Reverse band press question....

[Deciever]

ok, since i couldnt make it to the gym tonight, i was forced to lift at home, and decided to try a reverse band press..

I used a light band on each side, hanging down so about two inches below lockout, it began to stretch. The bands stretched about 10-11 inches at most, and wasnt incredibly tight, so its not the much pulling it back up, im just wondering approximately how much it was helping me..

this is what i did....
warm up : bar (15 lb bar), 65lbs , 115, lbs, 165 lbs (no bands)
reverse bands- 197 1/2 x 3, 4 sets of 187 1/2 *3 (could've done a few more sets , but the program i am using now, only calls for 5 sets)

i raelly surprised myself, especially since i can never bench good on a 15 lb bar.. usually too thin or something.. so i was happy about this..
im thinking i could hit 205 x 3 in the gym cause i do better on those bars..... i definately know this because i was sick today too! mild fever which just went away, and slight congestion.

so the original question is, for 2 light bands that stretch around 10-11 in., how much would it be helping me? and also could you try to estimate about how much it would be at the bottom of the lift, and about 6 inches off my chest if the weight was 197 1/2 lbs

 

[SouthPawSE]

I don't know about your bands, but this is how I found my resistance:

1 1/4 bands looped over the rack and choked. Put the bar in them with a 45 on each side. Got on the bench, put a scale on my chest, unracked the weight and eased it to my chest. My workout partner read the scales. 95lbs lift on the bottom, nothing at the top. My best lift with this has been 445 on my 7th set.

 

[Deciever]

i figured it out, each bands was producing about 20 lbs of resistance, so i was about 157 at the bottom, im guessing around 180 about 6 inches off my chest

 

[koolio]

O.K. here is what i have found out with bands...I use the big blue bands and hang them from the top of the rack...my bands support 95 lbs. at chest level...Now i have gone up to 475 pounds on the bar (which would be appx. 380 at my chest) and I have done 470 in a meet with a double poly...So my belief is that what I can bench with my bands is about what i can do with a shirt...It is not as scientificlly sound as westside but it is at least empirical...

 

[GRIMMER]

Koolio is pretty much right. Most people can shirt max about what they band max depending on what band and shirt they use. An easy way to find out how much weight is at you chest simply put weight on hte bar until it hands to your chest and till 6 inches above your chest.

 

[Deciever]

yea thats what i did.. was 50 lbs at my chest, and about 25-30 midway up

 

[powerlifterjay]

We use green bands on board presses for these and we used aerobic blocks to build up the bench to where we lift at and we had. AT lockout it took off 60lbs and at the board it was around 100lbs at brd. I believe less then 100 but close to it. And i had 725lbs loaded. Believe it or not we have not used blue bands for these at all. And am very curious to see what i can do with them. And without a board.

 

[Deciever]

if what koolio said was true, i could probably bench close to 200 pause with a bench shirt, and maybe 225 touch n go.. that'd be awesome! im movin on up !

 

[bigokie]

bands

This is the tension they should give if stretched to six feet.
Purple=50/band
Green=75/band
Blue=100/band

 

[SouthPawSE]

Re: bands

This is the tension they should give if stretched to six feet.
Purple=50/band
Green=75/band
Blue=100/band

That is for each band.