How To Set Up Bands For The Deadlift
Here at THIRST, we love using bands on the deadlift to improve performance and strength. Unfortunately these are usually set up in some strange ways and not ideally done to maximize the purpose of accommodating resistance. The goal with bands is to adapt the weight to the strength curve of the exercise to maximize muscle recruitment during the range of motion.
For example with our deadlift, when we properly put bands on the bar more tension kicks in the further the weight is lifted from the ground. As the weight comes off the ground, band tension increases, thus, increased the load that is applied to the bar. Bands added to your deadlift are a great way to work on rate of force development, or how quickly one can generate force, strength and/or power.
Bands come in handy when an athlete or client is trying to maximize muscle recruitment through a full range of motion, they wish to keep particular joints and ranges of motion safer, or to help develop speed via accelerating the barbell as fast as possible. When developing speed and power, the bands are superior to just regular straight weight as it will force the athlete to continue to pull into the bands and not have to slow down at the top.
The deadlift is one of the easiest exercises to set up bands for, but there are some places that still don’t quite understand how to do this. Ideally, you’ll have a platform with band pegs so that you can just easily pull the bands over the sleeves of the barbell and attach to the band pegs. However, if you happen to be in a pinch or training in a garage gym, you can also loop the band around the barbell and put your feet into the bands as hooks. This works especially well for those that deadlift with a sumo stance.
What Will You Need?
You’ll need the following things to set up your bands correctly:
- Deadlift platform with band pegs (preferred)
- Pair of bands (we prefer the ones from Elitefts)
Once you have these, you’re good to go. However, based on your strength, your number of bands or strength of the bands you use can vary. Ideally, you will have 20-25% of band tension that you can use to get the desired training effect.
For example, a 400 pound deadlifter would want to have 80-100 pounds of band tension on the bar at the top. A simple way to measure this is to invest in a cheap luggage scale that you can keep in your gym bag.
Watch the video below to learn more about setting up bands, and how to get the most of them in your training.
Summary
While there are a couple different ways to set up your bands, you mainly want to ensure you’re using the right bands and that you have enough band tension to get the desired training effect. Set your bands up correctly, so you can see your deadlift reap the benefits from your hard work, especially when it comes to improving speed and power.
Feeling confused? Have questions? Did we blow your mind with something? Let us know in the comments section.
