Why squat with chains

Add in some bands, chains, squat to a box, add in some variety to keep things fun. While sticking to basics works you want to add in some variety with your training to improve in certain areas and to keep things fun. Give squats with chains a try and let me know how you find them.

If you enjoyed this article please comment, like and share. Coach Rob. Technique for setting up and squatting with chains is identical to a normal squat. Greater care must be taken to stay tight, given the instability created by the chains. Note: there are other bar placement options based on training goals and body mechanics — alternate bar placement is beyond the scope of this article. Block your torso and rotate at the shoulders to shift your hips forward. Chain Squats have 3 distinct advantages over regular squats: The weight is lighter at the bottom of the squat, so you can train explosively, with heavier weights.

As you near lockout in the squats, you gain a greater mechanical advantage making the lift easier. As you ascend with chain squats the weight increases, providing you a heavier loads as you reach greater mechanical advantages.

Exercise Classification Alternate Primary Compound Lower Exercise Technique At first glance, the squat seems like a simple exercise — get under the bar, sit down and stand back up. Squatting with chains makes the lift even more challenging: Equipment : Squat rack — you will be lifting too much weight to lift onto your shoulders. When squatting, the easiest portion of the lift is the top — which is why every bro in the gym does quarter squats versus going below parallel or butt-to-calves.

To offset this, training with chains or bands plays on a concept called accommodating resistance. Quite simply, it unloads the weight in the weakest portion of the lift the bottom , and adds more resistance where your leverages improve the top. For more information on accommodating resistance, you absolutely must read this article:. Accommodating Resistance.

This type of training is most beneficial if you are a slower lifter, or one that has a slow and steady bar speed when lifting. If we want to reference the speed-strength continuum, the lifters who are most suited to benefit from this type of training are the ones that have that low-end torque like a Mac truck, but not the high-end top speed of a Ferrari. While you can obviously improve your squatting speed, I think this carries over to sports performance as well.

From the second you unrack the weight and walk it out, you realize this is a lot different from squatting with plates. The chains are whipping you all over the place, and in my opinion, this is an uber-effective way to train the core and trunk.

Not only do you get all the benefits of the split-squat, but you place a greatly increased demand on core and trunk stability as well. When you consider the fact that most people DO NOT need to be training with their foot in an unstable environment think Bosu balls, Dyna discs, etc. One of the issues I, personally, have had when squatting in the past is getting dumped forward.

This was due to several issues:. Cleaning up my bar position has made a big difference — by moving it up on my back I am able to stay more upright and not get pitched forward nearly as often. However, when I started squatting with chains, this gave me further feedback as to where my body was in space. If I leaned forward at all, I could tell immediately that my line was off. Not only was I already forward, but the chains are whipping around pulling me even further forward!

After a few sessions of squatting with chains, my bar path improved considerably. Not only was I more upright, but my bar path was much more straight up and down, versus swaying forward and back. To any legitimate gym-goer, however, we know these people are simply feeding their ego, while getting virtually no benefit from their misguided efforts. This has been proven in the literature.