My Newest Toy – Chains!

When I was a kid I couldn’t sleep the night before Christmas.  The thought of Santa and Rudolph up on my roof, about to deliver a bunch of presents, are you kidding me!?!  Nothing could be more exciting to a 15 year old 5 year old!

Today, the UPS truck has replaced Santa.  Whenever I order a new piece of equipment for my home gym, I’m like a little kid – looking out my window waiting for the UPS truck to deliver my new equipment.  The newest arrival? Chains…

In the video above, I’m using them to perform a drop set.  But the “main” use of these bad boys is “accommodating resistance.” As I talked about in this blogpost, bands and chains help match the strength curve.  They increase the intensity of an exercise by allowing for maximum loading at every point of the range of motion.

Picture doing a bench press.  Usually when you lift the bar off your chest, it can be very difficult.  But when you get near lockout, the weight actually feels lighter/easier.  By adding chains, the top portion of the lift can be just as difficult as the bottom portion of the lift.  Here’s an example video…

Notice that when he brings the bar down to his chest, most of the chains are on the ground.  Therefore they basically add no weight.  But as he approaches lock out (the top of the lift), the majority of the chains are now off the ground, therefore making the top of the lift heavier than the bottom portion of the lift.  Voila – the strength curve has been matched.

So, I’m excited to play around with these and incorporate them into my own training, and the training of my clients.

But, the take-home message is (or should be): Never stop being a kid.  Find something that excites you in life!  Even if it’s as simple as the UPS truck.