
They do add a slightly unstable feel to the exercise, which helps to make you more aware of tigtening up the core muscles.
Lately I've been squatting 3-4 times a week, and I experienced first hand how much my abs were being used with the bands on!
When you squat you know how easy the top is right? Well the bands add more resistance as they stretch, so they load the top end. SO adding the bands accomodates your increasing leverage at the top of the squat. This is the money area of the squat for vert training. The last thing you want is to train yourself to slow down here, which is what you would normally do. WIth band tension in place, one must now explode all the way to the top. Even if you don't, the bands somehow force you too, because as you squat up, the bands start to stretch and the weight increases, this signals the brain to increase the force of the muscles to compenstate.
Training the CNS to do this is what you want for Vertical Jumping, so much so you may not need to do any olympic lifts

Another thing, Bands slingshot the weight downwards, creating greater eccentric stress, and thus a better stretch reflex off the bottom much like depth jumps and plyos.
Basicly if you don't push hard all the way you will not lockout. Also when you do push hard, the bands add a lot of tension to the bar, and that keeps the bar on your back. Anyone who has squatted explosively will know that the bar will come off your back and crash back down on your traps...the bands limit this movement to half an inch at the most, if at all, depending on the band tension off course.
Last edited: