Equipment for overloads

I just bought the strength I template and will be starting Monday. I’ve never used not do I have chains or bands. Monday calls for overload pulls, do I was planning on buying chains.

1- where do I get them? Just regular chains from home Depot?

2- how long, and how heavy?

3- how do you secure then to the bar?

Thanks you guys so much

Cole

Cole,

  1. I like the ones from 1stchainsupply.com . You may also want to pick up a chain mate for deadlifts (if you don’t pull sumo) and an ez squat bench chain loader (for squat and bench)
  2. they come in 4’ long sections. I think if you should get 20% of your heaviest 1RM in chains total. 5/8" chains x 6’ are like 25lbs each (50lbs total)
  3. chain mate or ez squat bench chain loader depending on the lift. Can also just loop a carrier chain around the bar

-Jordan

Hi,

Hope it’s ok to jump in on this but I’ve never used bands for the squat and have that available in my gym. I’m also using the strength I template and curious as to how the set up is. Thanks

What do you mean?

Yes, sorry for the vagueness. I’m not sure how to set up the squat with bands, YouTube searches reveal only strange “glute activation” purposes.

  1. Do I attach aband on each end and to safety bars on the side of the rack? I apologize as that might not be the correct terminology.

  2. Does the stretch matter? As in i should attach to a lower point if possible?

Thanks for the time and response.

You should anchor the bands to the bottom of the rack and the barbell such that there is tension throughout the entire ROM. Ideally, you’re getting an extra 30-50lbs out of the bands at the top.

1 Like

Just a head ups, selecting the site name in item #1 and right clicking and selecting 'go to site" in Chrome takes you to an incorrect site of nefarious intentions. Manual Google search takes you to https://www.1st-chainsupply.com/...the dash is important in this case.

With that PSA out of the way, I setup an overload squat today by tying dumbbells to the end of a bar with bands for about 20%1 RM. In your last post above Jordan you mention the bands tied to the bottom of the rack work in full ROM. However, for a squat hanging chains off the end of the bar will not work for full ROM (they hit the floor eventually…unless I am missing something), kind of like my dumbbell idea did not work through full ROM. Should we be looking for substitutions that work through full ROM?

Also in the overload math I included the weight of the dumbbells in the total for the lift. Should I be doing that or not? In other words should I put my RPE weight on the bar, then just have the overload as extra? That seems like I may not hit my set counts.