Accommodating Resistance Works
The effectiveness of accommodating resistance has been proven over and over. Why is it that scientific evidence as well as everyday common sense eluding some coaches and athletes when it comes to using bands, chains, or weight releasers.
Some of the most influential people on the planet step out of the Westside Barbell Club in Columbus, Ohio. They have been using bands, chains, and weight releasers for years.
They have gained a reputation for only being useful for lifters that are using powerlifting equipment because of the federations that the athletes in the Westside Barbell Club choose to compete.
However, equipment or no equipment, these guys, and girls are producing numbers that are unseen virtually anywhere else.
Proof?
Now, why? There are many reasons. And none of them are because they have some magical formula that Louie Simmons conjured up in his secret lair. No, science and advances made by eastern European and Soviet sports scientists made over 40 years ago are the answer to all of their successes.
Now I did not know Louie at all but seen enough videos to see that he doesn’t even consider himself a genius. However, he was smart enough to realize something was wrong with the way western sports teams and lifters were training.
He took a look at what the best lifters and athletes were doing to become so(eastern and Soviet athletes). He was smart enough to read the books from the previously stated Sports scientist and implemented the main ideas and also applies his tweaks as any coach should do!
Now, not going into the entire system in which Westside uses we will talk about using accommodating resistance as an athlete as well as a raw powerlifter. If you had to choose two words that described what an athlete in all sport needs it would have to be Strength and Speed.
Strength=Speed?
Where there is a strength, there is speed. The stronger you are, the more capable you are of moving weight at a higher rate of force development. It is impossible to move a heavy load slow.
If you try, you will fail! So Building absolute strength is just as important as building speed. Now, how does accommodating resistance aid in achieving both? Well it is simple, accommodating resistance is the act of either added or taking away weight using various implements (bands, chains, or weight releasers)
It is essential to understand that the use of accommodating resistance is to eliminate bar deceleration. A deceleration in bar speed is teaching your nervous system to change the amount of force produced as a movement is reaching the end of the range of motion, and that will set up any athlete in any sport up for failure.
Let’s take a look at some ways to add accommodating resistance to your training!
Bands:
The conventional use of bands would be to have them secured to the floor and pulled up over the bell or the plates on the bar. Bands allow on the eccentric portion of the lift for the weight to decrease and on the concentric part for the load to increase. Forcing the athlete to push right through the movement.
There is also the “lightning method” where the band is attached from the top down. This method uses heavyweights at the top of the movement, and as the athlete moves to the bottom of the lift, the bands take away some part of the load. This method is excellent for those looking to handle heavier weights and increases absolute strength.
Chains:
Chains are hung from the barbell to the floor and provide a couple of added benefits to an athlete’s training. Besides, the combined resistance through the range of motion chains provides an added stabilizing factor.
As the athlete moves, the chains will move in all directions as well, causing the athletes to have to force stability throughout their entire body. Also, chains provide a different feel than bands because they are a static load where bands are always pulling down.
Weight Releasers:
Weight releasers are used to increase the load during the eccentric portion of the movement. At the bottom of the action, the weight is released leaving a lighter load. Weight releasers are used to provide a contrast and allows the athlete to explode out of the bottom with a slightly lighter load. These are also great for athletes looking to handle heavier weights.
When should you use accommodating resistance?
Accommodating resistance can be used all the time. However, I have a few recommendations for those who are in strength athletics and are not using gear.
Accommodating resistance can build tremendous strength and explosiveness at the top portion of the lift but can leave the bottom of the lifts lacking.
So here are my recommendations. Take roughly 60 to 70 percent of the weight in straight weight and use approximately 10-15% of accommodating resistance weight.
Keeping the weight higher at the bottom, when going heavy use 75-85 percent straight weight and 10 percent accommodating resistance.
This is one form of training that I think athletes and coaches should be having fun with! Mix it up and be creative.
Use both bands and chains, use one or the other. If you are new to using bands or chains, then the best way to learn how to use them is to do just that. USE THEM!!
Why so Butt Hurt?
Many strength coaches and athletes will look at anything done by Westside and automatically write it off as garbage. However, facts and science has shown time and again that the use of any accommodating resistance is the key to eliminating bar deceleration.
Which in turn is the key to both increased speed as well as absolute strength? All, in turn, equal to increases in athletic performance. As coaches are that not precisely what we want for our athletes?
For those to dismiss a particular training style or to say that the western method is the way to go. It shows the narrow-mindedness of this industry. There is no such thing as the one program to rule them all. We need to be diverse in coaching and find what works for every athlete we coach.
Everyone is different, and every single athlete will respond differently to any particular training stimulus. So, in short, do not put things into a category as useless. When in fact it could just be the difference between producing an Olympic gold medalist or professional athlete!
