I finally ordered some bands to play around with, however, in the Elitefts instructions they talk a little bit about using the bands during ME lifts. If someone used bands on every single movement for every work set what would happen?
No, nothing will happen, except you will get better at lifting with bands, which isn't really the point. The bands are made to be a way to add variety to lifts to get a little bit different stimulus and work on weak points, which in turn makes you better are the regular lifts. Most raw powerlifters use them very little other than for speed work, a lot of the gear guys really load up on them because the nature of a suit means building the top end of lifts is all that matters.
For general training I'd only use it to add variety or to target weak points. What are you training for?
i have no real direction in training anymore, after I blew my knee I quit MMA training. I got the bands to f-around with one arm pull-ups. I was asking more of a hypothetical question.
i use them to focus on weak points. helped me learn to lockout deadlifts, since i got used to the extra resistance at lockout. i bruise my hips now by slamming them into barbell now, hahaha. i also use them like the pulleys in commercial gyms. ive done rows, flyes, and other isolation type assistance movements with them. i recently started dangling 10-15 lbs on each side of a barbell from bands, with maybe 95 lbs on the bar (so 125 total or so, nothing heavy) and doing squat variations. you hit the hole and the weight bounces around, forcing your core to work really hard to keep its balance. ive noticed i feel much more stable squatting after adding this to my workouts. bands are limited only by your imagination, but i would never use them as part of my ME training.
Bands are great devices, but overuse will seriously wear you and your joints out. For a few weeks, try (once per week) a squat routine with bands (8 sets of 3) and something similar with bench. The nice part about the bands is that they force you to stabilize the bar along with growing the weight as the bar goes up. You can pull with bands, too. I agree, not too much with ME training days, since you want to be able to handle the weight, and then toward the end of those 8 sets get weight on there that pushes close to your max. Work more with fighting through the resistance for explosiveness when the bands aren't there, and that will help you on your ME days.
I also do work ups with band work, which is similar to ME work. I may do 6-8 sets of 60% of my 1rm + light, average or strong bands. Every few weeks I work up to 80% of my 1rm + bands. You need to be very careful because the straight weight + bands with a lot of weight is hard to control (as the bands will try to force you down). Make sure you have a spotter and be absolutely sure you will not miss the weight. I cycle band use. I use three weeks on/three weeks straight weight. Heavy band work will fry your CNS and can be hard on your joints. That said - It will help with the lockout of squats. Is it necessary to do work up with bands? It depends on your goals. If you lift with supportive gear, it is necessary. If you are lifting raw and have a sticking point in the mid-point or end of the squat, then the use of bands will help a lot. Most raw lifters fail coming out of the hole, and bands won
