King Joes Barbell Club

       

Louie Simmons Routine Powerlifting and Weightlifting with Chains Use of chains in training seems thus far limited to those following the regimes of Louie Simmons and his Westside Barbell Club, or his impact on strength training for football teams. As such, they remain secret yet to be discovered by many. Admitting to being an addicted reader and experimenter, news of Simmons' rotine reached me months ago. A couple of workout visits to Dave Goddin's Hyde Park Gym while vacationing in Austin last summer gave me the opportunity to work out with chains while squatting. I was sold. How do you use chain? Eccentric resistance, basically the key to early Nautilus machine design. An added boost for me is that training with chain in pressing movements has profoundly healed rotator cuff irritations. Using a power rack, you set the chain so that it doesn't start coming off the ground adding resistance until you're well past the mid range/sticking point of a movement, adding resistance gradually through the lock out phase. Powerlifters report rapid progress in breaking sticking points in their lifts doing this. I recently purchased two three-foot chains each weighing 25 pounds. I attach them to my bar with a steel ring and a pair of hooks attached to a 5-foot length of ¼" chain. That allows for fast changing of the length of chain for specific movements (i.e., bench press, incline press, seated press). For example, load your bar to 200 lbs for the bench press; by the last quarter of the movement you'll be lifting 240-250 pounds into peak contraction and lockout. Good for squats and rack deadlifts, too. A basic starter kit involves two 25 pound chains and two 12-13 pound chains. The lighter ones are better for delt press and tricep extensions, but can be added with the heavier ones as strength increases mount up. Simmons says his lifters also gain another benefit: speed with heavier poundages. Some folks reportedly experienced upward of 50 pound personal record increases within 2 short months of chain work on the squat and deadlift. This is what Nautilus claimed it could do. With a home gym power rack you can suddenly make some great gains.

 by Ken O'Neill