bouncy barbells

[cwd]

For example: https://www.roguefitness.com/bandbell-bars

So normally I mock this sort of thing -- squats with bouncy barbells, KBs on bands, chains that don't reach the ground, etc.

But then it occurred to me -- I'm using gimmicks myself in order to make lighter weights feel harder.
I.e. unbelted squats on light day, paused squats on medium day.

These gimmicks work by making a set harder w/o adding weight to the bar.
It gives me a dose of stress that resolves faster than the stress of just using more weight.
And it keeps me from going too heavy on my light/medium days.

So maybe the bouncy barbell people are onto something?

[Manveer]

It is limiting the weight that can be used. Seems like there are two problems though, when comparing to something like beltless paused squats:
1)doesn't carry over as well to the regular movement
2)comes with higher risk of injury (just guessing)

[cwd]

Besides making light weight feel hard, paused/beltless squats are commonly thought to address weak points.
I.e. stable bottom position/stable depth, strong abs/back extension.

Bouncy-bar squats might force a lifter to get better at staying "in the groove" over center-foot.
I used to have a lot of trouble with that, my center of mass would shift like crazy.
Of course, I fixed it by just practicing a lot with regular squats...

[mbasic]

Besides making light weight feel hard, paused/beltless squats are commonly thought to address weak points.
I.e. stable bottom position/stable depth, strong abs/back extension.

Bouncy-bar squats might force a lifter to get better at staying "in the groove" over center-foot.
I used to have a lot of trouble with that, my center of mass would shift like crazy.
Of course, I fixed it by just practicing a lot with regular squats...

So you have to think, the "bouncy aspect" might just be slowing them down, basically, they re doing a tempo lift now.

So it the useful training effect the bounciness? . . .or the just the tempo aspect?

Tempo, paused, halted reps might be better option I think. (with a std. barbell)

[cwd]

Someone needs to bite the bullet and try this for us, and report back.

Not me, my next purchase will probably be a deadlift jack -- I'm starting to use 3 big plates at the same time now, and it's a pain in the ass.

[chromoly]

The bouncy part is to supposedly add a "stabilization" aspect, right? I used to knock on this stuff, but my PT had me do some stability work for my hip rehab. It was all bodyweight stuff (squatting on bosu balls, skater squats and pistol squats standing on cushions, etc), but I did always feel tiredness/soreness/fatigue in muscles that I didn't know existed.

That's not necessarily a promotion of the stability work, but it's not a condemnation either.

[KOTJ]

It's stupid, gimmicky bullshit.

As Manveer stated, although it uses lighter weight, it comes with a higher risk injury and has less carryover than other variants of comp lifts.

Now, can it work? Yes.

Where do I rank in the spectrum of efficiency?

High on the incredibly ineffective side of things. I would rather have someone squat in Skechers Shape Ups before this, or lightly push the bar as they lift.

[cwd]

It's stupid, gimmicky bullshit.
As Manveer stated, although it uses lighter weight, it comes with a higher risk injury and has less carryover than other variants of comp lifts.

That's my suspicion, but I haven't tried them. Have you? Or seen someone use them or talked with someone who did?

[chrisd]

I was presented with this stuff on my personal trainer training course. The wisdom that had filtered through was that making a lift more difficult was a substitute for making the resistance greater.

The false logic was that the weight that a lifter could manage with the wobbly bar was less than with a normal bar. Okay

Therefore lifting the limit with the wobbly bar had the same training effect as lifting limit with a normal bar. Not okay.

Being hit with a stick makes a lift more difficult, therefore beating trainees with a stick is as good as training heavier. Silly examples may be added.

What does seem to be true from personal experience, n=1, is that IF STRENGTH IS NOT THE LIMITING FACTOR, wobbly bar training can enable a trainee to lift a greater weight with a normal bar than they could with a wobbly bar, even though they only trained previously with the unstable apparatus.

I kept falling over when trying to overhead squat. I practiced at home with a curtain pole. Once I got the curtain pole move working, I suspended plates from the pole with resistance bands. It was all I had. I got up to about 12kg and frankly it was hard. Back at the gym, I found I could now overhead squat a standard bar, plus a bit of weight (about 25kg total IIRC). The actual squat weight wasn't a problem, the overhead part wasn't really a problem. I just couldn't keep the bar in the right spot and so lost balance. Unstable bar work forced me to keep the bar in the right place and translated into a higher number with a stable bar. Then I stopped bothering with it.

[KOTJ]

It's stupid, gimmicky bullshit.
As Manveer stated, although it uses lighter weight, it comes with a higher risk injury and has less carryover than other variants of comp lifts.

That's my suspicion, but I haven't tried them. Have you? Or seen someone use them or talked with someone who did?

No, it clearly present a safety risk and detours far away from SAID.

It's the same reason I program slapping the knuckles with a ruler during bench, or deadlifting on marbles.

[ithryn]

I kept falling over when trying to overhead squat. I practiced at home with a curtain pole. Once I got the curtain pole move working, I suspended plates from the pole with resistance bands. It was all I had. I got up to about 12kg and frankly it was hard. Back at the gym, I found I could now overhead squat a standard bar, plus a bit of weight (about 25kg total IIRC). The actual squat weight wasn't a problem, the overhead part wasn't really a problem. I just couldn't keep the bar in the right spot and so lost balance. Unstable bar work forced me to keep the bar in the right place and translated into a higher number with a stable bar. Then I stopped bothering with it.

This is actually interesting. Huh. I probably won't need to do this, and I'm not sure what else it would help besides the overhead squat, but that's kinda cool. Makes sense.

[Allentown]

I assume the attempts to get Skibiki in here have failed.

[DirtyRed]

I've seen James Harrison bench with stupid shit like this. I would have driven up to Pittsburgh and put my foot up his ass if he wasn't considerably larger than me. All this does is allow you to drop the weight to your chest and wait for the rebound of the bar whip to throw the weight back up for you.

[Manveer]

https://instagram.com/p/BZO0bpCFFtj/