Iron Woody Band Bench

[the enforcer]

G’day guys,

I have just started using the iron woody bands for flat barbell bench presses and love em. I have done this exercise for the last five weeks and am getting curious about how much resistance the bands are providing. I am aware that there will be a number of variables involved in calculating the resistance, but has someone given it a go? Is there a way to test the resistance at the lockout position, or other phases of the lift?

I am currently using 70kg one blue band wrapped under the bench similar to this one.
https://www.getstrength.com/training/Bench-Press-Setup-with-Iron-Woody-Strength-Bands

I am completing the lift with a close grip though and have modified my arm position. I now spread the band under the bench to create a small triangle pointing upwards. This allows me to put my arms between the band and bench from inside the band. This seems to take a bit of stress off my shoulders.

Does anyone know how to calculate the resistance using band training?

Cheers
Marc

[ashley]

Hi enforcer and thanks for being a part of the forum, I just did a search of the archives in http://www.t-nation.com for you and came up with 2 great articles by Thibaudeau for you to consult, he states that the Iron Woody bands provide the following poundage:

No 1. 5 – 35 (all numbers are in pounds)
No 2. 10 – 50
No 3. 25 – 80
No 4. 50 – 120
No 5. 60 – 150

Please refer to:

Band Training for Big Gains and Rubber v Iron

cheers, ashley

[the enforcer]

Thanks for your reply Ashley,

That is a great site to learn from. I did a fair share of reading through those articles.

I have since realised that there is no magic formula for calculating the resitance of the bands through their range of motion.

I have since read Dan BAKER’s article and I bench in a similar manner to the pics on p14 of the article.

One further query though. What is the difference between a ‘choked’ band and a ‘doubled’ band as mentioned in the website articles? Does anyone have any pics of the difference?

Cheers
Marc

[ashley]

Hi Marc, choked in my terminology is just one end through the other and locked in over the base of a power rack or base plus a 2 x 4 block of wood, where as doubled is the band folded in 2 over a DB on the floor and the bar, this is how I set up the bench, sorry I have no pictures available, cheers,ash

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