Is "bench from the trench" all bro-science and you better bench with bands - additional bands, of course?

Figure 1: Acute changes in velocity and acceleration, when bench press is performed with / without additional bands; data expressed relative to inter-group means (García-López. 2014)

regular training

training with additional bands

especially

Ain't got enough for today? Try this SuppVersity highly suggested read ➲ "Bicarbonate For Strength Athletes: 25g of Baking Soda Up Your Squat (+27%) and Bench Press (+6%) Within 60 Minutes" | read more Bottom line: If we take into consideration that one of the major downfalls of the regular bench press is that it involves a certain amount of momentum, even if it is performed with picture perfect form. It is certain that adding a pair of elastic bands to your gym-tools will increase the time under tension. It is likely that this will help to increase your overall power and it is not impossible that it is going to to support your gains.



To make definitive statements about any of these "likely" and "possible" consequences of the regular use of additional bands during the bench press, we would yet need a 6-12 week trial the Spanish scientists would first have to finance - and let's be honest: Do you think the elastic band industry has the funds to do that ;-) If we take into consideration that one of the major downfalls of the regular bench press is that it involves a certain amount of momentum, even if it is performed with picture perfect form. It isthat adding a pair of elastic bands to your gym-toolsincrease the time under tension. It isthat this will help to increase your overall power and it isthat it is going to to support your gains.To make definitive statements about any of these "likely" and "possible" consequences of the regular use ofbands during the bench press, we would yet need a 6-12 week trial the Spanish scientists would first have to finance - and let's be honest: Do you think the elastic band industry has the funds to do that ;-)

García-López, D. et al. "Free-weight augmentation with elastic bands improves bench-press kinematics in professional rugby players". Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Jan 2014 [publish ahead of print]

It's been a while since we've had a "simple" workout study here. With all the hypoxia or hyberbaric oxygen training shenanigan, it really seems as if there wouldn't be any simple and practicable ways to improve your training outcomes. Luckily, not all researchers focus on elite athletes who train in high-tech facilities with all sorts of performance enhancing gear.David García-López, Sonsoles Hernández-Sánchez, Esperanza Martín, Pedro J. Marín, Fernando Zarzosa and Azael J. Herrero belong to this group of "low tech researchers" and their gear is a simple elastic band.I know rubber is not exactly what many of the bros consider "gear", but if you look at the astonishing results the researchers from theat theobserved in their study, yourealize that "coolness" is a miserable guide, when it comes to exercise selection - in bros, pros, and noobs, by the way!You want to know how I know that? Well, many of the bros are noobs when it comes to their actual training performance. So, if we are dealing with a study with 8 rugby players and 8 recreationally-trained subjects, we covered them all: Athletes, bros + noobs. And if the said study assigned the participants to two different experimental conditions in a cross-over design withsays that the addition of elastic bands "significantly increased the range of concentric movement in which the barbell is accelerated and that this increase was significantly in higher in the "pros" (35%) compared to the "noobs" (13%), this tells you that using exercise bands may bebeneficial for advanced trainees - exactly those people who usually laugh, when someone only mentions the green, red and blue bands.