Tuesday Trainer Tip: Chain Training Part Two

Chain Training Part Two: Increase Relative Body Weight Strength with Chains

 

Last week we discussed how chain can be attached to barbells in order to develop speed, strength, and explosive power.

In case you missed part 1 CLICK HERE.

Chains are also a great way to load body weight exercises.

 

Body weight exercises are a great way to develop strength in both athletic and general fitness populations. They require the user to control their own weight and stabilize their entire body. This is obviously important for athletic performance, but it is also important for overall health to be able to control one’s own body weight.

There are ways to make body weight exercises easier for beginner(which we will discuss in a different article),  but for today we will show your how to make body weight exercises more challenging once you have mastered a particular exercise. Once an athlete can do 8, 10, and 12 repetitions with their own body weight without breaking a sweat it is time they start to add additional  load.

Dumbbells and weight vests are fine choices for loading athletes, but sometimes those options aren’t available or practical in certain situations. There are also times when the coach has a very strong individual and a weight vest is simply not enough load to make the exercise effective.  Chains can help solve these problems.

The are two basic ways to utilize chains to add resistance to body weight exercises. The chain can be simply draped over the athletes body or the athlete can use clip to attach the links together and put them on like a vest that looks like the letter “X”(see picture below).

When draping chains over the body I recommend using the middle link of the chain to ensure the chain is put on evenly on both sides. For exercises that are prone(face down) I recommend “criss crossing” the chains on the body forming the letter “X”.  These exercises would included push up variations(see video below) as well as planks.

For exercises that are standing you can choose to attach them like a vest( as seen with the neutral grip pull ups in the first picture in the article) or they can be draped over the neck of the athlete as shown in the video below. If the athlete has a cervical(neck) limitations the “weight vest style” is a better option. Other exercises that could be loaded in this manner are pull up variations, lunge variations, squat variations, as well as others. This video is a demonstration of a single leg high box squat.

 

Chains can also to draped over the torso to load exercises like glute bridges and hip thrusts. Here is a video of an athlete performing back elevated single leg glute bridges with chain.

These are just some quick examples of ways to load body weight exercises. If you have some of your own body weight exercises please share them with a comments below! What are your favorites to load with chain? I will also include an article on single leg training in the near future as well if you have any questions about some of the exercises mentioned.

More Chain Training to come! Stay tuned.