Using Chains to Increase Explosive Power
By Joe DeFranco — DeFranco’s Training Systems
Chains represent a vital yet seldom used tool to increase explosive power in standard weight training exercises - if they are implemented properly. Chains are NOT just used to add weight. As illustrated below, chains allow you to work the muscle throughout the entire range of motion in any type of push movement and teach you to accelerate through the entire lift.
The heavy 5/8” chains which I typically use with my athletes are used to accommodate resistance. Remember that you are always limited in the amount of weight you can use in any given exercise due to the fact that your leverage is different at various points of the repetition. Take the bench press for example. Once you get the weight past the “sticking point,” the rest of the repetition is easy. An athlete who can bench press 300 lbs. can probably lockout around 400 lbs. This same athlete would be limited to always using 300 lbs. or less because he wouldn’t be able to get anything heavier past his sticking point. This prevents the top of the lift from ever getting fully worked.
So, how do chains help solve the problem? The answer is very easily and efficiently. In the case of the bench press, as you lower the bar, the heavy chains gather on to the floor. When the bar is on your chest and your leverage is at its worst, all the heavy chains are on the floor thus adding NO extra weight to the bar. As you raise the weight off your chest and your leverage increases, the chains unravel off of the floor, thus, increasing the weight gradually. So the weight actually increases throughout the course of the repetition as you get stronger. This is what the term “accommodating resistance” means.
The use of chains also teaches athletes to accelerate through the entire repetition because the weight gets heavier at the top. (The unraveling of the chains off of the floor as you press the bar actually sends a neurological response to your body to try and “outrun” the chains to the top.) This builds explosive power the best because the athlete must explode throughout the entire repetition.