In Spanish gyms it is not very normal to see chains. They are expensive, heavy, dangerous, and not very comfortable to handle and store. But for those lucky enough to train in home gyms, it is a very useful tool. Very useful for ballasting in exercises with body weight, since they distribute the weight in a homogeneous way, without excessively altering the natural center of mass of the body, as long as they cross the torso, and their ends (or any previous link) are tied with a carabiner, and not hanging from the neck.
It must also be said that a weighted vest is more comfortable, but the chains are more versatile. Leaving aside its use as ballast, we are going to analyze its use in basic lifts (squat, deadlift and squats).
Chain benefits
Andy Bolton, one of the best powerlifters in the world, says about the chains in training with basics:
- They accommodate resistance.
- They reduce the natural deceleration phase of the bar, which occurs as soon as we approach the lock point.
- As the bar is lowered, the chains are unloaded to the ground, and the total weight of the bar is lowered.
- As the bar rises, the chains add more weight to the lift. The total weight of the bar increases.
- Chains help build both initial force (momentum) and power in the locked position (end of the concentric phase). They will help us improve our 1RM of the basic lifts.
- They increase the initial acceleration of the bar. The bar goes up earlier.
- Chain work increases speed quickly and efficiently.
In short, Andy states that we will gain speed, strength and power (since it is force x speed). I would add in this regard that it will depend on the% load of the chains, which we will talk about later.
As the bar rises, the weight of the chains (which initially rest on the ground) will be greater, (in the case of the use of elastic bands, the tension will be greater), and it will not go away. to be able to overcome the lift if we do not acquire sufficient acceleration at the beginning (this effect is especially verified with bands with high tension).
If chains or bands are not used, what happens is that as the extension progresses, the lift becomes easier because the joint levers are more favorable. The chains and bands teach us to accelerate the weights, to gain explosiveness and power, so they will help to improve the 1RM of the basic lift in question.
The chains provide a variable resistance throughout the movement, increasing linearly (from 0 to their maximum load in the locked position), while the elastic bands increase their resistance in a curvilinear manner due to their viscoelastic properties. The chains exert their maximum load in the deadlift, squat and bench lock position, where we are strongest, and they exert the minimum load in the low position, where we normally fail. That is, the chains increase the intensity of the exercise , allowing you to work with maximum loads at each point of the range of motion of the lift.
Mounting
Now we go to the practical part: the placement of the chains. Let’s suppose that we are going to perform a series of squats. The bar is loaded in the rack with the disks that we are going to use. Next we place some closing rings on the ends of the bar, screwed against it, as can be seen in the photo.
A section of thinner chain will hang from the through screw shown in the photo, which will act as a link chain, from which the thicker chains will hang using carabiners. It is very important that the carabiners fit between the links of the chains.
In the following video you can see the detail of the assembly, although they do not use the closing rings, which for me is as if you put the discs on the bar without the closing clamp.
Very important, that some chain links always rest on the ground , to avoid oscillations of the same, which can unbalance us while we are lifting. The section of chain that rests on the ground must be located under the bar, and not in front of it. We control the length of the chains at the initial start of the lift, regulating the length of the link chain and the position of the hooking carabiner.
Load criteria with chains. How many kilos in chains do I have to put on the bar?
Use a weight that is around 10% -20% of 1RMmax for the lift to be performed. That is, if we are going to perform deadlifts with chains, and our 1RM is 200kg, we should have 20-40kg of chains distributed on both sides of the bar. 40kg of chains are many meters of chains, so we want them to be chains with a large diameter link. (1-2 cm in diameter). Another weight value in reference chains is that provided by Charles Poliquín for the dead weight, advising 15% by weight of the 1RM.
To get an idea of the weight per linear meter of chain, 1 meter of chain of half an inch (1.27 cm) weighs 7.4 kg, and one inch (2.54 cm) weighs 28 kg.
Studies in this regard.
A study published in the Journal Strength and Conditioning Research (1), analyzes the influence of chains on deadlifting . At first, the researchers wanted to analyze whether the deadlift was appropriate to include in a resistance training program for explosiveness, such as is done with Olympic exercises, or the jump squat.
23 experienced athletes , 15 powerlifters and 8 rugby players participated in this study. All athletes had at least 1 year of resistance chain training experience. The athletes performed the lifts on force platforms, in 2 different sessions.
In the first session, the athletes established their 1RM for the deadlift. A week later, they executed deadlifts at 30%, 50%, and 70% of their 1RM , performing each of the 3 lifts at submaximal speed, maximum speed, and maximum speed with 2 different chain loads, adding the 20 and 40% of the 1RM . That is, 4 lifting speeds were given, Vsmax, Vmax, Vmax20, and Vmax40.
To equalize the workload as much as possible between lifts without chains, and with them, the researchers removed the disc weight equivalent to half the load of the chains in the lock-out position of the lift. That is, in the case of the test with Vmax20 , the initial bar load was reduced by 10% with respect to the 1RM load to be tested (30% 1RM, 50% 1RM or 70% 1RM). So the resulting resistance was 10% lower at the start of the lift, the same at the midpoint, and 10% higher at the lock position, compared to the initial load without chains. Therefore, in the locked position with 20% 1RM on chains , the loads were 40-60-80% of 1RM.
The following graph shows us the results of the test. The vertical axis,%, establishes the variation in the measured magnitudes, with respect to the surveys without chains. PF = peak force, PV = peak speed, PP = peak power, and PRFD = peak force development ratio, IMP = impulse. As can be seen, the highest values are obtained for higher loads, both with and without chains.
Conclusions
- The results of the study demonstrated that the deadlift can be used to maintain positive acceleration during most of the concentric phase . Therefore it is an exercise that can be used to develop muscle power for the athlete.
- The chains manage to develop great force production that must be maintained during the concentric action because as the lift progresses in this phase, the weight of the chains increases.
- A decrease in speed and power peaks is observed when performed with chains. This point contradicts the results of other studies that have used a lower weight in chains , such as Baker’s, which we will cite later, but a lower weight at the beginning of the lift.
This is the graph that shows the velocity of the bar (vertical axis of the graph) throughout the entire concentric phase of the survey (horizontal axis). It is observed that in the middle of the movement, where the loads with chains and without chains are equal, Vmax20 and Vmax are similar. With a lower chain load, 15% as claimed by various authors, the speed of the bar in the middle of the movement with chains would be higher.
Baker et al. (2) compared the difference in barbell speed during the bench press in 2 different situations. In the first, 2 sets of 3 repetitions were performed at 75% 1RM while the second was also with 2 sets of 3, but with 60% 1RM and + 15% of the load with chains . The results of the study showed that in the case with chains, the speed of the bar increased by 10% compared to the first case . This is because the weight lifted with chains is less for most of the lift. Therefore, it does not seem to me to be a very significant study. We include it in the article so that you can see that studies must always be taken with a grain of salt, and analyze all the variables that affect it, since they can cause distorted results.
Sources:
- ” Chains for speed, strength and power “, Andy Bolton
- Kinematic and kinetic analysis of maximal velocity deadlifts performed with and without the inclusion of chain resistance, Swinton et al.
- Effect of kinetically altering a repetition via the use of chain resistance on velocity during the bench press , Baker et al.
