Banded lifts for strength - increase band tension or weight on the bar?

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hello,

I’m doing some banded lifts for strength and was wondering whether I should increase the band tension on the bar or just add plates as I progress. One is dynamic and the other is static (right?). Does it make a difference with respect to strength progression on the non-banded versions of the same lifts?

Thanks for any insights.

Sunil

2

I think that using bands or chains that are provide ~20-30% of your 1RM’s load is preferable. So, depending on how heavy your bands are you might have the option to increase band tension…otherwise, I’d just add weight to the bar.

I don’t know if there’s a big difference between band tension at 10% vs 30% and varying loads on the bar and progress in the specific lift.

-Jordan

3

I’d like to add that for my banded lifts, keeping the banded tension lower tends to also feel better than using a smaller weight with massive bands. Unless you need to have extreme banded performance, that 20-30% banded overload will likely carry over better than a lighter weight with 50% added bands.