Chains!

[Clifford Gillmore]

I have aquired alot of chain. 5 or 6 30ft lenghts of 12mm thick chain. I'm currently treating it all with anti-biotics to kill off any traces of 'cancer', coming up quite well.

Now. What is going to my best way of setting these up?

I'm thinking about making 2 short loops, around 1' long, to hold the extra lengths - so I can more and more lengths as required. Is there any standards for lengths? Squat/Bench lenghts? Should they weight a certain amount?

[Sensei]

I have 14 foot long strips of 3/8" tow chain that I fold into thirds (4ft something) and then attach to the bar w. connector chain. They weigh 20lbs each.

I also have 5 foot long strips of 5/8" chain that I connect to the bar w. connector chain. They also weigh about 20lbs each.

About 5ft is the standard length and that works pretty well for most people on a variety of exercises - you'll probably be leaving some more chain on the floor when you do bench, but that's ok and it reduces the swaying. You can use smaller diameter chain or climbing rope to connect the chain to the bar.

[Clifford Gillmore]

Thanks man, you've cleared up all of my main issues!

While on the subject of resistance, are heavy DBs enough to hold bands down? Or do I need to find a way of attaching them to racks?

[Sensei]

Bands are a little more tricky. If you have heavy hexagonal DBs, it's not too bad. Loop the bands around the DBs (wrap them around a couple of times depending on how tall/short you are) and then back up to the barbell sleeves. If the DBs aren't heavy enough (which they probably won't be), after you have looped and wrapped the band to the hex DB, place a 45 or two on top of it and pull the band through the hub before putting them on the barbell.

In general, it takes two people to do this unless you want the bands to pull one side of the barbell careening into the ceiling...

I've done it by myself though by setting the bar on the pins and setting it up and then box squatting the barbell back up to the j-hooks. When I was done, I'd strip the weight, then squat the bar down to the pins and then take the bands off.

It sounds a lot more complicated and time-consuming than it really is. Once you get used to it and know what you're doing, it shouldn't take more than 5-10mins.